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In February of this year I found myself in court defending the NFWS in a law suit. I am happy to say that the plaintiff was unsuccessful as their case was dismissed. I do not wish to go down the route of naming names or relating all the unsavory things that were said, but the membership should know what has been going on and why.
A few years ago, a previous chairman of the NFWS introduced "trade membership". This gave the trade member the same membership benefits as normal members, but with the added benefit that NFWS would "promote" their business where possible. This worked well until one trade member raised an objection to an article that had been written in a well known ferret magazine about the use of fipronil as a treatment for ear mites. The person writing the article is a member of the NFWS. The same advice was then also printed in the NFWS newsletter by a vet. The trade member contacted members of the committee and said that this information was wrong and should be withdrawn and a written apology should appear in the newsletter. The member was requested to offer evidence tha fipronil was not safe to use, or write an article in the newsletter airing their thoughts or reservations about ear mite treatment as the information in the vets hand book for exotic pets promoted fipronil's use. No such evidence or article was produced but unsavory articles of a personal nature regarding members of the committee, began to appear on the trade member's Internet message board.
The trade member was asked to meet with the committee to discuss their grievances but this was ignored and the attacks on the publicly accessible site intensified. The committee tried every possible way to resolve this problem in a reasonable manner but without success.
Two advertisements for this member's business had been printed in the newsletter. It was decided to hold off printing any more adverts until the trade member stopped the very unpleasant, and untrue comments on their message board. The next thing we knew we were being sued for breach of contract and loss of earnings. After hearing both sides and reviewing all the written evidence the Judge decided in our favour. The plaintiff had to stand the court costs so money wise this did not cost NFWS anything.
There will always be differences of opinion on various ferret related matters, whether it be treatments, drugs, general care, feeding etc etc but the whole point of NFWS membership is that you have a free and open forum via the newsletter to put over your point of view. We will print your articles regardless of whether we agree with the content or not, and let the membership make up their own minds. As the old saying goes "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". What we will not do is surrender to bullying and censorship. This is our promise to our members.
Liz Shadforth