>... They were offering alternatives to dogs and cats for those people that
>wanted a low maintenance pet.  I was waiting before posting this and was
>hoping that someone that had first-hand knowledge of the show would post in
>today's FML, but I didn't see anything.
>
>I'm sure you can guess that a ferret was the first alternative they
>mentioned.  They said something to the effect that if you wanted a pet
>that would crawl up on your lap and eat potato chips with you while you
>watch TV, a ferret is the pet for you.
>
>If someone knows where to write/e-mail these people and help them to get
>a clue, I would certainly appreciate it....
 
I did watch the Saturday edition of the TODAY show, and the brief
information given about ferrets was, for the most part, fairly accurate;
especially in context to the other alternative pets being shown in the
brief segment.  The one bit of misinformation was that ferrets were
domesticated long before cats.
 
That aside, the pet guest prefaced his few comments about how good ferrets
are as pets, by saying that they are by far his favorite pet and that unlike
most of the other pets he was showing, the ferret was -- in his opinion --
the one you should get if you wanted a pet to cuddle, climb in your lap,
and share chips with you.  The other alternative pets were geckos, iguanas,
tarantulas, a guinea pig, and a very bite happy hedgehog.
 
Overall, the ferret comments were very positive and nothing was indicated
that they were low maintenance pets.  In fact, the only comment regarding
maintenance at all was when the guest mentioned that all of these pets,
unlike a dog, did not need to be taken out for a walk after a long day at
work.  The fact is, the segment was so short, that aside from introducing
the various pets, very little information was shared.  The entire segment
was less than five minutes in duration.
 
Rather than writing to "give them a clue," any writing to the TODAY show
should be to thank them for the positive light in which the ferret was
shown.  FML posters often bitch and gripe about the poor press which usually
comes to ferrets following a bite incident, and this piece was definately
positive.
 
There is a problem with second hand information -- it is often inaccurate.
We all played the Round Robin game in elementary school where a message is
whicpered from person to person around the room and invariably, the message
at the end bears very little resemblance to the original message.  The same
is still true.  Sometimes, the listener hears only a part of what was
actually said, and the resulting message is inaccurate as a result; and
becomes more and more inaccurate with each retelling.
 
While, I personally, would have preferred at least 15 minutes of air time
on ferrets alone, I have to say that the segment was very positive and the
TODAY show deserves congratulations for showing ferrets in a positive light.
 
Scott and the Mustilid Mob
Jopal Ferret Haven
[Posted in FML issue 2411]