MOH Forum: Gasing ferrets?

Gasing ferrets?

Posted By:
Suki
in WI
Dec 19, 2004

I saw this and wondered is this at all real? I just can not bring myself to beleive that some one would pass a type of law where the instant resault would be gassing an animal!

"HELP!!!! 1,000 ANGORA FERRETS TO BE GASSED AFTER 1/1/05

Dear Ferret Village,

I am writing to you in hopes that you can help us. The following is a letter I�ve sent to a multitude of ferret groups and breeders. We are basically begging for help and/or direction. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Dear Ferret Lover:

I have owned ferrets (or should I say they have owned me?) for almost twenty years. I current have seven of them � four rescues, one Marshal Farms and two 5 month old angora ferrets from Denmark.

I have owned angora ferrets from Parrots of the World in NY (importer) for many years and have fallen in love with them. They are born at a breeder in Denmark, Ferpharm (no fur/mink there). Ferpharm is the ONLY breeder/importer of angora ferrets to this country. Two batches of babies per year come into NY and there are between 10-15 babies in each batch. So they are sort of rare in this country.

The following is a brief synopsis of what we�ve been told regarding new animal legislation in the E.U.:

The European Union has been passing animal rights laws lately that will affect this breeder come January 1, 2005. Basically, the EU now says that the size of the cages have to be MUCH larger than what they are now, and Ferpharm, having 1,000 angora ferrets, cannot comply (lacking funds and space) unless he sells 850 ferrets. That way he can keep 150 and expand the cages with the proceeds of the sale. I have no problem with laws that benefit animals � I think that�s great. My problem lies in the fact that the authorities, based on new laws that the animal rights people have pushed through, will come into his facility and GAS all 1,000 ferrets right after January 1, 2005 if he hasn�t sold them yet. Why people think ferrets are better off gassed is beyond me. First of all, it�s a horrible way to die. Second of all, if compassion for animals was the reasoning behind the new laws, wouldn�t it be far more compassionate to find homes for these guys? Or at least try to find them new homes? Basically, this means the end of the angora line for, at least, the U.S. We angora owners are all very upset at the prospect of not being able to have any more of them AND more so, that the innocent ferrets will all be killed. I�ve heard from many angora owners who would be happy to take some in, the problem is that the owner of Ferpharm will only sell them all together (in bulk). I can understand the reasoning, but I disagree with both him and the animal rights people (as well as the authorities who will be �proving� their salaries by enforcing crappy laws) and think that those ferrets deserve to live. Plus, if you�ve never interacted with an angora, they are truly amazing.

As often as the animal rights people (PETA included) have crapped all over ferrets and their owners, I feel like I�ve come to the end of my rope. A place I�m sure you�ve been before as well.

Well, my point in writing you is to basically feel you out for advice and plea with you to distribute this information to anyone you know who might be able to help save these guys. We have an .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and one of the members suggested we start disseminating the information high and low to see if we could save the ferrets. The biggest problem is that the owner wants (I believe) $200,000 for the lot of them. An amount FAR exceeding what we could do as a small group.

Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. And, since you probably know LOTS of people in the ferret-know, I would appreciate you disseminating this information far and wide.

Thanks very much for your time. We are all just sick at the prospect of our Danish friends being killed. Basically, at this point, we�re just groping/begging for help. "

