Animal Planet Gone Wrong

Have you ever watched a seemingly harmless show on Animal Planet only to realize a little too late that the beautiful lioness that you were pointing out to your children is about to do something terrible to a poor, unfortunate animal? You know how it goes…you’re watching and then all the sudden you’re scrambling for the remote while at the same time jumping up to stand in front of the tv so your children don’t see the bloodbath that’s about to happen.

Well, we had a real-life showing at our house this afternoon and my children had a front row seat. Here’s how it went down.

We were playing in the den when we heard our dog Scout making a lot of noise on the back porch. Obviously I went to the window and just as I pulled back the curtains, there’s Scout grabbing a rat in her mouth, twisting and shaking it as she is doing the death dance. I screamed at the kids to move back, but of course they didn’t. I ran outside and made her drop the rat, but I was too late. The poor thing was seriously hurt and it was clear, it wasn’t going to make it.

We called Animal Control and they took it away. Of course, Luke was standing in the windowsill to get a better view of the recovery. Then he asked for a better look at the now-dead rat in the cage as it was being carted out of our once peaceful home. He asked the guy, “Is it dead?” He said, “Sorry buddy, I think he is.” Then Luke said, “Okay.” And that was it.

I’m still not going to let my kids watch Animal Planet unsupervised, but they seem to have a better grasp on the circle of life that I thought they did.

As for Scout, she’s gained newfound respect from Merk. He’s so proud of her. Finally, she got her dog card.