From:
RRC
Date: 2001-07-08 01:41:00 UTC
Subject: Re: OPPORTUNITY!
Sukie wrote:
>This is your opportunity to join Dr. Williams in making ferret lives
longer and more enjoyable for them and us. The ferret you help save >may
be your own. Please send in your contribution today to:
>
>Research for Ferrets
>Dept. of Telemedicine
>Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
>Washington DC 20306-6000
Thank you Sukie for telling me about this; I will make a contribution. I
strongly encourage people to help fund this type of research. Send what
you can and encourage other people to do so. In today's political
climate, where our own Vice President Dick "The Heart Throb" Cheney
calls the black-footed ferret "vermin" and the administration attempted
to shut down bbf facilities, it is not all that likely that funding to
help solve ferret disease will be readily available. Science is
expensive; in the last five years, I have spent more than $20,000 in
basic research alone, with a third of that paying for scanning electron
microscope time, a third for archaeology time, and most of the other
towards books, photocopies and journal copies. That was money out of my
own pocket, and doesn't reflect contributions towards research made by
various departments and institutions (mostly paid for travel or some
equipment). Nor does it reflect the more than $12,000 spent on
computers, electronic calipers, and other special equipment I dug out of
my own pocket to fund. That amount of money is nothing compared to full
blown research. Medical and veterinary research is especially expensive
because of the exactness required to find solutions, as well as the high
degree of difficulty in creating a research design which results in
practical solutions. I have a small poster over my desk that reads
"AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES: Where the world's brightest minds come together
to work 20 hour days and create solutions that benefit the world, all
for the minimum wage and anonymity."
If you wonder about the cost of identifying a disease, finding a
treatment and fighting the outbreak and spread of the disease, take a
look at AIDS in humans. Billions of dollars have been spent worldwide in
extensive/intensive basic research alone, and there is NO preventative
vaccine or real cure. There are treatments; some pretty effective, but
that's a long way from a vaccine. You can be sure whatever funds are
given to these projects, they will be appreciated, useful and directly
used for research rather than for paying for someone's hot tub. More
importantly, the information gathered will help ferrets. Research and
application take a lot of time, so contributions may not directly help
your ferret, BUT, you will be helping future ferrets. Acts of altruism
have their own reward.
Please, contribute as much as you can. Encourage your friends to give
something. Make some sort of contribution the goal of your shelter or
club. Do something for the future.
Bob C