Here is what I hope to be a calm an intellegent letter requesting Party of
Five rectify what they have done.  This is what I sent to the "Ask Fox"
email address.  I will also be sending a copy via snail mail to the Party
of Five address listed previously.
 
Dear Sir/Madam,
 
I'm sure it has been called to your attention that the depiction in the
"Party of Five" 12/9 episode of pet ferrets being feral and predatory was
incorrect.  It is my intention in this letter to encourage you not to
ignore this mistake.  As you well know the television, being part of the
media, is a powerful force in society.  Misinformation of this type
broadcast to the general public who are not well educated in the care and
behavior of pet ferrets will compound and facilitate the spread of improper
assumptions and/or care of pet ferrets.  As you have probably been told,
ferrets are not capable of caring for themselves in the wild.  Just as
you would not turn a pet dog into the streets, a ferret would fair ten
fold worse.  If you choose not to acknowledge the enormous affect your
programming can have in your millions of viewers, you may, in fact, be
relegating innocent animals to torture and horrible death.  I humbly
beseech you to issue a retraction and try to undo damage that may have
already been done.  I think you will find admitting a mistake will earn
you respect and reclaim viewers that I can assure you have lost do to this
incident.
 
Thank you for your time,
 
Angela D. Young
North Carolina State University
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Zoology Department
919-(work phone)
919-(home phone)
 
 ***
I wanted to let them know it was unacceptable to let it go and that they
will and have lost viewers over this, but in a subtle, unimposing manner.
I hope I succeeded.
 
Angie and Duchees (six pound terror MinPin puppy) Chewie (5 pound manly
monster ferret), Roxanne (dainty and sick but non-the-less fiesty little
girl), Adrienne (female monster weighing in at 3 pounds).
[Posted in FML issue 2521]