This June, we worked with the Ferret Association of Connecticut (FACT) and other shelters in the US and Canada as part of a large operation to rescue 24 ferrets that were retiring from a private Canadian breeder. This was a herculean effort run by Vanessa Gruden from FACT which we were honored to be a part of.
Many of our volunteers worked overtime to prepare for these ferrets. On Tuesday, our board member Tatiana led the effort to get our quarantine area cleared out and setup with clean cages, and our lobby and back storage room completely cleaned and organized with help from our volunteers Denise, Kristin, and Robin!
The 5 male and 19 female ferrets arrived late Tuesday night. Tatiana and our president Andrew stayed until 4 am as the welcome committee to Matty (of "My Name is Musky" fame, you can follow their road trip adventures on Facebook) and Albert, who drove a grueling 16+ hours to transport the ferrets to us from the Manitoba Ferret Association in Winnipeg.
Wednesday, our board member Margaret transported 18 of the ferrets to one of our partner clinics (and her place of work), VCA West Suburban, where Dr. Steven Zary performed 18 spay and neuter surgeries in a single day! Meanwhile, our volunteers Karen, Milena, Hayden, Ava, and Ryan worked on cleaning the ferrets' travel cages so that they'd be ready for the next leg of their journey.
Thursday, those 18 were picked up once again and sent on their way to New Jersey to multiple shelters on the east coast. The other six ferrets received their surgeries the following week before heading to Five Points Ferret Refuge in Indianapolis.
We're incredibly grateful to everyone who made this possible and for the opportunity to give these babies the lives they deserve. We also want to extend a special thank you to our president emeritus, Martha, who coordinated with FACT early on, and all of our other volunteers who dealt with the extra scheduling, clean up, and energy of caring for so many new ferrets.