I must come to Wolfy's defense in this dialog concerning Pigeon keepers, racers, competitors etc- Here at Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary we reacuse any pet other than cats & dogs- which includes our average of 20 elderly & chronically ill ferrets in their big free range room. We love the fuzzies - they were our first family 'exotic' rescue pet before we even dreamt of starting an organization. Over the past 10 years we have also had many people bring us pigeons that they found - usually after a storm. Some hurt some just disoriented, all banded. There is a site http://www.pigeon.org/ where you can trace a band and try to get in touch with the owner. Obviously many want their pigeons back. Unfortunately in our experience only one pigeon owner came to retrieve his bird and was glad to find him. The other dozen or so told us basically that the bird was not worth their time because it was injured or didn't complete its mission. They wouldnt spend the time or cost to get it only to put it down/break its neck/feed it to their hunting dogs/ etc (their words.) Now i don't purport to judge an entire community of people by these instances, but it does give one pause. So i do agree with Wolfy - Animal Planet does not need to glorify a person with shaky animal care past, in a so called sport that is not exactly in the animal's best interest. I was not crazy about their stupid jockey show either - race horses are not always well cared for- and who cares about the people who push them sometimes beyond their abilities- sigh. What I and I assume most other people want from Animal Planet is ANIMALS - cute adorable interesting animals. not people - unless they are people that care for animals - vets, rescuers, owner, researchers,- not so called reformed people who have harmed animals in the past - unless theya re donating a gazillion dollars to shelters, or volunteering 50 hours a week to clean cages... ok its been a loooong weekend- took in over a dozen new animals, all needing extra care- no ferrets tho- but im sure we'll get a call on some soon, and make room and love them and nurture them :) Dook Dook, Beth www.crittercamp.org Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary [Posted in FML 7001]