# Animal Planet



## jor71 (Aug 21, 2008)

Anyone watching the "Fat Pets" show? It disgust me seeing how heavy these dogs are and the owners don't do anything. These are the type of people that should not own pets. There is no excuse for a dog to weigh 203 lbs. This one lady just fed her dog like 6 pieces of cake!!! The vet told her the dog will not live much longer, unless she put's the dog on a diet. Sorry for ranting, but there is no excuse for this behavior!


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## Gx3 (Aug 21, 2008)

Yea that is stupid...but I see people do the same thing with their children all the time. Its horrible. I feel kind of bad because one of my tiger sals is hugely obese but its because he eats all the crickets before the others come out!! hehe


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## Exhume2Consume (Aug 21, 2008)

eh my american bulldog is a little chubby ive been running her on my fixie every couple of days since i moved back with my mother.
shes dropping weight fine. she is a table scrap dog too. but one of the most intelligent.


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## markkevin123 (Mar 13, 2011)

In India Animal Planet has not exactly set the rating charts on fire but it has definitely built up its share of dedicated viewers. Most of the shows anchored by Sir David Attenborough are quite amazing." He is one of the many loyal viewers of this channel. His primary interest in wildlife commences with books and extends to the channels, including Discovery and National Geographic. Broadly, the genre of programming on these channels is similar, yet there is a distinct difference in programming that comes on National Geographic and Animal Planet, though many viewers would prefer Discovery for its broader range. But there is never a dull moment with Animal Planet. What makes the channel interesting is the fact that the programming is quite attention grabbing, yet informative and the background score makes it viewer-friendly.


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Mar 14, 2011)

_[size=large] I didn't watch it but,.. see it all the time,.. it should be a legal form of abuse when its not a medical issue and can be prevented,...just like not feeding enough. [/size]_


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## Draco D Tegu (Mar 15, 2011)

I would tend to respectfully disagree with that. In over 25 years of working with animals, I have seen a lot of changes in the way of pet care. Heck, I was around before HW preventative marketed measure and the only treatment available was diethylcarbamazine. As well I have seen a lot of changes in ideology where people often tend to think thier way of pet care should superceed any one else's idea of how things should be run.

A lot of the obese dogs we see in the clinic are by WELL intentioned people, NOT abusive owners. Particularly elderly people who are from the "old school". For most of these people, thier pets are all the companionship they have and they love them dearly. They wish to make thier pets happy and if that includes tasty treats, they give them. Nothing wrong with that, other than ignorance of the owner not realizing they're making chubbster. This is where education is key and explaining to the owners that they CAN kill thier pet with kindness. Lack of feeding enough on the other hand indicates a lack of concern for the pet, and that is, in short, neglect.

I feel it's important to call abuse abuse, and ignorance ignorance. Often the labels are used interchangably and ignorantly to suit the ideology of the labelee. 

Just my 0.2, and I mean no offense, I just disagree with calling kindness abuse.


Draco D Tegu said:


> I would tend to respectfully disagree with that. In over 25 years of working with animals, I have seen a lot of changes in the way of pet care. Heck, I was around before HW preventative marketed measure and the only treatment available was diethylcarbamazine. As well I have seen a lot of changes in ideology where people often tend to think thier way of pet care should superceed any one else's idea of how things should be run.
> 
> A lot of the obese dogs we see in the clinic are by WELL intentioned people, NOT abusive owners. Particularly elderly people who are from the "old school". For most of these people, thier pets are all the companionship they have and they love them dearly. They wish to make thier pets happy and if that includes tasty treats, they give them. Nothing wrong with that, other than ignorance of the owner not realizing they're making chubbster. This is where education is key and explaining to the owners that they CAN kill thier pet with kindness. Lack of feeding enough on the other hand indicates a lack of concern for the pet, and that is, in short, neglect.
> 
> ...




Oh wow...that showed up in the "New Posts" ....Sorry, I didn't double check the dates, and replied to a 2 year old thread LOL.


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## turtlepunk (Mar 15, 2011)

personally I think animal planet has gone WAAAY down hill. I feel that it is causing A LOT of negative attention towards animals (especially reptiles) than any good! I pretty much stopped watching the bullshit and now watch more nat geo. and discovery.


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## Draco D Tegu (Mar 16, 2011)

I would have to agree with you. I stopped watching it after one episode where they were claiming a 30 year old horse was being abused because it had a few ribs showing.

The animal "cop" obviously had no equine experience and had NO CLUE as to the fact that when a horse gets in their 20's they start losing the ability to metabolize thier food as well as they should, they typically start to get cushings, and by the time they're mid twenties they simply usually DO NOT KEEP WEIGHT ON, no matter how much you feed them. They also don't shed out thier winter hair like they should which makes them look even WORSE. Any experienced person can tell you a tale or two of an elderly horse they know or had that could eat till they foundered but NOT keep weight on.

My remote was readily engaged when the cop started badmouthing the owner due to her own ignorance. And I haven't looked back since.


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## chelvis (Mar 16, 2011)

The reason its gone down hill is mainly due to the funding that The Human Society has been putting into them which has turned the focus away from wild animals and on too animal welfare issues. I remember when i first started watching it was Crocodile hunter, Jeff Corwin, Mutal of Omha and Big cat Diaryies all the time. Now its animal cop and my dog ate what? It is now geared towards pet owners and the agenda of the Human Society which is not always a firendly one, especially towards reptiles and exotic pets.


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## Draco D Tegu (Mar 16, 2011)

I hate both the HSUS and PETA, who ware closely affiliated (one funds the other). I also hate how HSUS plays on the ignorance of the populus leading them to believe that they contribute directly to the local shelters and the welfare of animals within a given location, when this is blatantly false. I can't tell you how many people I had to tell this too, yet they still get people to give them donations, thinking they're helping abandoned, unwanted and abused animals. PETA.....well I can't tell you how much I despise Ingrid Newkirk.

