The Broward Ferret Rescue was founded in 2000 by Karen Riley and Dona Michaels. Based out of their homes, it remains a small no kill ferret shelter. In 2003, Karen had to leave the shelter leaving Dona as the soul head. This task could not have fallen on greater shoulders. Still based out of her home, Dona maintains the shelter with the help of many people. Jane Ziemba comes in and cares for the ferrets several times a week. She also fosters many ferrets with special needs. Michelle runs the sanctuary for the rescue from her home. She cares for all the ailing ferrets who are not adoptable due to illnesses. Sue helps with fundraisers, while Lori contributes all the advertising. We have many others that donate their time in assisting with the day to day operations.

Unfortunately, as the other rescues around Southern Florida disappear, more and  more ferrets come into the rescue. We carry an average of 30-40 ferrets which doesn't include the ones we have in foster homes, and the sanctuary. And even though we continue to grow, we are always out there trying to get these animals a forever home.

One of the ways we try to adopt our ferrets is by going to PETCO. We try to go once a month to PETCO's around the South Florida area, informing people about ferrets, and if they are interested, we ask they think of adoption first. Another way we get our ferrets out there is through PETFINDERS.COM. Petfinders has been a substantial part of getting our name out there and these ferrets adopted. We average around 200 hits a day at petfinder, making it one of the most affective adoption tools for us.

In 2004, Broward Ferret Rescue became a 501c3 non-profit organization, meaning all funds that we receive goes to the help and care of the ferrets in our rescue. One of our major donators is PETCO. They are always there to help out and constantly ask us to join them for their national adoption events, and we are always happy to go. We get other donations by holding fundraising events such as pot luck, garage sales, and bake sales.