What little faith I had in journalists is gone...

steingar

steingar

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Story on the CNN front page, talking about dangerous exotic animals removed from a NYC apartment. According to the article, the "dangerous wild animals" included a bearded dragon, a gecko, a couple baby gators, and

Six deadly snakes, including a boa constrictor and five pythons, also were uncovered, prompting police to call in the city's animal control agency.
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The story on CNN, just to show I'm not making this up. For those unfamiliar with critters, I've attached some photos.

bearded-dragon-02.jpg


A bearded dragon, easily tamed and vegetarian, if memory serves

Alligator%20Juvenile.jpg


Alligators likely the size of those in the story. They can be kept in fish tanks and easily tamed, though they get pretty big in the end...

Leopard-Gecko-Problems-How-to-Recognise-Them.jpg


One of the gecko species most commonly kept as pets. Docile and insectivorous.

Cierra.jpg


A boa constrictor, very dangerous if you happen to be a small rodent. Not so much to a person.

python03.jpg


A ball python, so inordinately dangerous to human life that I have one in my home office. Please please don't rat me out.

I'm just amazed that such an obviously exaggerated story about beasties you can find in most pet stores could make the front page of a major news outlet. Robs me of what little faith I had in a journalists.
 
It seems any more that the only goal of "journalists" is to sell advertising, no matter what you have to do or say. It's really sad.
 
DaleB said:
It seems any more that the only goal of "journalists" is to sell advertising, no matter what you have to do or say. It's really sad.
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Yep. It is really sad, but in many ways it is catching up to the mainstream media outlets like network TV news, and newspapers. They are going the way of the Dodo. Thankfully.
 
DaleB said:
It seems any more that the only goal of "journalists" is to sell advertising, no matter what you have to do or say. It's really sad.
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That is what happens when corporate interest outweighs original purpose. Media is a business now, not a service.
 
I made it a rule for myself that the stuff that's written in the news is BS unless proven otherwise.
 
That's nothing....the worst case of reporting I have seen recently was CBS news coverage of the USS PORTER collision. For their 'subject matter expert', they grabbed some retired USMC Colonel to comment on it. To put it in an aviation perspective, that would be like grabbing some airline frequent flyer and asking the to comment on whether they thought an airline accident was pilot error.


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So my view will be quit unpopular.

First off - I grew up on a farm and love animals.

Reptiles in someones house - snakes in the house - small aligators in the house??

Not only is that illegal in many states - but let me just say this - the kinds of people who have an attraction for those kind of reptiles and wish to shove their ideas on others - I choose not to be around people like that!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Benchracer52 said:
the kinds of people who have an attraction for those kind of reptiles and wish to shove their ideas on others - I choose not to be around people like that!!!!!!!!!!!
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I didn't realize they were a "kind of people".

So if you like dogs, your a "kind of people"?

I know a lot of dog lovers I enjoy being around, and a lot I would never want to associate with.

I suspect people who like reptiles would be as broad a collection of human beings.
 
Gotta say - I don't keep reptiles, but have no objection to those who do.

Whatever floats your boat.
 
Benchracer52 said:
So my view will be quit unpopular.

First off - I grew up on a farm and love animals.

Reptiles in someones house - snakes in the house - small aligators in the house??

Not only is that illegal in many states - but let me just say this - the kinds of people who have an attraction for those kind of reptiles and wish to shove their ideas on others - I choose not to be around people like that!!!!!!!!!!!
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Find me a state with a blanket prohibition of pet reptiles. Find one with a blanket prohibition of snakes. Good luck.

You will probably find some with prohibitions against crocodilians. American alligators were endangered for some time, and were illegal to keep as pets for that reason. Some of those laws might still be on the books.

Your idea is not only unpopular, it is retarded. No that's unfair....





...to the mentally incompetent. I've never known any herpetophiles to proselytize, other than to defend their own passions against the uninformed.
 
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Benchracer52 said:
Reptiles in someones house - snakes in the house - small aligators in the house??

