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Animal Planet documentary

mxracer4life

mxracer4life

"Daniel Boone"
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Did anyone see the animal planet documentary called fatal attractions and alien invaders? Both were strongly against exotic pet owners, senator Bill Nelson was part of it. It was sponsored by the Humane society of America.
 
It was awful. It was about the burmeses, african rock python, anaconda, some giant rat, nile monitors and ferel pigs destroying florida. I know there is a problem in Florida, but they made it look bad for us. I didn't want to give them the satisfactory of watching it, but I felt like I needed to see it. They estimate there are 100,000 + burmese pythons in Florida, which is a problem, but they need to let hunters go at it in my opinion. They admitted that the python ban will not help the florida burmese problem, but prevent a spread of them. They said the burmese could survive in 32 states, lol. Crazy stuff. Then the show fatal attractions was about pet owners being killed by there exotic animals.
 
Seems like Animal Planet and others are out for mammal keepers only now or just only unexotic. The $hi! they've been airing lately has been so damning for the exotic reptile hobby.
 
They are against non-native species, period. They were just as against exotic mammals as they were reptiles etc.
 
My husband and I watched it last night and were appalled. We didn't expect anything less, but still.

Despite them pushing the exotics ban on the show, they admitted that the first wild burm was found twenty-seven years ago. Why blame people now for what started twenty years ago? It only takes a single pair of burm to infest the Everglades to the extent it is now if you go by that time frame.

Did you watch the show that ran after it? It sensationalized two cases where the owners death was caused by the reptiles they kept. The one that really bothered me was the case involving the monitors. The guy got bit by one of them while feeding and instead of seeking medical help he died in his apartment from an infection. The monitors then began eating his body (they were free-roaming) because they were starving. That's not the monitors fault!
 
TripleMoonsExotic said:
Did you watch the show that ran after it? It sensationalized two cases where the owners death was caused by the reptiles they kept. The one that really bothered me was the case involving the monitors. The guy got bit by one of them while feeding and instead of seeking medical help he died in his apartment from an infection. The monitors then began eating his body (they were free-roaming) because they were starving. That's not the monitors fault!
Click to expand...

That's not the true story either. That guy died of a heart attack and natural causes not from a monitor bite. He was found around 1 week to 10 days after his death and the animals, doing what comes natural yes had fed on him. I heard in that show they also said he owned Komodo dragons and that's what killed him and ate him. :laugh: :rofl: Hello Animal Planet!!! They're not legal to own in the US without a zoo permit!!! He owned Nile monitors.

Amazing just how wrong a show /tv station can be when being paid off to spread a toxic word to ban exotic pets.
 
I did watch both shows, by the way, it was nile monitors, black throats, savannahs etc. Of course it has to show the nut cases or "strange" occurances, not your ordinary herpers. I am liking animal planet less and less.
Thats pretty wild that the first burm was found in 1979. Did you see all the humane society ads, they played it out perfectly. Donate to us and become a member and help fight the release and infestation of exotic animals in our eco system.
 
TailsWithScales said:
That's not the true story either. That guy died of a heart attack and natural causes not from a monitor bite. He was found around 1 week to 10 days after his death and the animals, doing what comes natural yes had fed on him. I heard in that show they also said he owned Komodo dragons and that's what killed him and ate him. :laugh: :rofl: Hello Animal Planet!!! They're not legal to own in the US without a zoo permit!!! He owned Nile monitors.

Amazing just how wrong a show /tv station can be when being paid off to spread a toxic word to ban exotic pets.
Click to expand...

I believe it. It seemed unlikely to me that you could die from a monitor bite as they described. I've been bit by several different species of reptiles (including monitors) and have never had any adverse reactions. I'm sure you could get an infection, but any rational reptile owner will thoroughly clean the bite and seek medical help if necessary.

The Komodo Dragon thing was from the first show. They were talking about how their were no recorded "attacks" by the monitors loose in Florida...and then spoke about their has been with Komodo Dragons on their native island. I'm not sure why they would compare the loose monitors in Florida to a lizard that gets 8-10 feet and 150 pounds that no individual can legally own in the US. Sensationalism, I guess. :rolleyes:
 
BTW, the feral hog part...My husband tells me those are a bigger concern then non-native reptiles as they adapt easily to most any habitat. Evidently the problem (which originated in Texas) has spread all the way up here to PA. He tells me that any domesticated hog, once it gets loose for several weeks, starts turning into an aggressive psycho pig.

If this is the case, then why is their a snake ban in the works rather then a pig ban? These pigs actually attack people, unlike reptiles who run rather then be on the offense.
 
Of course you could die from a monitor bite. They now know that monitors (at least some species, it's not clear how many) are venomous. The venom destroys tissue, and monitors tend to have dirty mouths, so there's plenty of potential there for very serious infection.
ANY open wound can become infected, and an infected wound that goes untreated most certainly can kill you--whether it was a monitor bite, or a skinned knee. It doesn't matter--infections are dangerous.
There are definitely nimrods out there who will refuse to seek medical treatment.
I believe the problem here is that this guy DIDN'T die from a monitor bite. My understanding is that the cause of death was not determined.
 
