Response to "Move Over, Meerkat Manor," by Paul Tolme

I have to admit that the first time I read this article I found it extremely strange. After I re-read it I found the article kind of amusing especially the way Tolme made humorous comments about ferrets being a “hot” topic in a romance novel. The thought that a story about black-footed ferrets could be incorporated into a romance novel almost seems crazy. Paul Tolme openly admits there is no way that his writings could have sparked the interest of Edward’s readers. Tolme’s writings were based on facts not fantasy. What caught my attention most was that although Paul Tolme was concerned about the plagiarism, and saw himself as a victim, he seemed more concerned and disturbed by the fact he had written a non-fictional piece about a serious topic that got plagiarized into a trashy, fictional, romance novel. As he states in this article his writing was simply used to fill the pages of the romance novel without any true concern for ferrets and the problems they were facing. He saw the ferrets as the true victims in this situation which he considered worse than plagiarism. I respect Tolme for being more concerned about the ferrets and the story they needed to tell, than worrying about the plagiarism of his works.