# Site General > General Herp > Herp Broadcast >  Tom Crutchfield Incident On Swamp Wars Tonight

## MasonC2K

They first take a tour of his facility and showed some of the venomous snakes he has and then later incident itself. They had Swat Teams and everything. They never named the gunmen only said it was Tom's partner and friend. Tom said they had a arguemnt and then he (the gunmen) pulled a gun and start wacing it around like an orchestra conductor and he (the gunmen) was looking right through him at something that wasn't there.

In the end Tom said it was the saddest day of his life. He didn't know why his friend did what he did.

I know this is old news for a lot of you but I was just surprised to see it on a TV show.

The venom 1 team was there in case any of the snakes got loose durinf the Swat raid.

----------


## garweft

TV take advantage of a tragedy for ratings??  That's can't be.... :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## zach_24_90

I saw it.. I didn't think the program took advantage of it in any way. They were simply documenting the incident as it occurred during filming with venom one.

----------


## wolfy-hound

Trying to grit my teeth through the show to get to the incident.

So far they've claimed that pythons go around Florida killing native wildlife, pets and people... then that boas kill people... and at one point one of the officers said she might have to called in a "venom officer" for this "african rock python" she found.

There was also a tegu capture that was played up about how it "attacked" the officer, when it was a tiny 2 foot tegu.

From this program so far, Florida residents are being eaten right and left every day by all the exotic snakes that people are releasing all over. Oh they mentioned Miami being the import hub and mentioned a hurricane could release pets... but went right back to repeating over and over about how everyone that ever buys a snake turns it loose.

I'm half expecting the "Oh GOD!!! It's a BOX TURTLE!!! It's coming after us!!! Reaally reeeally slowly... death toddling towards us...."

I hate Animal Planet.

----------


## Highline Reptiles South

I will not watch this trash TV again. Swamp wars is terrible for the hobby only to be a slave to ratings. According to the show red tailed boas are crazed killers and rock pythons and burmese lurk around every corner. Tonight was particularly bad....and to make drama out of the Crutchfield incident makes me sick. Morons...

----------

_Cendalla_ (07-18-2011),snakesRkewl (07-18-2011)

----------


## MarkieJ

I thought there were no known deaths due to Red-tailed Boas.  This episode claims a keeper was killed by one.  On the Crutchfield incident, they focused heavily on the possible escape of the deadly venomous snakes.  Wasn't Crutchfield shot in this incident?  No mention of that.  When they showed Tom's collection earlier in the show, I wouldn't be surprised if this was filmed after the incident and edited in, to keep with the storyline.  Also wouldn't be surprised if the Hogg Island and Hypo Boa segments were staged...

----------


## Maixx

Don't forget.... a couple years from now Burms and ARP's were going to cross breed and create a supersnake that feeds exclusively on people...

Agree I hate Animal Planet

----------


## geckobabies

Really?  After reading this thread I watched the replay and thought the show was ridiculous.  How many times are they going to show the snake "hunting on the playground."  LOL.

----------


## mechnut450

ok I know I am out of the loop  I know nothing of Tom's  issue  and such  not had much time towatch tv between spending time with gf when we can and workingon caughting up after 2 weeks of dog sitting in NJ ( figures when I left  it rained enough t make grass grow fast )

----------


## mommanessy247

> I'm half expecting the "Oh GOD!!! It's a BOX TURTLE!!! It's coming after us!!! Reaally reeeally slowly... death toddling towards us...."


 :ROFL:  :ROFL:  :ROFL:   nuff said.

----------


## MasonC2K

So...I think some of you guys are imagining things. I think you guys are have been so abused by other shows that you're seeing bad things where therer aren't and making little things way bigger than they are. 

There some things I don;t like for instance the snake looking at kids at a park shots. And talking about one species while showing another.

But they're didn't say that boas and pythons are killing and eating people. They just point out what the capacity is if someone is caught off guard or just plain stupid.

Apparently you guys missed the segments about proper caging and responsible ownership.

Sure the show has some faults but it's tolerable to me. I think the Venom 1 Team themselves are making sure that a somewhat fair picture is presented.

----------

_zach_24_90_ (07-18-2011)

----------


## zach_24_90

I agree with you. I enjoy the show and the guys do actually care about the reptiles. And many of them enjoy and have collections of their own just like we all do. Yes I agree some of the information is false but at the same time a full grown rtb or burm CAN be dangerous to a child or even an adult that doesn't know how to handle the snakes. and if you don't think that then you yourself have some research to do.

----------


## rabernet

> *I thought there were no known deaths due to Red-tailed Boas.*  This episode claims a keeper was killed by one.  On the Crutchfield incident, they focused heavily on the possible escape of the deadly venomous snakes.  Wasn't Crutchfield shot in this incident?  No mention of that.  When they showed Tom's collection earlier in the show, I wouldn't be surprised if this was filmed after the incident and edited in, to keep with the storyline.  Also wouldn't be surprised if the Hogg Island and Hypo Boa segments were staged...


There is ONE documented case that I am aware of that happened last year out in the mid-west. I don't have time to go dig up the link, but it was discussed here when it happened. It wrapped around his neck and everyone was too scared to help him.

----------

_MarkieJ_ (07-18-2011)

----------


## Maixx

I agree there are a lot of good shows out there, Python Hunters being one of my favorite. But there are also bad ones out there like "Man Eating Super Snake" that is nothing more then fear mongering propaganda designed to draw support to the Constructor ban in congress now.

----------


## wolfy-hound

Python Hunters is on NatGeo.  Most everything on Animal Planet is directly off PETA's shelves.

----------

