Does anyone else find these shows compelling and addictive? I know I’m not the only one, since Animal Planet has added Animal Cops Houston and is now showing all three shows once a week.
It’s almost a form of self-torture with these shows sometimes. I have a dog of my own and seeing critters mistreated (even if they’re eventually avenged) is upsetting.
Also, the promo w/ the “I Could Use a Hero” song nearly does me in. Wahhh!
must save puppies…
Lady Mondegreen, I’m an Animal Precinct/Animal Cops fan too! I’m not sure why I find it so compelling. Maybe it’s the rescues, maybe seeing and not believing how uncaring some people can be. (Remember the puppies in the trash can?)
I also like seeing how they evaluate the rescued dogs for adoptability. That stuff just fascinates me.
(Of course I’m a dog person more so than a cat person, so I always notice the dog stuff.)
I’ve only seen a couple; they are usually heartbreaking in addition to making one’s skin crawl. (By that I mean when an animal is absolutely covered in embedded ticks, I feel ill.)
Did you happen to see the one where the man had 250 feral cats in his house??? I have NEVER seen anything like that. It was true nightmare fuel.
I had to take a break from watching the shows after the puppies-in-the-trash-can incident.
I also get somewhat upset when the Detroit show busts a dog-fighting ring, because all those pit bulls are going to be euthanized. I find it odd that the NYC ASPCA seems more willing to adopt out pit bulls, but Detroit won’t.
On a more positive side–my god, what a cute little gimpy Chihuahua the other night!! 
And she’ll have a happy home, too.
I get all choked up (okay, okay, so I cry, sue me!:D) when I see a mistreated horse get healed and placed with someone who will love her/him.
I don’t pick and choose what animals I love, but there’s just something about those big, loving eyes that gets to me.
I enjoy the program and I wish I could be right alongside that pretty pony-tailed blonde bustin’ those mean mistreaters!
Watching some of those people trying to justify themselves just makes me sick to my stomach! It’s like “Hey, this is an animal! Why don’t you go bust a rapist or something?” We share the planet with our animal brothers and sisters. Some have even saved lives, and this is the way they get treated.
We need Animal Cops everywhere and we need the laws enforced. Everywhere.
Q
I wonder about the pitbulls in Detroit, too. I’ve known many loving pits. But unfortunately, if they re-adopted them in Detroit, there’s probably a good chance they’d be raised to fight, since the problem seems endemic there.
The legal penalties seem far too little considering what the animals go through.
StG
I’m addicted to the shows also. What I find myself wondering, though, is two things:
[ul][li]What law does New York have that gives the ASPCA Special Agents “full police powers” (as the show’s narrator says)?[/li][li]Why doesn’t Detroit have whatever law that is?[/ul][/li]I like it that the ASPCA cops can take action on these cases, but it’s saddening that the Detroit investigators have to wait for police to come arrest the perpetrator.
We get to see Animal Precinct on Animal Planet on Friday nights here in the UK.
Normally I am all for cute critter shows, but shows like this just break my heart. That pit bull fighting ring bust in NYC, with the dead dogs in the garden… 
There is a show over here called Pet Rescue. Animal rescue people dealing with all sorts of animals - from swans and ferrets to spiders and ostrich. Of course there are the obligatory kittens and pups. Though there are sad moments, for the most part it is a feel good fuzzy critter show.
You know, there was a recent Detroit show where they talked about evaluating a pit bull for adoption (I think.) I said to my S.O., “Hey, I thought they said they euthanised those confiscated pit bulls.” S.O. didn’t remember for sure.
It was one of the recent new shows. Maybe a policy has changed or something?
Typically, even the pit bulls in NYC are euthanizedif they were in fighting beforehand. And there was an episode of Animal Cops where two pits were rescued from the same location, and one was adopted out while the other was destroyed.
I find the shows really compelling. My husband can’t watch them at all-- he gets too emotional about it and has to leave the room; I don’t watch if he’s around at all. I guess the thing I most appreciate about the shows is that it’s proof positive that there are good people out there, who make good laws (like vesting the ASPCA with full police powers) and who work every day of their lives to save animals from horrid situations. I find that uplifting. It counteracts, in small part, the horror of knowing that animal abuse takes place.
It’s also really neat to watch the animals blossom as they receive the right food and care, and get placed into good homes. I love the interviews with the new owners, where their new pet is usually busy going bonkers with joy.