BY DAVE MARCUS
March 6, 2009
Newsday.com Ollie the ferret is a mischievous
critter who cuddles with people, plays with dogs and is dressed up
in a red coat on Christmas.
But now he's at the center of a ferret feud that pits his owners for the
past two years against a Freeport animal shelter that adopted him out to
a new home.
Ollie belonged to Rosemarie Maracich and Shay MacInnis of Fairfield,
Conn. When they went on vacation, they left him with their friend and pet-sitter,
Sue Toscano of Long Beach. On Feb. 23, she noticed Ollie was missing from
his cage.
"I was desperate," Toscano said, "He's like a member of the family."
Toscano said she put up fliers and
notified local
animal hospitals and police. No luck.
On Monday morning, during a major snowstorm, an employee of All Creatures
Veterinary Hospital in Long Beach, who had seen the flier, called to say
that a man had sought advice a few days earlier after finding a ferret two
blocks from Toscano's apartment.
Toscano and Maracich called the man, who said the Long Beach police had sent
an animal control worker to take the ferret to the Freeport Animal Shelter
on Feb. 24. Long Beach Police Lt. John Radin said records show the animal
was dropped at the Freeport Animal Shelter.
Toscano said she immediately called the shelter and was told that he'd temporarily
gone to a volunteer's home. "We were thrilled to know Ollie was safe," Toscano
said.
Toscano and Maracich said they kept calling and got a "constant runaround." They
said they drove to the shelter when the roads were clear on Tuesday, and
director Stephanie Cieslik told them the ferret had been adopted.
"How could that happen?" Toscano said in an interview. "We all love Ollie. We
didn't abandon him - he escaped."
Reached last night, Cieslik said that she has a policy of keeping animals
for five days while waiting for their owners to appear. In fact, state law
says shelters can adopt out an animal after five days and the prior owner
loses any rights, said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk SPCA.
After five days had passed in the Freeport shelter, Ollie went to "an absolutely
fabulous home" that already has another ferret, Cieslik said.
After speaking to Toscano, she said she contacted the new owner to persuade
her to give up the animal, but got nowhere.
Cieslik said she sympathizes with the original owners, but "if it was my
own animal I would've been pounding the pavement looking for it."
Toscano and Maracich say they did more than pound pavement - they called
everywhere they could think of.
"I'm very happy that Ollie's warm and healthy," Toscano said, "but he needs to
go back to his rightful owners."
|
Ferret News 
