The message below was sent to all of us on the Ferret Company emailing list and was written up by the wonderful Jeanne Carley. Received on Thursday, January 15th.

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First of all, thanks so much for writing those poignant and polite letters. I know you were angry about Mr. Stiller's comments. Believe me, as someone who has worked so hard for so many years on the ferret issue (as many of you have as well) so was I!

But your letters worked! This morning Mr. Stiller appeared on the Today show this morning with Matt Lauer. I missed it but a faithful recount appeared on the FML from Heather and was forwarded to me:

They talked a bit about the character Stiller plays, then Matt turned to the subject of the ferret, mentioning, "You went on Leno a couple of nights ago and said some things that got you in hot water with ferret lovers."

"Yeah," said Ben Stiller nervously, and proceeded to read some of what he said have been "thousands" of emails from ferret lovers..He chose to read the best of which said, "To work with ferrets, you need to be smarter than aloud a few, them. Apparently Mr. Stiller is not." He insisted that his remarks on Leno were meant to be humerous to promote his movie, and that he is a dog lover and likes animals, and does not hate ferrets. He then issued a formal apology to all ferret people everywhere, apologizing for his remarks, stating that he does not intend to support ferrets being illegal in California. (He also acknowledged that the ferret has tested higher in "Along Came Polly" screenings than any of its human co-stars!)

Then they brought out a little sable guy and introduced him to Ben Stiller, Stiller took the ferret and held it and gave it a kiss on the top of its head. Then Matt Lauer asked, "Does it feel good to get that off your chest?" Holding the ferret close to him, Stiller replied kindly, "It's good to have a ferret ON your chest." It was a good moment.

I applaud you ALL for writing. Another viewer said Mr. Stiller specifically credited the e-mail campaign for his apology. But I also applaud and have a new respect for Mr. Stiller. It took courage and integrity to publicly acknowledge that he erred in his comments about ferrets, and I was pleased to see that he realized that he hurt good people who love these domesticated pets. It's a shame that the California Department of Fish and Game has never had enough good character to do the same, but when was the last time you heard of a bureaucracy acknowledging an error or apologizing for any harm they've caused?