Not only is that illegal in many states - but let me just say this - the kinds of people who have an attraction for those kind of reptiles and wish to shove their ideas on others - I choose not to be around people like that!!!!!!!!!!!
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That's ridiculous. I'm not a 'reptile person' and don't have any, but i've handled all of the animals listed in the story, including the ball pythons and bearded dragons. My cousin used to have one, it had a funny personality and liked to perch on your shoulder. The pythons are harmless, non poisonus snakes with a non aggressive demeanor.

Now if he had a bunch of rattlesnakes or copperheads I would think otherwise. But these snakes and critters are the type you will find in the science teacher's lab in middle school.
 
Well, that being said, some guy almost did get eaten by his 400lb pet tiger in NYC a couple of years ago. That and the monkey incident over in CT make it understandable that they are a bit twitchy about exotic animals in residential properties.
 
weilke said:
Well, that being said, some guy almost did get eaten by his 400lb pet tiger in NYC a couple of years ago. That and the monkey incident over in CT make it understandable that they are a bit twitchy about exotic animals in residential properties.
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There is a huge difference between animals normally found in zoos and those found in pet stores. All the animals listed in the story could easily be housed in aquaria, and none posed any serious health or physical risk.
 
Benchracer52 said:
So my view will be quit unpopular.

First off - I grew up on a farm and love animals.

Reptiles in someones house - snakes in the house - small aligators in the house??

Not only is that illegal in many states - but let me just say this - the kinds of people who have an attraction for those kind of reptiles and wish to shove their ideas on others - I choose not to be around people like that!!!!!!!!!!!
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Please identify those states.
 
Threefingeredjack said:
That is what happens when corporate interest outweighs original purpose. Media is a business now, not a service.
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This is a common view, but really not borne out by history. Google "William Randoph Hearst".

Media has always been about entertainment and control. (Wow! At that level of cynicism, am I channeling Henning?) It was glamorized for a time as guardians of the truth, at least partly by hollywood, but it's always been about circulation.

I am not saying that there were never any honorable journalists (heck, I know honorable lawyers and even a used car salesman or two), just that by and large it was an entertainment medium and never as pure as the above quote would lead one to believe.

John
 
Yeah, I love those cute little pythons the most. So do (or did) many other people in Florida. But then they grow a little too big and people let them go. Now South Florida is having a disasterin the Everglades as these invasive species are taking over. There have been a few cases of pet snakes getting hungry and eating or smothering a young child. But here is my favorite story. (unless you like aligators).

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html
 
JOhnH said:
Yeah, I love those cute little pythons the most. So do (or did) many other people in Florida. But then they grow a little too big and people let them go. Now South Florida is having a disasterin the Everglades as these invasive species are taking over. There have been a few cases of pet snakes getting hungry and eating or smothering a young child. But here is my favorite story. (unless you like aligators).

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html
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There are pretty serious limits in California, and should be in Florida if there aren't already. Yeas, invasive species are a problem in the Sunshine state, and I think Burmese pythons are getting the run of the place. Large, voracious and possessing no natural predators in North America, they seem to have the run of the place. Then again, they have fine company in kudzu, zebra mussels, and a number of other imported pest species.

Still doesn't explain why they would need to be removed from an apartment in NYC (actually, that was due to a housing ordinance) or why such removal would be considered front page news.
 
Well, the original headline sounds so much better than:

"Six Non-dangerous amphibians were removed from an apartment . . . "
 
I have had a bearded dragon for several years. My wife loves him and calls him "sweet". He's about as aggressive as a houseplant. In fact, we have some vines in the back yard that could kick his butt.

That said, what little faith I had in the media evaporated while I was still in the media. The best part of being an ex-newspaperman is the "ex" part.
 
This is a fine example of the editor/reporter making the story fit into their own ideas. I mean come on man, the little kid wants to be a cop, and they made it look like he wanted to be a gangbanger!:mad2::mad2:
Mafoo said:
This is one of the worst ones I have seen.

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