When I was child I used to like watching the nature programs on TV but there always came a point where they stopped showing pictures of magnificent wild animals in their natural habitat and reminded us, instead, that soon all of them would be extinct! The commentator would explain that stupid humans were destroying the environment and eventually all the wild animals would be gone. It was such a sad message and it really buggered up my enjoyment of the program.
More recently there have been a lot of TV programs about zoo animals, but I have a problem with them as well. I want to see the zoo keepers caring for the animals and I want to see the animals in their outside enclosures and, sure enough, we get a few minutes of exactly that - but then it's hospital time! The resident tiger has been looking lethargic so he's taken to the vet hospital and we have to spend the next twenty minutes watching blood and guts pictures as the vet probes around the animal's intestines looking for the cause of the problem.
Not long after You Tube appeared on the Internet you could find all sorts of inspiring stories about dedicated animal lovers rescuing homeless dogs and cats from the city streets. It was a real pleasure to watch those videos as the animals were given a makeover (bath, haircut, flea powder, etc) and eventually adopted into their "forever home".
Not long after You Tube appeared on the Internet you could find all sorts of inspiring stories about dedicated animal lovers rescuing homeless dogs and cats from the city streets. It was a real pleasure to watch those videos as the animals were given a makeover (bath, haircut, flea powder, etc) and eventually adopted into their "forever home".
This next bit is hard to cope with. If you are at all sensitive you might want to stop reading right now.
But now that source has also changed and the videos are no longer concentrating on the happy ending, but the horrific beginning. Just the other day I searched for "animal rescue" and the first page of results showed pictures of a dog that had been dipped in tar and left stuck to a concrete path by a sadistic owner. Another dog was shown lying in a yard with both its front legs chopped off and still bleeding! There was also a cat that seemed to be nothing but raw meat - apparently the sadist had poured boiling water on it.
I'm not saying that video makers should not mention extinctions, medical procedures, and animal abuse, but - for Christ's sake - could they please give viewers like me a bit of a warning first. Incidents like those I've just mentioned really play on my mind and the nightmares continue for days and sometimes weeks afterwards.
6 months later
I finally decided to look at another edition of "The Zoo" which featured the Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney Australia. The first story was about a family of 19 chimps and in the very first minute the vet was preparing to knock them out (all of them) with anaesthetics.
After five minutes they were still anaesthetising chimps and five minutes after that we were looking at unconscious chimps covered with thick rope nets.
Now the program has been going for twenty minutes and we're still in the veterinary hospital. Last two patients were a kookaburra and a snake.
When the fuck are we going to see a healthy animal acting naturally? The program is called "The Zoo", not "Animal Hospital".
6 months later
I finally decided to look at another edition of "The Zoo" which featured the Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney Australia. The first story was about a family of 19 chimps and in the very first minute the vet was preparing to knock them out (all of them) with anaesthetics.
After five minutes they were still anaesthetising chimps and five minutes after that we were looking at unconscious chimps covered with thick rope nets.
Now the program has been going for twenty minutes and we're still in the veterinary hospital. Last two patients were a kookaburra and a snake.
When the fuck are we going to see a healthy animal acting naturally? The program is called "The Zoo", not "Animal Hospital".
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