Do you let your kids watch Animal Predation on Nature Shows?

[Philosoraptor]

When I was a kid watching the original nature show, "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins, (?), they'd show lions chasing zebras but that was it, maybe a long distance shot of them eating something.

Nowadays however, they've stopped censoring a lot of it, and if you watch any of the current nature shows about lions especially, its quite gruesome.

I love nature shows, and sometimes I watch, but sometimes its just too awful to look at, even for me, a meat eater.

I suppose its the same with sausage links or bacon for breakfast, no one wants to see what goes on in the slaughterhouse.

The shows usually give a warning/disclaimer, but some of the stuff is extremely graphic. I used to like lions, I no longer care for them now, seriously. We fought them awful bastards for millions of years, now we go to great lengths to save them.

Lions gotta eat, same as crocodiles I guess, but at what point is it acceptable for kids to see predation on t.v.? Life ain't really like "The Lion King", you can't Disneyfy all animals, like Timmy Treadwell the nature show host found out the hard way with grizzly bears.

[TimeChaser]

1. I grew up watching nature shows

And honestly, I don't think any of the clips of animals eating ever bothered me, even when I was little :shrug:

[hobbit709]

2. One naturalist on one of the discovery channel shows

mentioned the thing about grizzlies. "People see them at a distance and they look so furry and cuddly, but you have to remember that they're basically a carnivore. And there is no doubt whatsoever in that bear's mind that he's on TOP of the food chain"

[FlaGranny]

3. I don't have young kids any more

but I wouldn't censor those shows for kids. Kids shouldn't grow up thinking wild animals are cute, kindly animal "friends." They should have an understanding of how they make their living and what they can do to another animal (or person). In "civilized" society we are shocked by how animals live and die because we have completely lost touch with the nature of things.

[LeftyMom]

4. Yeah.

My kid and I don't eat critters ourselves but he's seen many a seal find it's end in the jaws of a great white (my son really loes sharks.) It's part of nature and he knows that. It's not something that distresses him, because he has compassion both for the dying seal and the shark that needs to eat.

[napi21]

5. My kids are grown now, but I let my grandkids watch nature shows.

Heck, they even have some snake that they have to feed mice to! This is all part of the real world, and I believe in protecting children, but not sheltering them!

[tularetom]

6. No but I always root for the bulls in bullfights

and I must confess I don't mind when I read about a rogue elephant that went bonkers and trashed a village full of people who had previously killed her calf. Animals eating other animals is part of nature. Humans fuckin with nature is what keeps getting us into trouble. Actually my kids are in their 40's now but when they were children we had a herd of goats that got attacked by 2 German Shepherds. It was a bloody frigging mess and although I managed to shoot one of the dogs we lost about half a dozen goats. My daughter saw the whole thing and if that didn't traumatize her watching a lion kill an antelope won't wither.

[Fierce]

7. I don't mind the animal eating,

but I do mind the "XTREME RAW ANIMAL CARNIVOROUS TERROR" attitude that those shows now have. It's not xtreme raw terror, it's a lion doing what a lion does. I wish it were presented more matter-of-factly.

[Sinti]

8. It's the natural cycle - whatcha gonna do

In order to live one must eat life, only plants take their nutrients from "non-living" sources. According to some study done a while back, even plants feel it when you cut them :shrug:

As far as kids, I guess it depends on the age - definitely 9 or 10 and up I think it's okay.

[nickinSTL]

9. doesn't bother me in the least

and if I had kids, I'd let them watch it.

Lions are predators, they eat meat, and they're not getting it in handouts from humans (which would be a REALLY bad idea, of course), so...

I don't eat meat much, and I can't stomach the thought of eating any piece of meat that still looks like the animal it came from :puke:

But, I have NO problem with lions eating zebras or gazelles, or whatever, and watching them do it.

"We fought them awful bastards for millions of years, now we go to great lengths to save them." :wtf:

Yeah, like we fought...how many extinct species? Sorry, but we don't need to kill lions to survive anymore. Now, conservation of species is MUCH more important.

[LynzM]

10. We only censor the Animal Police shows...

You know, the ones that feature the Animal cops taking severely mistreated animals out of homes, etc.

The ones that are nature-focused, we have always let our daughter see. As was mentioned up-thread, it's the way that animals really are, and she's fascinated by them, and always has been. We talk a lot about death and what that means, but I think that's a healthier way to grow up, actually.

[phillinweird247]

11. We're so far removed from nature.....

that we pretend we don't know were that steak comes from.
When I used to hunt people would say hunting was all about killing, but I would kindly tell them hunting is about truely living. knowing the food you eat is the greatest food you can possibly consume.
as far as the shows, my kids and I watch together and I explain that predatory violence is not the same as violence you see in movies and we talk about it.
sheltering your childern from that seems a shame.

[Totallybushed]

12. No, I think

they should stop showing violence and show more pictures of animals mating.

[cosmik debris]

17. I'm with you on that!

I still remember sitting in front of the TV with my 8 year old daughter watching elephants "do it" on PBS Nature. We both busted a gut laughing and it made the "sex talk" a lot easier when it came time.

[ileus]

13. So let me get this straight....

You thought the lion chased the zebra to the local Kroger then one went down the produce aisle while the other went down the meat section....LOL

Anyway, I agree I grew up watching Wild Kingdom and remember much the same as you, now when the kids and I watch I'm always hit with questions about why...

[BigMcLargehuge]

14. Yes

we watch it, blood and guts and all.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Yes.

In fact, I think if they grow into adulthood and still don't understand how nature works than it's a problem.

I was reading an article the other day on "Meerkat Manor" a Animal Planet series on the title animal and the author was practically in tears because she thought it would be some sort of Disney cartoon.

[Igel]

16. It's a good idea.

The animal-eating-animal shows are fine, but I really rather appreciated when one school slaughtered its school project. Apparently it was tradition and tied in with 4-H, but some city-folk moved to town. They thought it was cute that the school had a cow.

Then, one day near the end of school, the school had the animal slaughtered in front of the kids. Their kids were traumatized.

We refer to meat by their animal names. Our toddler knows that beef comes from cows; we pulled into a farm driveway to turn around, there were cows, and the kid didn't say "moo!" or "cows!" At 2;5, he said, "Yum!"