An Open Letter to Animal Planet

Dear Animal Planet,

Firstly, let me tell you how innovative of an idea I think it is that you have decided to create a channel where all of the programming is entirely animal-focused. No longer do I have to channel surf to find some fantastic cheetah footage or watch emergency animal vets remove a remote control from a lab’s stomach on another cable channel. I really appreciate the variety of programming you provide from lizards to polar bears to horses, you cover it all, and for the most part do an excellent job of educating the public about animal related issues. Of your variety of shows, there are two programs I regularly watch – The Dog Whisperer, Caesar Millan and Animal Cops; regularly being defined as the off chance I am actually seated in front of a television.

I can not say enough good things about Caesar’s show and I have learned a number of valuable tips from his positive reinforcement training and establishment of pack dominance. As a result of his wisdom my dogs are well behaved, first class canine citizens (well most of the time, as long as a cat is not within about 5 meters of the property). Thank you for finding Caesar and sharing him with the rest of us, his knowledge is greatly appreciated, not to mention he has gotten much more humorous over the past few seasons. I especially enjoyed the episode last evening which featured him walking two basset hounds along with a pack of weenie dogs – that is good television.

That brings me to the reason I have written this letter, which is the disturbing amount of animal death and suffering that is evident on any given episode of Animal Cops. I remember some episodes from the beginning of this series featuring the pretty blonde, that now does the public service ads for the ASPCA. She was always shown rescuing kittens from trees, getting raccoons out of crawlspaces and reuniting lost puppies with their worried owners. During the show’s birth you were able to balance out the happy tales with those of sadness, making mention of the dogs that were found starving on the farm in rural Texas, but never devoting an entire episode to their suffering, despair and subsequent euthanization.

I appreciate realism as much as the next person, and in no way am I suggesting that you completely remove the stories of animal abuse and mistreatment. I am all for letting people know the types of punishments and legal action they may face if they decide to become involved with such inhumane acts as dogfighting, cock fighting and illegal captivity of wild animals (to name a few). I also think that showing the suffering of these animals is integral in making people understand the consequences of their actions, but I think your network needs to be a little more discriminate as to where the line is drawn between showing a distressed animal to make a point, and making your viewers upset by the images on the screen.

If by showing these sorts of horridly graphic images of animal cruelty you are trying to target your sadistic ‘animal abuser demographic’ I suggest you check the numbers, because I highly doubt these role-model citizens are sitting at home on a Friday night eating dinner in front of the TV, as I was last evening, when I saw the episode that prompted me to compose this letter. Instead, by running the show the way you have been as of late, you are in effect trying to teach animal lovers and respecters, like myself, a “lesson” of which we do not need to be schooled.

I will use the episode I watched last evening to illustrate the point I am trying to make. Last night’s episode of Animal Cops (I think it was in Houston, I know I saw Texas license plates) showed a scraggly, emaciated, mix-breed dog with a tan coat tied with a wire to a fence. The dog was tied so close to the fence that he was unable to even move far enough to get out of his own excrement, and the wire used to tie him to the fence was on so tightly, and for so long, that it had become embedded in his neck. The poor dog’s face was swollen and puffy due to the lack of blood flow from the head to the rest of the body; it was a sad sight indeed. The kind officers of the animal patrol took the steps necessary to free the animal from his inhumane conditions and transported him to the veterinarian for care.

In addition to having an embedded collar (if you can even call a piece of wire violently wrapped around a dog’s neck such a thing), the dog was severely malnourished. The veterinarian was concerned that the dog, named Trouble by the clinic staff, may have some parasitic infestation, as well as heartworms. About 10 minutes of the show thus far had been devoted to showing Trouble’s deplorable living conditions, as well as his overall physical condition. Then animal planet decided to go further, showing the removal of the embedded wire from Trouble’s neck, we, the viewers, could hear every snip of the wire and saw, in detail, the inflamed, infected flesh that remained once the wire removal procedure was completed.

By the time the surgical procedure concluded I had already invested about 15 minutes of my time and energy to the recovery of this badly mistreated canine. The show went on to say that the dog had both intestinal parasites and a heartworm infection, both of which were treatable. This was where you threw in the kicker, when it was discovered that Trouble had heartworms, it was decided that he would need to be tested for adoptability in order to determine whether or not to proceed with the risky treatment for heartworm.

So Trouble, still undernourished and trying to recover from multiple infections, was sent off with the clinic’s temperament tester to determine whether or not he would be able to be placed in a good home. His first tests had to do with tolerance to rough petting and otherwise bothersome behavior like pulling ears, the tail and general poking. Trouble passed his first test with flying colors, always being very friendly to his handler and wagging his tail. He also then went on to pass the second part of the test dealing with distractions, the handler threw a metal bowl on the ground which made a loud sound, Trouble went over to investigate and returned a few seconds later without being shaken.

Trouble did not have such good luck with the final two tests (at least the ones that were shown on air). He exhibited some signs of dog aggression, which is not surprising considering the amount of time he was kept outside on a chain without any socialization with other dogs and the territorial behavior that chained dogs often express. Trouble also, not surprisingly, was not to excited by the fact that the handler was trying to steal some of his food with a plastic hand while he was chowing down. Now, what kind of behavior do you expect from a dog that was starved for months and still has not yet had the chance to get himself back up to a normal weight, let alone has had the chance to being to start trusting humans again.

So, after spending 20 minutes of Animal Cops featuring Trouble, documenting his various recovery hallmarks and amazing progress, you killed him. Justifying the situation by saying something to the effect of “we did not kill Trouble, the way Trouble was treated killed him”. To which my reply is this – Trouble may not have had any sort of chance living out his days abandoned at the end of a leash, but what you did to him is almost worse. You rescued him from hell, took him to a place full of caring people that gave him affection, attention, love, nourishment and proper medical care, only to turn your back on him and euthanize him because his starving ass tried to bite a plastic arm that was STEALING his food!

Now, I am not well-versed in the practices of procedures that go on within animal shelters to determine whether or not a particular animal is suitable for placement in a home, but I certainly do not agree with the way Trouble was handed down his death sentence. If I have learned anything from the show that often proceeds yours and was mentioned earlier in this letter, it is that ALL DOGS can be rehabilitated and deserve a chance. So a starving and abused dog is not too keen on other dogs or his food being stolen, put him in a house with a little old lady that does not like to eat dog food with no other pets. Problem solved.

In closing, I would just like to ask that Animal Cops in the future your show does not dedicate more than 5 minutes max to displaying graphic images of and telling positive tales of recovery of animals that are going to be put to death at the end. Go ahead and show the plight, abuse and lamentable conditions in which you find these animals, but do not create a situation where viewers become invested in these creatures, cheering them on in their improvements and saddened by their setbacks, only to be completely devastated an hour later when they are put to sleep. It happens, I understand, but it could be presented in a more tasteful way; please see early episodes for guidelines on how this can be accomplished.

If you have any questions or need any assistance in editing future episodes of Animal Cops, please contact me via the comment form at the right side of the page.

Best regards,

Startup Fiance