HSUS and PETA can both go to H-E-double hockey sticks. 

Just my 0.2 (and I'm incredibly bored today so I'm surfing the inter-webz)


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 1, 2011)

I dislike Fatal Attractions. Sheds a lot of negative light on reptile/exotic pet keepers.


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## Strange_Evil (Apr 1, 2011)

Animal planet kind of went down the drain,there shows are mostly not even educational,just silly little shows for the most part. I watch Nat Geo way more now.


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## Rhetoric (Apr 1, 2011)

I LOVE nat geo, I watch all their documentaries on netflix. I don't see too many shows on the actual channel, I'm not even sure why I pay for cable... lol. 
I liked fatal attractions, I only saw a couple of the episodes though. I can see how someone would think it shows exotic keepers in a bad light but at the same time I think most people understand most of the people on the show were dumba**es. I did feel bad for the animals that had to be put down because people are idiots but I feel like people who watch the show might learn that it really isn't a smart idea to keep tigers and leopards.
I stick to nat geo and discovery. Animal planet has some cool countdowns now and then.. And the puppy bowl is ADORABLE but I don't watch much AP.


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## AlexK (Apr 6, 2011)

Fatal Attractions is garbage. What really turned me off to it was the episode where some guy drunk as **** and high on coke somehow managed to get killed by a 12 foot Burm. Don't get me wrong, a 12 foot Burm is strong but not strong enough that it should kill a full grown man. Then there was the episode that was about some girl who thought freehandling her rattlesnakes was a good plan, as if HOT keepers didn't already have enough problems on their plate, this just draws attention to the hobby that it doesn't need.

I deal with people who have Tigers, bears, and other exotics on an almost daily basis, and while not all of them are competant, Fatal attractions mainly just draws attention to the totally foolish ones. The only redeeming episode I saw was the one about Jim Harrison from Kentucky Reptile zoo, but he works with HOTs as a job, not as a hobbyist.


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## Kingwolf26 (Apr 7, 2011)

Well that one episode of fatal attractions with the lizard guy, Ron with all the monitors walking freely in his house have made people think that my lizards are fierce and will eat people. I took my tegus to petsmart, to show the people who work there and let the kids have a petting show and this lady asked me " is it fierce will it bite? where do you keep it? arent you scared it will eat you?" Besides from the fact that she was black, which I am by the way, and ill informed, and how often do you see or hear of tegus, but the point is, she thought they were monitors and now apparently, people have the information and the belief that monitors kill and eat people, thanks to animal planet. You know whatelse? when I go outdoors with my lizards, i can only guess people think I am like a reserved person to society, with psycological problems? I fix appliances, going house to house and enjoy talking to people. How does that sound to you people. I own three tegus, am I a hoarder?


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## JohnMatthew (Jul 26, 2011)

Animal planet is beyond ridiculous these days, I gave up on them a while ago.


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## turtlepunk (Jul 26, 2011)

^^^^yup! same here!


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## iiLOVExTEGUS (Jul 27, 2011)

agreee^^^^^^^^^^^


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## Kebechet (Jul 27, 2011)

Kingwolf26 said:


> Well that one episode of fatal attractions with the lizard guy, Ron with all the monitors walking freely in his house have made people think that my lizards are fierce and will eat people.



I was actually talking to someone the other day regarding that. I'd never heard of the show, or anything about the event, but the lady I was talking to, was telling me that the monitors were starving after he died, and ate his corpse. His lizards didn't kill him, they were starving and had nothing to eat when he stopped feeding them because he was dead. Apparently the show did a pisspoor job of actually showing that though. The audacity of people to twist things is disgusting.


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## jumper123 (Jul 27, 2011)

They did that for a couple things. The python that strangled his owner.. The owner was drunk and fell down and started bleeding. But they don't say that stuff till the end of the episode.


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## tora (Jul 27, 2011)

I guess the monitor guy died from an infected bite, though. I saw that one too.


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## Kebechet (Jul 27, 2011)

tora said:


> I guess the monitor guy died from an infected bite, though. I saw that one too.



I heard he actually died of a heart attack. I can't find an official reason for death though.


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## turtlepunk (Jul 27, 2011)

ugh. I posted a pic of my new little tegu on my Facebook page and what response do I get?
"a tegu? girl those things are mean. dont you watch animal planet lol. they're raising all kinds of hell in florida right now.."
OF COURSE........seems like Animal Planets "anti-reptile" agenda is working to their desire.........


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## tora (Jul 27, 2011)

Kebechet said:


> tora said:
> 
> 
> > I guess the monitor guy died from an infected bite, though. I saw that one too.
> ...



It says on the show he got ill and died after a bite on the hand got severely infected.


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## hoosier (Jul 27, 2011)

they mis inform also. i watched one where there was someone smuggling in exotics. one lady pulled out a container with a tegu. said they were part of the monitor family. also saw a show that said a great white shark had 2tons of bite force even though they had a show not too long ago where a guy was measuring bite force of different animals including white sharks with a measuring device proved they only have 600psi because with the teeth they have it is not necessary to have such a powerful bite. they love to use the scare factor to create drama in their shows. makes me sick. the show about the rattlesnake hunters makes me want to kill whoever allowed that to be on the air.
in reguards to the coment someone posted on a picture of a tegu, i have actually had someone tell me to "put down that rattle snake before it bites you and you die" when i caught a 6ft black rat snake near my house. with reptiles, some people can be very ignorant. ignorance breeds fear. fear breeds hate. and hate breeds extermination.


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