Arkansas Blog

That is a terrible thing to post both on YouTube and here. Everyone involved should be ashamed. Completely cruel and unnecessary. That is not entertainment, and if anyone believes it is, is as sick and unstable as the people involved in the posting of the video. Disgusting.

Thats why I can't watch all the *nature* shows with Hubby.....
when they start eating each other I turn green and freak out...
can't even stand Animal Planet and all the abused animals....
Thanks Max, I'll just slide right on past this pix.

Would it have been better if it was a kitten? Click on the blue name.

Welcome to the food chain!

Animal rights activism in this country only extends to the warm and fuzzy. A generation raised on Disney films . . .

Not those raised on Disney films, but only those with a conscience! I proudly say I am a member of that organization.

"The animal kingdom is a dog-eat-dog world -..."

This is one of the most uninformed cliche' s in the modern mind. The goal of any animal is to survive. That is the law of the jungle. It means being able to out run, climb or fly your predator, camouflaging the body, ability to survive on a differentiated diet, building or finding protected sanctuaries and primarily the ability to store large quantities of water/food for longer periods.

I find interesting that dogs' ability to survive is not being able to eat another dog but the ability to perform useful tasks for another species including reflecting humans unique emotional states back to them. Clever those dogs. They have only to reflect back to human their emotional states and in exchange receive treatment usually given to royalty-groomed, protected, comforted, and better fed than many humans.

Cool vid. She's beautiful.

ConcernedLRCitizen, you might want to call Comcast and get Animal Planet and Discovery Channel deleted from your account. Might save you from accidentally seeing an animal eating a meal.

Please explain why it is "cruel" and why it is "unecessary". I believe the mission of the LR Zoo is to take care of its animals (which I assume includes feeding them) and educate the public, not worry about your conscience. I consider it neither "cruel" nor "unnecessary". In your world I assume food magically appears on plates?

Ashamed?????? sick and unstable????????

If it lives, it eats!

Also, if it lives it is eaten!

In the video the rabbit is obviously already dead. There is nothing inhumane shown. As we get further removed from our food supply we get people that have no clue where their own food comes from.

I believe it is important for zoos to show wildlife and how the food chain woks so that when we attempt to preserve some of our natural environment the population understands that our own survival depends on protecting nature.

We need food, and our food needs food, and our food's food needs food. Knowing that makes it easier to keep coal belching power plants from killing off the wild life we depend on for survival.

No insects, no corn, tomatoes, apples, plums, etc, etc, etc.

This video helps people understand the interdependance we have so that the next time an issue comes up we can make inteligent choices if the jobs created justify the pollution left over.

I suppose a video of a python starving to death would be more to your liking, ConcernedLRCitizen? Or do you want the python to eat carrots?

I meant to add- when brushing your hair the next time take a look at the planet's most aggressive, meanest, and dangerous predator.

If I only had Comcast if I wasn't a vegetarian. To each his own.

If the god damned snake finds a rabbit in the wild and eats it, that's the natural order of things.

When god damned people keep a snake in captivity for their own amusement then feed it living animals for entertainment that's a god damned shame.

I can't watch, but thanks anyway. We've been raised since birth to eat and that's one thing most Americans do very well. I don't know about a hundred years ago, but us modren folks weren't taught to think about eating. We just eat. If you examine this eatin thing very closely, you'll loose yer lunch every time. Eating is some nasty bidness. From the standpoint of non-humans, there's never a happy ending......they lose because we eat them. There's hardly anything we won't eat.

In the animal world, each day is about eating or being eaten, you're one or the other or you hide in your hole and listen to yer belly growl. If you really look at it.....eating is a lot more ugly and should be more embarrassing than sex. Most people come away from sex alive ya know. Which reminds me....wonder how Pam in Fayetteville is doing these days?

It's best to just eat and not think about it very hard. You don't really want to think about the process that brought that meat to yer gullet. I see those chicken trucks with all those white chickens in the cages and I've trained myself to believe they're going to the Fair! Have fun chicks!

I've also learned if I like the restaurant I'm dining in....never ever ever go into the kitchen. Just imagine the perfect kitchen in yer head and keep thinking about those chickens riding roller coasters and eatin them some cotton candy and everything will be fine.

If you got some extra time it's fun to think about weightless sex with naked Space Shuttle stewardesses too! My words to you....if you want to be happy, don't examine anything too closely.

ConcernedLRCitizen, you have any pets? What do you feed them? The conditions of animals used to make pet food are likely more horrifying than anything that bunny ever experienced.

Also, by vegetarian, I only assume you mean lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Ever looked into the conditions in which those chickens and cows are raised? (More power to you if you get all your eggs and dairy from local, humane farmers, but few do.)

