# Nature Shows: Do you watch the kills? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910 "2014-10-29T15:45:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/21 "2014-10-29T23:59:28Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Know any cats? Not sure what you mean. Are you referring to the sadistic way cats play with their prey sometimes? Or did you want me to kill a cat for you? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/22 "2014-10-30T00:24:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I generally root for the predator, so No, it doesn’t bother me and I watch. > > I love Road Runner-Coyote cartoons, though. > > Regards, > Shodan Heh. Reminds me of a Spring visit to Yellowstone back in 2011. There were a couple bison in a field near the Gibbon River who had just given birth—the placenta was still hanging out their hind ends. Their calves were barely able to stand. Then the wolves came in: four of them. Two of them came in and kept trying to get an angle on one of the calves, while the momma bison kept interposing herself between the calf and the wolves. One of the rangers watching (interpretive ranger, not LE ranger) was kind of cringing and saying “Oh, I hope they don’t get the calf.” I snorted and said “I’m rooting for the wolves.” [![](https://a4.pbase.com/o3/29/580229/1/135012725.MYpUtd3Q.GreyWolfJumpingAwayfromMommaBisonatNorrisJunction.jpg) ](https://a4.pbase.com/o3/29/580229/1/135012725.MYpUtd3Q.GreyWolfJumpingAwayfromMommaBisonatNorrisJunction.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/23 "2014-10-30T00:51:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I watch. The killing of one non-human animal by another does not distress me on an emotional level. Hypothetically, could you empathize with a non-human animal? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/24 "2014-10-30T05:45:21Z")
There was one killing on a nature show that has stayed with me, but I don’t know why: a predator bug is on a branch just above a prey bug. Prey bug knows that movement trigger the predator, so he tries to remain motionless as long as he can. Finally he has to move, and the predator bug pounces. Poor li’l bug. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/25 "2014-11-02T02:40:36Z")
I watch nature shows with my little girl. Not too long ago she told me she found one about the history of cats so we snuggled in and turned it on. About five minutes in not only did we discover it was about BIG cats, they showed a scene where lions had mauled people. We looked at each other and both jumped to change the show. She told me she didn’t think she was ready for that sort of thing. I told her I wasn’t either! I don’t even like to see bugs get killed. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/26 "2014-11-02T06:53:38Z")
The only times I’m affected emotionally is when a baby animal is taken down, because it’s the most vulnerable. But I still watch, because my own discomfort is part of the experience of watching. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/27 "2014-11-02T13:16:56Z")
Once the prey is dead, I’m not bothered. But I get squeasy\* before the actual kill, when there is one poor bastard surrounded or chased by a predator or three and everyone knows he is, literally, dead meat. mmm \*squeamish/queasy ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910/28 "2014-11-02T14:59:20Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Hypothetically, could you empathize with a non-human animal? Depends. An ape or monkey, probably. A cat, certainly. A dog, probably not. A deer? Those are yummy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nature-shows-do-you-watch-the-kills/702910.md?page=1)