Category: Animals; Replies: 28

Comments

Maegan	Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 \| 10:37 AM Wasn't there another thread that mentioned there are a lot of hoaxes regarding things the EU have said?
myst	Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 \| 03:37 PM This almost sounds like they are trying to get people with big hearts for animals (like me) to send in some money at some point in time, but I have no proof, yet.
Suki	Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 \| 04:47 PM I tried to find info on some reliable site on it... but could find information on it only on a place called ferret universe. So right now I am thinking the same thing... some one wants money.
Paul	Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 \| 02:45 PM Why would you give money to complete strangers? They could mail me about setting my grandmother on fire and I wouldn't give them anything. Mind you, this is a whole new twist on the Nigerian scams. But the same thing nonetheless.
Paul	Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 \| 03:43 PM btw, gasing ferrets...are those the ferrets that look you straight into the eye and keep looking?
Hairy Houdini	Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 \| 06:50 PM Gasing Ferrets... sounds like a band. "Ladies and Gentlmen: The Gasing Ferrets!"
Cindy Ward	Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 \| 02:34 AM Why can't he just give them away to good homes, rather than have them die a horrible death. I and many others I know would gladly take a few of them. I am already owned by 6 sweet Ferrets. I guess he would rather see them die, then in a good home.
Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA Member	Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 \| 09:41 AM It's after Jan 01, does anyone know if there has been any update to the veracity of this claim?
Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA Member	Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 \| 12:40 PM ...I did a quick search & the only thing I could find about ferret regulations have to do with taking them in and out of specific countries, breeding, that sort of thing. Nothing on thousands of ferrets being killed en masse.
Charybdis in Hell Member	Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 \| 01:09 PM www.ferpharm.dk Seems to be a legit site but I can find no mention of gassing ferrets. Their forum is mostly in Danish which I can't read but the English topics didn't say anything about it. The Yahoo group angoraferrets is blocked here at work but if you google angoraferrets + ferpharm we're the only site that comes up. If somebody else can access http://groups.yahoo.com/group/angoraferrets maybe they can search their site for a reference to this.
Myst Member	Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 \| 02:32 PM Ah Ha! I found this thread http://www.pet-manual.co.uk/showthread/t-30831.html which contained a link to http://www.ferret-universe.com/angora/index.asp where I believe the original version of this notice can be found. In case someone can't get the links to work I will copy and paste what I believe is the original: New law takes effect January 1, 2005 in the European Union In 2004, a new law was passed In Europe (excluding Spain and Portugal) to take effect January 1, 2005, headed by an Animal Rights group that mandates all ferrets bred for pets (those being bred for fur were excluded) must be housed in cages substantially larger than what has been customarily used. A large majority of breeders, including Soren are simply unable to comply with this new law, as they do not have enough land to house the quantity and sizes of cages needed, nor the means to fund such an expansion. This law driven and headed by the Animal Rights group to be effective January 1, 2005, provides no alternatives but to comply or have their entire stock of ferrets gassed to death (that was a better option in their eyes). Soren is not sitting by idly, allowing his angora ferrets to simply be killed. He is receiving and evaluating offers from Holland and other countries who have the space to abide by this new law, as well as from some of the large breeders in the US. If Soren can not place all his angora ferrets by the first of the year, 99.9% he will be provided an extension to do so. Depending on the outcome, this could also mean the end of the true Danish Angora ferret in the US. Ms. Frizzle Notice this sentence "If Soren can not place all his angora ferrets by the first of the year, 99.9% he will be provided an extension to do so."
Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA Member	Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 \| 08:39 AM Oohh...So it might really be real. Intrigue!
Kitt Hollister	Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 \| 03:05 PM IT IS REAL!!! I am a member of a group -- really just a small Yahoo newsgroup -- who is also trying to stop this trajedy from occuring. I'm not sure if this message was written by one of our members but I suspect that it was. THIS IS NOT A HOAX, though I agree that it is so thoughtless and disgusting that one might think that it was. So again: THIS IS NOT A HOAX!! I will post here a link to a petition you can sign to try and stop this madness -- a last ditch effort, as all of our other attempts have failed! Please Click Here to Sign! Thanks for your help, Kitt
