this annoys me (animal planet content)

[Kodieh]

While I agree that Animal Planet airs a LOT of bulls**t that's mostly fear propaganda, we also can't use "well, dogs/horses kill more people than snakes", because WAY more people own dogs and horses than people who own snakes. It's just not a valid point to make, and it doesn't make us look good.

We need to make valid points about SNAKES. Have snakes been known to kill people? Yes, it's happened. We can't ignore that, no matter how small the percentage. But the circumstances are usually stemmed from some aspect of poor keeping. We need to illustrate well-known keepers who properly house, feed, and care for their reptiles, and raise awareness that (just like dogs) there are no "bad" or "evil" snakes, just bad ownership. If we can keep showing our hobby and passion in a positive light, instead of lowering ourselves to name-calling and finger-pointing at all our naysayers, we can be the bigger people and others will look at us and go "okay, so they're handling this maturely and they seem very sure and factual". Some people will become more people, and they will start going "hey, what are you talking about?" when others start spewing those Animal Planet/PETA nonsense.

The power of word-of-mouth has an amazing impact, and it's our best weapon against the fear propaganda that's out there.

As of 2011 statistics, you're 25 times more likely (correlatively speaking, like AP) to be killed by a dog than a constricting snake. 25 times.

I never want to put another animal hobby under the bus either, when it comes to our reptile rights. But I'm not above using the same "dirty tactics" HSUS and PETA use to make a point.

I use that statistic in a speech I presented. I made the claim and then added the disclaimer that "Now, you may think that your dog would never attack anyone let alone you, and you're probably right. But neither would my reptiles". I went on to make the point that keeping reptiles is just like owning a dog, I get the same personal enjoyment anyone else does.


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