Dual Survival - thumbs down

[Az tortoise compound]

Dual Survival on Discovery **Graphic topic**

Does anyone else watch this show? It's on the Discovery channel. I sat there, completely stunned when I saw what was breakfast. What did you think?

 

[onarock]

RE: Dual Survival on Discovery **Graphic topic**

I love that show Mick... Was a bit taken back as a tortoise lover when I saw them eating that tortoise.

 

[John]

RE: Dual Survival on Discovery **Graphic topic**

I watch this show also but missed this episode, thanks for the heads up I'll be sure and skip it. Although if faced with a survival situation all things are game, In my current situation I don't need to witness that.

 

[RichardS]

I was a casual fan of the show until last night... The episode Hippo Island shows Dave Canterbury finding, killing, baking an 8" leopard tortoise. It was described as an African Spur Thigh. Sucks.

 

[RV's mom]

man has to eat simply for survival. nothing more. to do something like this for freaking hollywood and your 15 minutes of fame turns my stomach. And I won't /don't watch such.
sucks indeed.

teri

 

[B K]

I seen it also I was very disappointed in them and they where only 3 miles from civilization.

 

[TortoiseAddict]

I was a casual fan of the show until last night... The episode Hippo Island shows Dave Canterbury finding, killing, baking an 8" leopard tortoise. It was described as an African Spur Thigh. Sucks.

i was watching the episode also.... to let u know i left the room when they killed and ate the tortoise

 

[Ross]

Hi All,

I thought that you might be interested in the text of a letter that I sent to Cody Lundin, Dave Canterbury, and the Discovery Chanel. Kind of a rant, but I feel better having sent it.

Ross

*****

Mr. Lundin and Mr. Canterbury,

I am writing regarding the episode of your show ‘Dual Survival’ entitled ‘Hippo Island’. Specifically, I am writing to address the capture, killing and consumption of a Leopard Tortoise (Stigmochelys (geochelone) pardalis babcocki), incorrectly identified by Mr. Canterbury as an ‘African Spurred Tortoise’. This species, while not currently listed on the IUCN’s ‘Red List’ of endangered species is, none the less, threatened throughout its range by habitat destruction, collection for the Asian and European pet trade (import into the US has been banned), and yes, being eaten by both indigenous and non-indigenous people. Another African tortoise species, the Madagascar Radiated Tortoise, has gone in less than two decades from being ‘as numerous as the stars’ to critically endangered as a result of being eaten by the Malagasy people. Just because the locals do it does not make it environmentally responsible, and it does not make it a responsible or appropriate thing for you to do. The animal that you killed and ate was likely fifteen years old and had survived literally one in a thousand odds to reach that age, only to be eaten by the two of you to make television. I hope that you are both properly ashamed of yourselves.

I am particularly disgusted with you, Mr. Lundin. Mr. Canterbury, with his Ted Nugent-esque ‘bag it, burn it and eat it’ television persona, can almost be forgiven for his incredible lack of sensitivity to issues of environmental concern, but you Mr. Lundin, with your espoused close to the earth lifestyle and love of your ‘mother desert’, should certainly know better. Do you allow, or even encourage, your survival students to eat the Desert Tortoises and other endangered species that inhabit your usual stomping grounds in Arizona? You present yourself as an almost shaman-like teacher of harmony with the natural world, but on ‘Hippo Island’ both you and Mr. Canterbury utterly failed to even mention that killing and eating a slow-to-mature, threatened species should be an act of last resort. Instead, you made this act seem completely devoid of environmental or moral significance.

Please understand that I am not an ‘eco-fanatic’ of some sort. I eat meat, own firearms and have killed and eaten animals, and understand that true survival situations sometimes require extreme measures. I am also not naïve as to the requirement to ‘push the envelope’ when producing television (hence Mr. Canterbury’s recent self-mutilation and wound cauterization with black power), but killing and eating a CITIES Appendix II species, with a twenty-plus year maturation to reproductive age/size, for the sake of a television show, is irresponsible and reprehensible.

I am reminded of the actions of one of your predecessors in survival-related television, Les Stroud of ‘Survivorman’. In the course of filming his show, Les would sometimes come across an animal, sometimes an environmentally sensitive species, sometimes not, and say, “if this were a real survival situation, I’d have to eat this animal, but it isn’t, so I’m letting it go’. The two of you might learn something from Mr. Stroud.

However dramatic the scenarios presented on your show may be, they are not true ‘survival situations’. Could you not have asked one of the camera crew for a bite of his/her sandwich, and let a rare animal carry on with its long life and reproductive potential? Again, I hope that both of you are embarrassed and ashamed of what you’ve become in the interest of entertainment. Needless to say, I will no longer be counted amongst the viewers of your ridiculous show.

 

[October]

Hi All,

I thought that you might be interested in the text of a letter that I sent to Cody Lundin, Dave Canterbury, and the Discovery Chanel. Kind of a rant, but I feel better having sent it.

*applause*

 

[dmmj]

Good letter ross, nicely stated, you know if it was a survival situation, I don't think many people would mind, but as stated he is not in a true life or death situation, he has camera crews and probably some type of craft service available, since it was for entertainment purposes I find it reprehensible myself, and I think I will send them my thoughts on it also. If enough people do it, maybe they will say something.

 

[Tortoise-Luke]

i thought it was awfull and not that it would've made any difference to me if they were, but the thing is they were'nt even hungry. At least fake hunger, it just looked liked they enjoyed it.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Great letter Ross..

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Ross:

Good Job!!!

 

[Kristina]

The letter is fantastic.

I am, once again, glad that I don't watch TV. I can't stand to see things like this, or even new reports of children, animals, and people in general being abused. I would have been more than sick.

 

[jensgotfaith]

Great letter Ross. I've never heard of the show, but you can rest assured I won't be watching it. I'm sure I would have gotten sick had I seen the beginnings of that.

 

[dmarcus]

Great letter, I have heard of the show but never watched it, and now I won't even think about watching it...

 

[Bubba30]

I never seen that show, And glad I didn't. I understand if it really is for survival purposes, but in this case it isn't. It's for peoples entertainment. Which is totally wrong.

XOXO BUBBA AND CARLA

 

[October]

We don't have cable, just Netflix. I saw one episode of these guys at my InLaws. At was the one Ross mentioned. The one guy decided that the realistic situation was falling down a hill and gashing your arm. Well, he didn't actually fall down the hill so he intentionally slashed himself open with a knife and then had his buddy try to seal it up by pouring gun powder in the wound and then setting it on fire. It didn't work the first time, so they had to do it twice. The problem, like with showing how to eat a tortoise, is that the information is so very dead wrong. I can only imagine how many idiots have ended up in the hospital with severe infection of trivial wounds.

My husband and I watched it in disbelief, certain it was a spoof of Survivorman or some such. Nope. They were dead serious. I thought is was bad then, but I certainly will not ever be watching it again, now.

 

[Torty Mom]

Woo hooo Ross AWESOME letter!!!

 

[exoticsdr]

I applaud you, Ross.