Sukie Crandall	Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 \| 07:31 PM There seem to be two things going on in this discussion: A. The NON-myth of the Ferpharm threat B. The myths about ferrets. Second first with some URLs to help you. I won't put URLs for the basics which people should be capable to finding for themselves. Ferrets are in mustelidae, cousins of otters and similarly fun loving and intelligent. They are not rodents, nor are they stupid. It is in fact their great intelligence which makes them a challenge for some. Too many people simply are not creative enough, intelligent enough, or patient enough to figure out how to shape the behavior of a species which will go to huge lengths to please the people in their family. Their long history of domestication (including mentions as a domestic animal in references for the last 2,500 years (Check into Pliny the Elder for example.) show that they have long met the needs of people and done so in a pleasing fashion. Like dogs and cats they were first used for rodent control (and later for control of rabbits also). Unlike dogs and cats they have largely lost the capacity to hunt and that was purposely selected for in breeding because in European rabbit hunting ferrets are used to scare the rabbits from their burrows but not to kill them. (The killing is done by humans and dogs.) BTW, claims of an origin in Ancient Egypt are based on misidentification of a viverrid, not a ferret. You will like some of old art works in: http://www.doctorbeer.com/joyce/ferrets/frhistpg.htm The rate of serious injuries by ferrets is approximately the same PER CAPITA ANIMAL as that of the domestic rabbit, i.e. about 200 times safer than dogs, which is why the few which happen make the news and wind up repeated over and over just like "Man bites Dog" stories. There has been an effective rabies vaccine, IMRAB 3, for well over a decade, nor are there ANY recorded instances of ferrets passing rabies on to people world-wide despite domestic ferrets being pets in all of the Americas, much of Asia, pretty well all of Europe, and much of Australia. The are so well understood in this regard that they, cats, and dogs are the only animals with legal quarantine times after bites rather than death and testing of brain tissue. See: http://www.avma.org/pubhlth/rabcont.asp The Compendium of Animal Rabies Control http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Ques&Ans/q&a.htm Easy to read rabies Q&A Ferrets are popular enough to have a 2 billion dollar chunk in the annual 32 billion dollar U.S. pet industry (Ken Wells, Wall Street Journal), but their extremely high cost of maintenance and health care, their musk, their tendency to out-smart the barriers humans create and place themselves in danger, and their propensity to create quite a mess make them wrong for many people. (BTW, no mustelids do NOT taste good; it would take a person who would swallow almost anything to even consider that.) Now, as to Soren Thinggard and Ferpharm. Yes, his farm DOES have a website. It breaks a lot but he has it: http://www.ferpharm.dk/ but that is not among the important websites to see. These are: http://telltale.zerodollars.com/thinggaard.htm <a href="http://www.dyrenes-beskyttelse.dk/db/dbpress.nsf/PresseDk/003fabe3e0123ac8c1256fb70027de6e?opendocument">Really long link</a> Should he be convicted this time it will be his second conviction and all apearances are that he is seeking maximal profit while taking his living stock down to the animals about which he is least likely to face restrictions or seizure if he winds up facing a guilty result in court again. I have read the stories he has given for the demands of sale by a certain age but none turned out to be true on investigation whereas the abuse case did pan out. There are people who are making a lot of noise about it but that won't achieve much, I am afraid. There are others who are lining up as many EU homes, shelters, and foster homes as possible for the approximately 800 ferrets. That CAN work if enough are found. It should save at least some.
Lynne	Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 \| 02:09 AM I have just heard that the creep has gone through with his threat. I don't know any details. This person ought to be electrocuted.
Lynne (again)	Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 \| 03:22 AM BTW I am also owned by 3 ferrets and have been bowled over by their personalities and their spirit of fun and intelligence. They are a big pet in a small body. The thought of 200 being gassed breaks my heart. I am grateful to the forum I belong to in the U.K. for keeping me abreast of what has happened and hope that something bad happens to this monster real soon.
Tammy	Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 \| 06:08 PM Ok folks, Im just going to jump in here. First off, a friend of mine emailed the guy that was suppose to be gassing these ferrets. He responded saying that this was the first time of him hearing this rumer. There were no ferrets gased nor were they going to be gased. The guy had a cage size violation and had to meet the standards. He did not have the money to expand the cage sizes for all of his ferrets. So an agreement was worked out. Many of the ferrets have been moved into severial rooms of his house (not caged. This was accepted and he kept all the ferrets. According to his own words gassing these ferrets was never one of his thoughts. However! The gassing as well as shocking the ferrets to death if all breeders did not comply was the option that the European Law gave!! This is why Soren did all he could possibly do in order to comply. And now lets think with reasion. Why would anyone demand that just one person buy the whole lot when he could have sold all of them individualy and came out with the exact same amount of money. Also, why would he kill 1000 (by the way, he has more than 1000 