A video of an animal eating another animal on which it naturally preys isn't offensive or disgusting or cruel. It's fascinating and educational. If this video showed a snake eating a meat-based kibble from a dish, no one would be having this reaction.

Boyish Man -
I guess in a perfect world, it would be great if the "natural order of things" were free from development, avarice, poaching, etc. Then, we wouldn't need species protection plans, animal sanctuaries or other mechanisms to ensure the longterm survival of animals, plants, insects -- our ecosystem.

Everything is relative to the individual, but c'mon, should one be "damned" for protecting wildlife and educating our world about the importance of conservation? I think those who should be "damned" are those who continue to destroy habitat for the sake of a buck, etc.

If we continue to slash and burn the world's resources by disregarding our ecosystem, we'll have much bigger problems than blogging about a snake that ate a fine meal on the Arkansas Times blog.

That, Boy Man, wouldn't just be a "damned shame," it would be, and continues to be, an attack on civilization itself.

You don't have to watch it... Who said it was entertainment? It is more education.

What a great name the snake has! I love how the Zoo has reached out to the community in naming some of the animals. I thought Jaws would be a great name, but do like Cammie (short for Camo).

Thanks rocker45. My sentiments/thoughts exactly.

Cool, cool, video. Fascinating. What a beauty of a snake!

One more thing: Why are negative comments from only two bloggers considered a "fallout"? Seems to me like the majority of folks appreciate the video.

How big was that ewe?

September 15, 2006-A fresh lamb dinner might sound like a manageable meal for an 18-foot-long (5.5-meter-long) python. But maybe the hungry snake should have waited for the lamb to be born.

Last week firefighters in the Malaysian village of Kampung Jabor were called in to remove the bloated snake (pictured) from a roadway. The reptile had swallowed an entire pregnant sheep and was too full to slither away and digest its supersize meal.

But the stress of being captured likely triggered the python to purge-it eventually regurgitated the dead ewe.
photo and story on bluename

I've resisted posting on this thread as long as I can.

This is beyond silly.

Honestly, how do you think Tyson's chickens are raised, fattened then slaughtered? Have you SEEN the videos?

I eat a great hamburger at Arkansas Burger Company once a week. Yummers!

Have you SEEN how these cattle are raised, fattened and slaughtered?

Confinement and hormones, anybody?

Farm or factory doesn't matter. THAT'S why we raise 'em, THAT'S why we slaughter 'em.

To eat 'em.

Give me a break with all this pseudo-compassionate sentimentality.

The python's enjoying its meal just like you and I are.

Pythons can't cook on RevereWare. Pretty much can't cook, period. So they eat 'em live.

With me so far?

Frankly, I'm more concerned about "ConcernedLRCitizen's" total detachment from reality as I am about the bunny.

Nature, apparently to CLRC, is "disgusting."

Quickly, now. Is CLRC a Democrat or Republican?

ANSWER: You got it.

Finally - an answer to my long ago question about how to get rid of the pesky rabbits in our yard and garden.

Does the zoo rent out the animals for "educational" purposes?

What kind of leash would work on a 20 foot python?

Oh, Don, Don, you stubborn, splendid adorable fool.

Oops, wait. Forgive me, Don. Channeling Anne Baxter in "The Ten Commandments" again.

Acid flashbacks. The price one pays, I guess.

In any case, I recommend a pet python for every family with a yard.

We had two when I was a child and we never had any problems with squirrels, rabbits, moles, field mice, etc. on our two acres.

The pythons were beautiful and loving.

You just kind of have to keep an eye on them.

Sure. Occasionallly they'd wrap themselves around our widdle childhood bodies and try to devour us, but hey. Kiddies? Kibble? What'd THEY know?

All I did was smack them across the snout. "Rasputin! Rasputin! BAD snake!"

They'd let go of me and slither after a random chipmunk or chicken or something.

I loved them.

Talk about inexpensive pest control.

eLwood reminded me of something I haven't thought about in a zillion years. When I was a little kid we moved to Panama so daddy could work on the widening of old Teddy's canal. One day a big ass ole snake like you're describing had him a fine dinner of a grown deer (the deer are smaller in Panama) and he crawled into the middle of a busy intersection to digest his meal and wouldn't budge.

The police put up barricades around the snake until he had digested his heavy meal. Ma took me down the street to see and there was this giant snake looking all lazy with this giant hump in the middle. I think it took 2 days for the deer to digest enough for the snake to move on. Don't see that kind of stuff in Arkansas...not even in Pine Bluff. After reading this thread this morning, I had a bowl of shredded wheat for lunch....thank you very much.