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The Story of Mischief the Ferret
by Pam Bos

It was a rainy Tuesday evening in February around 8:00 pm when I took out the trash and came back inside to have a seat on the couch. Then it hit me, Mischief my small sable female ferret was missing. Oh NO!!! I looked everywhere; inside and out. I checked everywhere twice. I then began the daunting task of looking outside. It was then 3 o'clock in the morning. I gave up and tried to fall asleep but with out luck. The next day, I called in to work to continue the search.

I first called the Indianapolis Humane Shelter and they put me in touch with The Circle City Ferret Club. They had not gotten any stray ferrets in the last day. I also called a lot of pet shops and veterinarian offices to see if any one had brought in a ferret. Still no luck.

It has now been 2 days since she has been missing. My search continues. I looked in the dumpster and along the ditch and under cars, the whole time jingling her favorite fuzzy bell toy. I looked for 2 days straight. Wednesday night at about 11:30 PM, a guy, was walking his dog. Just like everyone else I had seen, I asked him if he had seen a ferret. He said "No". Then, he turned around and said, "Yes". I was so excited. "Where? When?" I asked. He said that his name was James, and that he had seen her under a car and took her up into the storage room and given her some water. He said it was the night before last at around 8:15 PM "Well, where is she now" I asked. He then informed me that he had taken her to a pet shop called Uncle Bills near our apartment complex and had given her to a customer that was in there. James went on to describe the employee that was in there and a description of the person that had actually taken her. James said that the guy he had given her to was wearing a Shelbyville letter jacket and driving a black Cavalier.

That night I thought about how glad I was that she had not frozen to death or been eaten by anything. She was only outside for about 15 minutes! I was also thinking about why couldn’t he have called the Humane Shelter or asked around the neighborhood? He said himself that he "knew she had to be someone's pet because she came to him when he called while she was hiding under the car and she wasn't dirty." I just couldn’t believe that he would just give her to a stranger.

The next morning, Thursday, bright and early, I went in to Uncle Bills Pet shop and questioned everyone in there. No one had seen a ferret in their pet store for a really long time. (Again, my suspicions were getting the best of me since they had a whole slew of 'Marshall Ferrets New Pet Adoption Kits') I waited until that evening and went back in there to question the second shift employees. I did have a general description of one of the employees in there that had supposedly witnessed the giving of Mischief. One employee fit the description quite well, his name was John and I subjected him to a good 10 minutes of grilling until the manager of the store said that I had to leave and stop harassing his employees. I obliged, but put up fliers on the front door -- all over, inside and out.

My next step was to canvass all of the other possible places that she may have been seen. I had 200 fliers, complete with picture and entire story, made up and put them everywhere for the next 4 days. (People at my work were a little tired of me calling in, but sympathized with my plight.) I went to PetSmart, Pet Co., PetWarehouse, and at least 30 different Vet offices, at apartment complexes and grocery stores in Indianapolis and Greenwood. I did not receive any calls at all about Mischief, except from other ferret owners giving me their condolences and offering to help me look.

As most of my hope was dwindling... >>>

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