Animal documentaries

[Mememena]

I was watching some david attenborough shows today and I always have mixed feelings.
I never want the animal to be eaten but I never want the other animal to starve either!
A clip that stuck in my head was these killer whales throwing a penguin up in the air and then one of them ate the penguin,
But it showed the penguin in the mouth before the whale swallowed and I can't get the penguin's face out of my mind :(

@CitizenFame because the same kittens (recognisable by their markings) are featured over and over again until they perish or get thrown back onto the streets when they are no longer cute babies. Then they get more kittens and the cycle continues.
It wasn't many years ago that youtube were happy to allow content showing animals being crushed for their viewers sexual kicks

@Bluemooninmyeyes1

I know what you mean op. It’s like when you see a deer getting chased by a lion. I’m always on the deers side because I don’t want to see a cute little animal being ripped apart but at the same time I don’t want to see the lion and the little cubs starve so I’m always torn and it breaks my heart when the predator finally does get it’s kill. One of the reasons I stopped watching nature documentaries actually, I’m such a wuss!

At least the lion chews its food. A snake swallowing a deer whole - that's gross.

I watched Hostile Planet (National Geographic, narrated by Bear Grylls) last night. A seal pup was eaten by a great white but the colony eventually did gang up and chase it out. There were also a couple of turtles trying to mate (female swims, male rides on her back) but rival males were biting and trying to get him off. The effort of keeping going nearly killed her but eventually she did make it to the surface for air.

I have always maintained that they should do a 'U' edit of these kinds of programmes which would make them more suitable for younger viewers and those of us who would rather not see the full-on gore of the circle of life. One of my sons is a ghoul and would happily watch the lot, but the other misses out on a lot of programmes because he really hates the tense bits where you are just waiting for something to get killed/escape, so he ends up not wanting to watch it at all!

That's the worst thing - I recently saw a picture online somewhere of a big cat attacking and eating a baby deer/antelope. The look on it's face; it looked like it was screaming
But that's nature unfortunately! Would rather see that than a poacher proudly posing with his kill. But that's another thread entirely...

Today a sparrowhawk attacked a starling in my garden. I could hear the starling screaming and so desperately wanted to save it but the sparrowhawk would starve. Nature is cruel, it's sad and animals suffer every day. All we can do is reduce the suffering we cause. And help where we can. Put food and water out. Rescue injured wild animals. But wild animals need to eat, and many of those animals need to eat other animals or they would die.

I kind of enjoy watching the secret life of the zoo, but there are elements of the programme I do not like nor understand. For clarity I'll list them.

1. The oness of the staff to ensure the animals procreate with the idea in the background that if they do not something bad may happen

1. When a large mammal is pregnant after years of non events i.e stillbirths etc.. why when the mother is clearly in labour do they go home for the night only to find a dead calf in the morning and then pretend to be sooo sad ?

Where are the staff to stay on for the night when the mother has been in calf for three years and this is crucial ?? Or at least a camera so they can view things and get there before everything goes wrong ??

1. Why do the staff find it funny when a jewel wasp inflicts itself on a cockroach effectively mummifying it so the larva eats its way through the poor thing ?