animal planet

what is the deal we are trying to save the reptile industry with scientific facts and then we have animal planet running a three hour show about the snakes in florida eating everything from evasive rats to the neibors kid i think we should all boycott animal planet they are making all herp owners out to be erisponsible pet owners and last i checked some one that spends a couple of thousand on a snake is not going to release it into the wild. we need to start micro chipping all reptiles in the industry so that they can be tracked and if they are released they would be able to tell who the owner is. what do you all think.

craig sharpe
golden scale reptiles

There's already a boycott underway on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=378993595070

[quote=gsrept;893332]what is the deal we are trying to save the reptile industry with scientific facts and then we have animal planet running a three hour show about the snakes in florida eating everything from evasive rats to the neibors kid i think we should all boycott animal planet they are making all herp owners out to be erisponsible pet owners and last i checked some one that spends a couple of thousand on a snake is not going to release it into the wild. we need to start micro chipping all reptiles in the industry so that they can be tracked and if they are released they would be able to tell who the owner is. what do you all think.

craig sharpe

I don't think its the thousand dollar morphs that are in the everglades, its the $50.00 normals that get dumped. Thing is, It doesn't matter, a snake is a snake is a snake to them.

I watched that! Even though they were ruining the reptile industry more to a degree I never new specfically niles were released around there.

realize its not the thousand dollar morph but they have were introduced into the glades back in the 1970's and have had the last thirty or so years to proliferate it has nothing to do with the reptile industry.

I saw the "Alien" show and the "Fatal Attraction" one and they were both shocking and disgraceful. wtf???? What the hell is wrong with Animal Planet? Unbelievable.

Animal Planet is definitely going downhill when it comes to animals, especially reptiles.

They recently did a stunt called "Venom in Vegas" where the host of one of their shows lived in a glass box for 10 days with 100 snakes of a wide variety of species, locales, climates, etc. I was appalled that they considered this stunt humane and "educational."

I wouldnt be surprised if Animal Planet is just another front for all of the anti-animal groups in the world. Its propaganda in a nutshell. I know there are tons of Steve Irwin fans out so I hold all statements regarding him but, he was probably the most irresponsible reptile enthusiast out there. If I want to watch animals shows, I will watch National Geographic, and the old 70s shows at that. Those REALLY taught us what animals were like in their natural habitat.

Well, all media is propaganda, so Animal Planet isn't unique in that regard. If people would think about what they're watching/reading/seeing instead of just accepting everything as truth, this wouldn't be as much of a problem.

I do have to agree about Steve Irwin, at least a little bit. I do think he did a ton of good, but it doesn't excuse his poor practices (tailing venomous reptiles, for instance).

I agree, not everything he did was bad. I just felt that publically showing his carelessness sort of ruined this hobby because I am sure EVERYONE views us as being careless as well as reckless like him.
As for the media propaganda issue, you are right. I am just concerned that now, Animal Planet has become part of the agenda as well. Recently, in the last month or so, I was watching a Jerry Springer spinoff and it showed a reptile keeper with monkeys, hots, dogs, and all sorts of things one shouldnt be exposing on a syndicated national TV show being busted because his moms g/f sons wife's brothers daughter was exposing their infant children to the alligator that slept in their bedroom.
It was disgusting, at best, that someone so careless is representing my hobby on TV. I am not great by any means, but our hobby is and I hate the fact that the only publicity that we get is a negative one.