some good news for ferrets

A while back, I had posted about writing to the USDA about revising the regulations about shipping baby ferrets.  Most of the regulations will stay the same, but the really good news is that the minimum age for shipping is being increased from six weeks to eight weeks, and guidelines based on dentition will be written up so that USDA inspectors can tell an 8 week from a 6 week ferret kit.  It's still too young for those babies, but it's a big step in the right direction.  Those extra two weeks mean more time on mother's milk and a more gradual weaning period, so maybe fewer ferrets will have the kind of intestinal damage that Ronan did.  (of course, we don't really know what caused his IBD, but many vets feel that giving kits hard food too young predisposes them to intestinal ailments.)

( I liked the Lost season finale )

Put in the AC last night so that little Seti will not cook today.  There was a frost warning at the beginning of the week.  I do not understand this spring at all.

(no subject)

wtf, China?  Why do your manufacturers think it is appropriate to put poison in exported food and health products?  Are domestic products as tainted?  Where's your Ralph Nader and your Rachel Carson?  Oh, that's right, in jail for being dissidents. 

I just don't understand this on any level.  Why do the "rogue businessmen," as the Chinese call those responsible, think this is a good business practice?  Sure, there's greed, but once your product has started killing people, people will stop buying it and your profits are hurt in the long run.  And then there's the thought process that finds some number of deaths per thousand somehow an acceptable margin of comfort...