Marty is the albino that made me like albinos. I'd never owned an albino, and I had no desire to change that. Don't get me wrong; a ferret by definition is cute, so I had nothing against albinos per se. But they also didn't do much for me. I wasn't freaked out by their red eyes, I never believed they were posessed... I just didn't like them as much as the darker ferrets. Until I met Marty.

Of course, Marty came to me as a rescue. He wasn't really even my rescue, well, not at first. A surrenderer from West Chester contacted Chris and Tara Palaski, who were then the directors of the Chester County branch of the PFRA. They were in the process of moving to Pittsburgh when the call came in about four ferrets that needed to be placed. They actually were four ferrets that Tara had sold to the owner from her store, so she knew a bit of history about the ferrets. Chris went to pick the ferrets up, but since they were literally in the process of packing their moving van, he brought the four to my shelter branch to place rather than transport them across the state.

The ferrets were all relatively young, and quite nice-looking. There was a silver-mitt named Mittens, a light chocolate named Zim Zum, a sable named Twiggy, and the albino, named Marilyn. Marilyn? For a boy? I didn't connect the name-theme going on here... Marilyn was short for Marilyn Manson (a singer who isn't on my top-ten list), and apparently Zim Zum and Twiggy are names of other Marilyn Manson band members. (Mittens was apparently spared the horrible connection).

It took about ten minutes before I changed Marilyn's name to Marty... let's give the poor guy some dignity! I didn't realize until months later the connection with the other two names, so they weren't renamed.

The four went on the adoption list, where they remained for months. I was prepared to separate the group into two pairs, to make them more easily adoptable; but we had a pretty full house in the shelter, and unfortunately they were passed over numerous times. Over the summer, Zim Zum became seriously ill, removing him from the adoptables list. The four were caged together at the time, however, and I think that Zim Zum being ill also deterred adopters from looking at the healthy ones. Zim Zum needed his friends, though, and I didn't want to separate the group. Then, suddenly, Mittens passed away. My heart was broken - of the four, he was my favorite, and he hadn't shown any signs of illness. He was a truly special ferret and I have never forgotten him and I never will.

With Mittens death, another problem arose - there were now only three left from the group. I had a standing policy at the shelter, never, ever would I break apart a bonded group of three - it would mean one would be without a friend. Zim Zum was recovering from his illness, and the trio was put back on the adoptables list; but adopters willing to take home a group of three are very few and far between.

Marty, Twiggy, and Zim Zum remained on the adoptables list for over a year. Through that time, I fell in love with these three ferrets. It's impossible not to bond to shelter ferrets that stay with you for so long. Each of the three had very different personalities (see Twiggy and Zim Zum's pages for their stories). Marty was so full of life, so energetic, and quite a handsome boy. He was a bit of a handful at times; always climbing on cages when I was trying to clean, or underfoot when I was trying to feed the gang. But I'd look down at him and he'd look right back up at me with his big eyes and mischevious face, and I couldn't help but pick him up and adore him.

After their year anniversary with the shelter, I decided it was time to make official what I already felt in my heart. I decided to try introducing them to my personal ferrets and see if they'd be able to live together... though it didn't really matter to me whether they did or not. I removed them from the adoptables list, and they became mine.

It's now been four years since Chris first dropped these boys off at my door. Sadly, he is the last of the original four still with me, but he has long-since bonded with the other ferrets in his group and though I know that he misses his 'brothers,' he is a very, very happy ferret. He is just as active today as the day I met him, and he's just as mischevious as ever. He came to be known as the "white sheep" of the Castle Gang, because he was the only albino in a sea of sables and chocolates. But last summer, Tumbleweed came to the group... only the second albino I have ever owned. I joked with Marty that he'd now have a buddy to hang out with, but I truly expected that Tanglefoot would be Tumbleweed's best buddy. Much to my surprise, however, Marty bonded with Tumbleweed almost from day one, and now on any given day, if you sneak into the ferret room when all the kids are sleeping, you're sure to find Marty curled up in a hammock with Tumbleweed. They've become the best of friends, and I think it's a perfect match. :o)