animal planet propaganda

[Texas Panther Man]

Did anyone else watch that animal planet show that was on on Sunday. It was titled "Alien Killers". It really portrayed the herp community in a bad light. While I dont agree with raising large snakes or large monitors in my home. I also dont agree with the goverment telling me that I cant keep exotic pets. The show used a few instances of exotics being either poorly kept or released to show how exotics shouldnt be kept by the general public.
I really enjoy alot of their programming but I dont think I can continue to watch their programming in the future because of this type of sensationalism.

I dont agree with nor endorse exotics being released into the native fauna. It does create serious problems. But the show made no attempt to show how many herp societies in the u.s. have helped to create conservation areas and given thousands through herpers who love our countries natural resources. No mention was made of any of the good deeds that the herp community has done for the last 30 or so yrs.

Sorry for the rant but that show really struck a cord last night.

 

[pssh]

They also show shows that teach people how to pick out breeders. Like the world doesn't already have enough dogs to choose from! They also often show 'keepers' who house animals in over crowded conditions.

edit: there was also some guy who cut off the tip of a chameleons tail. The same guy tackled and already disoriented and confused animal that he had just tranquilized. It was already on it's way to passing out, why the heck do we need to tackle it?

 

[fluxlizard]

Couple of relevant links:

How the big pythons got into Florida in the first place and their impact there (It wasn't pet owners bored with their pets releasing them into the wild. Nor is the wild in south florida even close to untouched and pristine)

Flawed USGS report on giant constrictors

more here:
http://www.vpi.com/publications

Sensationalism = big $$$ and controlling power when people can use it to catch the ear of government entities.

I'm not interested in keeping large constrictors in my home either. But I don't see anything wrong with it.

Horses and Dogs kill and seriously injure more people than large constrictors or monitors. But I don't think any of them should be illegal. My nephew was attacked by his family beagle when he was a toddler and his skull was punctured by the dog's teeth. He had to have surgery for the injury and surgery so his face wouldn't look bad. Most rational people would not decide that beagles should be outlawed in spite of this experience.

 

[Julirs]

I did watch this and wondered why they don't show a normal keeper's home where animals are kept properly and in cages. He had large monitors running the house that had even attacked his cat!

I also like the part about reptile keepers being "hoarders" and "psychologically flawed".

Wow.

 

[Syn]

I also like the part about reptile keepers being "hoarders" and "psychologically flawed".

Wow.

That's (more than) a little upsetting. Looks like I won't be supporting anything from Animal Planet anymore.

 

[laurie]

OMG now I am psychologically flawed??? We need to all let animal planet know how we feel about this type of shows. How about we flood them with complaints? I didn't see the show & I am glad.

 

[Syn]

How about we flood them with complaints? I didn't see the show & I am glad.

Agree and agree.

 

[Julirs]

I think you need to watch it. It did not say that all reptile enthusiasts are flawed-but it certainly was presented in a way where people would watch it and think, "I knew there was something wrong with Juli keeping all of those lizards in her house".

Honestly, I think it was very one sided with no representation of us less-crazy lizard hoarders!

 

[chams1]

I also like the part about reptile keepers being "hoarders" and "psychologically flawed".

So THAT's what's wrong with me!! I'm glad those geniuses could figure it out for me.

I didn't see the show, but I'd like for them to come to my house and meet MY monitor. 42" of solid muscle (properly kept of course) and I would allow him to attack any one of them he wanted.

 

[Julirs]

Hey Julie-If he bit you and you got an infection and died-and then he ate your dead body-then YOU could be on Animal Planet!

 

[Kevy Baby]

Did anyone else watch that Animal Planet show that was on on Sunday. It was titled "Alien Killers".

<snip>

Sorry for the rant but that show really struck a cord last night.

Actually, the name of the show is "Killer Aliens" - threw me off a bit in searching for it on their web site.

I would like to watch the show and form my own opinions. Unfortunately, it only showed yesterday and early this morning (according to the schedule found here). The full program description (what little there is of it is here. You can also find a press release about the show here (it is a PDF document).

From the press release:

KILLER ALIENS is produced for Animal Planet by Hoff Productions. For Hoff Productions, Michael Hoff is the executive producer. Dawn Sinsel is the executive producer for Animal Planet. Charlie Foley, is vice president of development for Animal Planet.

Hoff Productions appears to do a lot for Animal Planet and Discovery, so they don't appear to have an agenda.

I will check my TiVo tonight to see if there are any further showings scheduled.

 

[chams1]

Hey Julie-If he bit you and you got an infection and died-and then he ate your dead body-then YOU could be on Animal Planet!

Yeah. lol..... Sci Fi channel maybe.

Actually, my argus monitor would kill a person with his tail before he would bite someone.

 

[AReptile]

I did watch this and wondered why they don't show a normal keeper's home where animals are kept properly and in cages. He had large monitors running the house that had even attacked his cat!

Because normal keepers do the right thing and are not part of the problem of the wild populations running amok in Florida. It is the irresponsible owners that are part of the problem hence why the show picks out these people instead of the good. I thought it was funny when they said that reptile owners were psychologically flawed lmao. Maybe when you keep 20 reptiles in your house and half of them being venomous snakes and you're just a normal person i would say there's a problem somewhere!

 

[bigcappa]

O man how did I miss that... I'll have to see when they are going to air it next and check it out for myself.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Great article and info Flux. Took me awhile to read it at work though. lol Any one with half a brain and any lnowledge of reptiles would know pythons arent going to spread across america.

 

[Lizardlover]

I did see this and was quite stunned that they would make a stereotypical comment like that. For anyone who would like to give AP a piece of their mind:

[email protected] <[email protected]>

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

We should all get in touch with Animal Planet and tell them the truth!

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I really couldnt believe a channel devoted to animals would air something so sensationalistic. It was really like watching reality tv. They used every unusual occurrence over the last 30 years to bash python breeders and keepers and people who keep large monitors.

Now I just dont have any desire to keep a reptile that large. Thats me. But I also dont think the us goverment or state goverment for that matter has the right to tell me i cant. If we ignore this and dont voice opposition to our elected officials we might be lamenting why we cant get any more chams or other exotics in 10-15 yrs.

I will be sending my opinions to animal planet. I just hope its gets seen by someone in authority and not filed away in the circular file. ie trash can

 

[fluxlizard]

normal keepers do the right thing and are not part of the problem of the wild populations running amok in Florida. It is the irresponsible owners that are part of the problem

You should really read the first link that I provided.

It wasn't the owners at all (responsible or irresponsible) that caused the problem in Florida- it was a hurricane in the 90s that blew some importer facilities to smithereens and some pythons, iguanas, etc got out. Read the link to see why they know this is so from genetic evidence.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

You know if a reg joe like you (Flux) found this article and this information then AP cetainly had access to it also. Not that we arent all just reg old crazy lizard hoarders! lol But you know what im saying how irresponsible to not show both sides of the situation.

I totally agree that non-native spcies should never be released into the wild. But I was thinking this before I read the article Flux attached. How can a cb 15ft long adult python survive in the wild after being released? That snake has spent the better part of a decade, being that hes that big. Being fed, watered, and basically catered too. Hes not going to know how to hunt or ambush prey items. I say 99.999 percent of released pythons prob starve to death.