angora ferrets. More like 1800 breeders) and lose money? Lynne, You say you heard that he gassed the ferrets, On ferret universe ( http://www.ferretuniverse.com/angora/index.asp ) It states that only 40 had to be put to sleep? Now the exact reasion these 40 were put to sleep I do not know for sertain but you shouldn't jump to conclusions without proof. It is very possible that he was given no choice but to surrender the 40 to be put to sleep. We have no evidence that Soren was offered any chance to find the last 40 a home. So here is what you have.... You have a partial truth with alot of "add ons" which happens when one story is passed along through many people. Im sure you remember playing a game in elementry school where the first person picks a word then tells it to the next person then that person tells the next and so on. Nine times out of ten by time the word got to the last person, it wasn't the correct word! This is what I think happened here. As many of you know, investigate before ever comming into a conclusion. There is no telling how many people gave the people trying to "rescue" these ferrets money and no telling what they are using that money for!
Sukie Crandall	Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 \| 07:42 PM I has seen a number of ST's letters and they are highly self-contradictory. To my way of thinking, reading of his two convictions for animal abuse spoke more highly than pretty well anything else, followed by his own self-contradictory statements which I read. See: <a href="http://www.dyrenes-beskyttelse.dk/db/dbpress.nsf/PresseDk/003fabe3e0123ac8c1256fb70027de6e?opendocument">Long link to Dyrenes Beskyttelse</a> And here's the translation: http://www.zerodollars.com/telltale/thinggaard.htm http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/kriminalitet/article.jhtml?articleID=237703 http://www.bornholmstidende.dk/default.asp?m=11&tlgid=17078&mode=telegram Others with the same source (ritzau) and text as above: http://www.tvsyd.dk/page/53?article_id=34970384 http://www.bt.dk/krimi/artikel:aid=346084/ http://politiken.dk/visartikel.iasp?pageid=367193 http://www.jp.dk/indland/artikel:aid=2917404/ http://www.tv2east.dk/nyhed_vis_ritzau.php?id=21402 and on his appeal of this current conviction: http://www.bt.dk/krimi/artikel:aid=346286/ It is hard for me to believe someone whose story continually changes and does not match what the legal process uncovers. It usually takes a lot for me to not give someone the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, in this situation the sum total of what I have read makes that impossible for me personally. You may differ, but read the cases before deciding.
Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA Member	Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 \| 09:22 AM ...<b>UPDATE:</b> I don't think anyone cares.
Sarah	Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 \| 04:02 PM WELL MAEGEN YOU SHOULD CARE EVERY ONE SHOULD CARE!!!
Sarah	Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 \| 04:05 PM anyone who could treat an animal in that way should have the same done to them!!!! F***ing humans!!! what a discusting and cruel species!!!
Boo in The Land of the Haggii... Member	Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 \| 06:07 AM :roll: Gawd almighty.
Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA Member	Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 \| 06:50 AM ...Looks like Sarah's collar is just a bit too tight. Her human should take a cow prod to her!! :roll:
stork	Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 \| 07:18 PM Fuck the ferrets; gas PETA. Oh no, there I've gone and done it, again. Forgive me, Mistress? No, oh NO, AHHHGHH.
Myst Member	Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 \| 08:47 PM Oh for heaven's sake, I'm gone for awhile and someone has to revive this mess. Blahhh lol
Chadds Ford Prefect Member	Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 \| 08:02 AM Maegan said: UPDATE: I don't think anyone cares. Wow, I can't believe you said that. That was a nasty comment; I guess you do not think, then. I'm not a P.E.T.A. guy, nor any sort of animal activist (I love beef and wear leather boxers -haha), but I have had ferrets for over 20 years so I find that a peculiar comment.
Sukie Crandall	Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 \| 01:08 PM I have been told this is a new charge -- about a tiger cub this time: <http://www.dagbladetonline.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051128/FORSIDE_RINGSTED/111280153/4000> If pressed and won it will be the third animal abuse case found against him. Doesn't Denmark ever follow-up once it convicts people of serious animal abuses? The first involved the conditions involved in spaying and neutering of the pet stock ferrets (as opposed to his fur stock ones or other fur stock animals such as his mink), and the second involved multiple endangered buzzards who died of sores. (See news links giver earlier.)
Sukie Crandall	Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 \| 01:18 PM Shoot! The ISp removed the link! Okay: usual opener Then three dub. dagbladetonline dot dk backslash apps backslash pbcs dot dll (Not sure if that is two small case Ls, or two capital case Is, probably the former) backslash article?AID equal sign and backslash 20051128 (not sure if the 0 is zero or capital letter here and in other numerical sequences, probably the former) backslash FORSIDE underscore RINGSIDE backslash 111280153 backslash 4000 It is only a news article for goodness sake.

Note: This thread is located in the Old Forum of the Museum of Hoaxes.