Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Did anyone catch the show that discovery had on Sunday called "Gators and Vipers" Those of you who didn't catch the show they were having a sting operation in Arizona to catch animal smugglers and the Warden would wait in total darkness with all of his dash lights covered and all lights off and follow the suspect car along rough,curvy, cliff side roads in total darkness so as not to be detected so he can catch someone picking up an animal. Well he ran off the road and rolled several times and landed upside down into a ditch some 20 feet down and lived to tell about it. I can't believe that the wardens would even think about following someone on those kind of roads on such dangerous terrain with no lights on. He deserved what happened to him. I could not believe what I was watching then I thought he must be able to see better than what the camera was showing but I guess not. The poor guy that was with him will probably never want to accompany any of them ever again for any reason. That's crazy. What are your thoughts on the this no matter if you saw the show or not tell me what you think. Sorry for the long post but It was necessary to give those who did not watch the show an idea of how crazy that was.

I saw the show you are talking about, but I believe it was on the National Geographic Channel and was on a show called "Reptilia". That's the way it was in my area anyway.

I have mixed feelings about what went on, I don't like to see reptiles collected illegally especially if they're endangered. But I'm wondering what woould happen if you get caught trying to move the snake out the road so it doesn't get run over. Would you be automatically targeted as a smuggle? Also, I doubt that they catch many people in the act, since it just doesn't seem productive to wait around the side of a highway that's probably thousands of feet long.

If that warden wanted to drive in the dark so badly, why the heck didn't he have any night-vision goggles. Duh! He's so stupid. Then again, maybe this particular division is so underfunded that they can't afford that type of equipment.

You are right about the national geographic channel my bad. I don't agree with smuggling animals either and in a way I am glad they police and care about their animals enough to pursue illegal capture but to go to that extent just to get someone for picking up an animal off of the road seems a bit extreme. If they were trying to catch someone picking up illegal aliens maybe it is justified, but to catch someone herping? For the money they will spend on fixing or buying a new truck they could by all of the wardens night vision goggles. But that still would not make the rewards outweigh the risks. The rewards being they save a few animals from being smuggled out of the state, and the risks could be death or major injury. I think the risks take the cake.