Ferret Owner Amazed By Kindness Of Strangers Stabbing Of More Than 100 Animals Sparks Outrage And Compassion

They’re calling it the Spokane Massacre.

The grisly stabbing of more than 100 Spokane ferrets, resulting in the death of 93, has sparked outrage and compassion among ferret lovers around the globe.

Letters, e-mail and phone calls - all demanding justice - have deluged the offices of police detectives, the Washington attorney general and the Spokane County Prosecutor since the Nov. 19 killings.

In between phone calls, people from Seattle to New Zealand are writing checks and filling boxes with supplies for the 39 surviving ferrets of breeder Jean Smith.

“It has just been overwhelming,” said Smith. “I open my mailbox every day and it’s full.”

There are hundreds of letters from ferret enthusiasts, including Jackie Hawley of Hinesville, Ga., and boxes of medical supplies from people such as Gary Holowicki of Phoenix, Ariz.

“It was just too horrible to think that anybody would do this to any animal,” Hawley said. “This is not going to be forgotten very easily.”

People on ferret mailing lists spread the word about the killings on the Internet. They aren’t letting local and state officials rest.

“We’ve gotten calls and faxes from pretty much all over the country,” said Julie Bowman, who works in the major crimes division of the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office. “I don’t know if we’ve ever seen a case get so much response.”

On Nov. 19, Smith came home to find 87 of her 139 ferrets stabbed to death with a weapon similar to a syringe. Six more have since died.

Police continue to search for 20-year-old Lance A. Seurer, who was staying with Smith at the time of the killings.

Seurer is wanted on eight felony counts of animal cruelty, police said. The arrest warrants are based on Washington State University autopsies done on eight of the ferrets.

Smith said last week that the killing of the animals she raises and sells at her North Side House of Ferrets wiped her out financially.

But people worldwide are determined not to let her suffering continue.

A woman in New Zealand set up a Web page memorializing the dead ferrets and soliciting donations (http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/(tilde)fanmail/flyer.htm).

There has been so much response to ferret enthusiast Bill Gruber’s Internet Ferret Mailing List, which has about 3,000 members, that he posts Jean’s address and phone number daily.

Trust funds have been established. Smith has received calling cards from strangers willing to lend her a sympathetic ear. Thousands of dollars have poured in to pay her bills.

“We’ve had so much response and money contributions,” said WSU veterinarian Dr. Eric Stauber, who is treating eight of Smith’s ferrets. “It’s really heartwarming and mail is still coming in.”

Spokane resident Scott Kassap has been heading much of the local effort.

“I’ve never seen such a team effort in my life,” Kassap said.

Why is there such an outpouring for Smith?

“To be honest, it’s not Jean, it’s the ferrets,” Kassap said. “My first impression was they’re big rats for 120 bucks. But they’re just incredibly intelligent. They are the most loving animal I’ve ever owned. People just love these things. That’s what I think it really comes to.

“This was a needless slaughter.”

Three weeks after the killings, the response is still going strong.

Members of the Ferret Mailing List have made up a flier that is being sent to veterinarians and pet stores across the country soliciting money for the ferrets, Hawley said.

“Jean’s going to need supplies,” she said. “We want to help where we can.”

E-mail and faxes continue to flood the local media, the police department and WSU.

About 100 people have posted responses to stories on the ferrets at The Spokesman-Review’s Web site (http://www.VirtuallyNW.com), said Larry Reisnouer, who oversees the newspaper’s Web site.

“That’s more responses to a story than we’ve ever had,” he said.

Smith, who spent 13 days alone dealing with the ferret deaths before word spread, said she’s been saved by the ferret community.

“I was absolutely depressed. I would get physically sick when I went in there to feed the (remaining) ferrets and care for them,” she said. “It was literally killing me.

“They saved not just my ferrets. They saved me.”

But the trauma is far from over. Several ferrets remain in critical condition at WSU. It will be months before the extent of internal injuries is known in the 31 that remain at her home business. About 15 were not harmed.

“Everyone is really working hard to make sure we get these animals over the hump,” WSU’s Stauber said.

And the emotional effects on Smith are painful and long-lasting.

“It’s like walking in and finding your family wiped out,” she said. “They were massacred, not just killed.

“I have massive nightmares. I wake up and think they’re screaming.”

It’s the generosity of strangers that keeps Smith going.

“This couldn’t have happened without them. They just made all the difference in the world,” she said. “My devastation was so complete. There’s no way to properly thank them.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: DONATIONS Donations may be made to the Jean Smith Ferret Fund at U.S. Bank, 123 E. Queen Ave., Spokane, WA. 99207