Feral pigs are a huge problem in the U.S.. They destroy everything and do attack people, dogs, etc. In Ohio during deer season it is legal to kill feral pigs without a license. ODNR actually asks that hunters kill them if they see them in the field. They destroy both agricultural and natural environments, so it is a lose/lose situation and that is probably why it is not highly publicized. They are descended from pigs that escaped from farms and they can't ban farming, but they can ban keeping pets because it is not seen as something important.
 
I sat through fatal attractions. The stories are interesting to hear, but it was kind of odd they started with the reptile ones, I would like to watch the ones about tigers and stuff. I could only make it through half of Alien Invaders. I found myself laughing every time they would say a Burmese python, and then show.. a carpet, a ball python, a garter snake. I'm like oooh ferocious. What really made me laugh is.. They complained about having snakes in the everglades, having giant rats on one Florida key island, and losing another species of rat on another island. They were worried about the big rats coming to the main land... Uhhhm.. That won't be a problem, you have snakes, remember?
 
WingedWolf said:
Of course you could die from a monitor bite. They now know that monitors (at least some species, it's not clear how many) are venomous. The venom destroys tissue, and monitors tend to have dirty mouths, so there's plenty of potential there for very serious infection.
Click to expand...

Not venom. Sorry but it's not.

What it more then likely is was that one thing people do not think about is the amount of nerves running through the human arm and hand and how close to the skin's surface they run. When nerves are interrupted and temporarily damaged it messed with the signals in your brain which can cause a variety of symptoms from dizziness, headaches, muscle aches and twitching, numbness and even nausea and vomiting. Varanids have no venom or even remnants of venom glands.

An alllergy to the animals saliva is also possibility when talking of a violent reaction that has happened. Which is medically described and documented.
All reactions to a bite have been sited it as bacterial. If it's a true venom then why don't captive varanids have it????? Hhhhhmmm So strange that wasn't and isn't mentioned.

Also if it was true venom or venom at all wouldn't you think that other people who've been bitten by varanids would have experienced the same symptoms??

We can say it's not venom because if it was captive varanids would still have it like their wild cousins. But they do not. None of the wild caught animals have it either. Hhhhhmmm

It's the same thing with poison dart frogs. Captive dart frogs are not poisonous or have any sort of 'venom' like their wild cousins. If it was a true venom or venom of any form then captive animals would have it.

Also one more thing to think about is if it was true that varanids have venom they would either not be allowed in the country or if they were they would be very highly regulated just like every other venomous non native US species are. Trust me there are ZERO import regulations on almost all varanid species especially the African and Indo species.

Did you get this from that quack on Wild Recon??


And yes it takes about three weeks for a domestic pig to turn fully feral and even look like a wild board. Scary really.
 
Just a side note about your subject tailswithscales. First of all, it is true that poison dart frogs loose their poison in captivity, but scientist/herpetologist have not discovered why and suspect it to be related to there diet which they are unaware of what part of there diet gives them there poison. Second of all, monitors have been known to cary large amounts of bacteria in there mouth which can mimic poision, kinda like the komodo dragon which has a lethal bite due to bacteria. I have read that the monitors diet plays a big part in this "bacteria" build up in the mouth, and so a captive monitor would likely have considerably lower bacteria, &/or a less potent bacteria in the mouth. Am I right? I am not claiming to be a pro here but just some things I have picked up over the years.
 
mxracer4life said:
Just a side note about your subject tailswithscales. First of all, it is true that poison dart frogs loose their poison in captivity, but scientist/herpetologist have not discovered why and suspect it to be related to there diet which they are unaware of what part of there diet gives them there poison. Second of all, monitors have been known to cary large amounts of bacteria in there mouth which can mimic poision, kinda like the komodo dragon which has a lethal bite due to bacteria. I have read that the monitors diet plays a big part in this "bacteria" build up in the mouth, and so a captive monitor would likely have considerably lower bacteria, &/or a less potent bacteria in the mouth. Am I right? I am not claiming to be a pro here but just some things I have picked up over the years.
Click to expand...

Scientists do know why dart frogs in captivity are not poisonous. It's because in the wild they eat certain species of venomous ant. Their bodies in turn reuse that venom for their own protection.

With varanids, including komodoensis, it's all about bacteria. Hence why captive komodos don't have that deadly bite their wild cousins do. They eat so much carrion that their mouths are teaming with so much bacteria that they bite and follow the animal till it dies of sepsis and blood born infections. Hatchling and juvenile komodos have not shown to have this toxicity either. So no. Not venom. Bites have been boiled down to bacteria and allergies to saliva. :D
 
So, you explained it about the same as I did but different terminology. Either way, lol, the guy did not die from a darn monitor bite!
 
first of all komodos are venomous a guy from Africa dissected one and found venom glands and wild recon has found other venomous monitors as well and i herd it was a komodo dragon maybe that's why he didn't go to the hospital ???? i lived in Miami for 7 years i have found ball pythons boas monitors never a Burmese and i went to the everglades every chance i could
 
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