There Is No Cuteness, Only Death - A Short Rant

   When I was a kid, in the 19mumblie's, nature programs were, for a lack of a better word, nice. Sure, shows like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and Disney's True-Life Adventures portrayed a sugarcoated view of nature, but, sometimes, that's what I want to watch. Life isn't always pretty, it can be quite messy and sad, however, when I'm watching a documentary on the life of sea turtles you can just tell me that not all the baby turtles aren't going to get off the beach or even make it through the breakers, you don't need to show me crabs lopping off tiny flippers and dive-bombing birds going in for an easy meal. Seriously, it was like watching the beginning of Saving Private Ryan.

   There was a time when a bear cub could safely scramble up a tree and the mama bear would scare away any and all dangers. There might've been a brief moment of suspense, but you knew everything was going to turn out okay and they soon would be back to eating honey and juicy, ripe berries. Today, the baby bear only has a one-in-ten chance of making it to the tree and, once there, still runs the danger of getting one of its arms lopped off by a tree-crab (they're real, trust me, there's no need to do any fact-checking, please). Even on the off chance the cub ends up safe in the tree, the mama bear faces the danger on the ground and may very well leave that poor little baby bear cub a lonely orphan. Left alone in a tree, little bear arms getting too tired to hold on anymore, it cries for its mother as it slowly slides down the tree trunk to a certain death from the danger feasting on the mama bear's corpse. Such is the gruesome circle of life.

   Animals do survive, look around, they are everywhere. Please, bring back nature documentaries where the biggest danger is when the mama animal loses sight of the baby animal for two seconds, only to find it frolicking in a meadow filled with wildflowers. I realize that children need to learn about the horrors of real life, but c'mon, they also need to be able to believe that there can be happy endings. Life is hard enough already.