History Series / AnimalPlanetHeroes

They all focus on American animal cruelty field agents or police, and the vets and evaluators of a rescue centre. In the event of animal cruelty or neglect sometimes courtroom proceedings are also included. The only real difference from show to show is the part of the US where it is set. Given the biodiversity of the USA, and the differences in State and County laws regarding animal husbandry and ownership, different types of cases are depicted. For example, ''Animal Cops Houston'' likes to show horse cases, ''Miami Animal Police'' likes cases with alligators and other exotic animals, and ''Animal Cops Detroit'' likes dogfighting busts.

* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle - The shows kindly points out that ''The (name of organization seen in episode) is a non-profit organization funded by donations from the public'' (or something similar), usually during a major seizure or a heartbreaking rescue.

* BlatantLies - From abusive owners, frequently. They took their pets to the vet, honest.

* BodyHorror - Embedded collars, untreated tumors, mangy and/or filth-matted coats, and festering wounds. Squick doesn't ''begin'' to describe it...
* BrainwashedAndCrazy - Fighting dogs often have to be put down because they're just too dangerous to be rehabilitated and put up for adoption.

* BusmansHoliday - Occasionally an officer adopts one of the animals they rescued.
* TheChewToy - Literally, and some of the worst cruelty cases involve "bait dogs," dogs used as bait and "practice" for fighting dogs.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes - Sometimes the investigators are stumped when they discover that the person abusing or neglecting an animal are themselves employed in a field that works with animals. See the farrier who somehow allowed one of his own horse's feet to grow until they were making the horse lame.

* CrazyCatLady - The investigators deal with lots of cases of animal hoarding, which is not limited to cats, or women.
* CutenessProximity - The investigators often coo and fuss over the animals they are rescuing. And even the hardened officers pet and talk to baby animals.

* DoesNotLikeMen - Abused dogs can become aggressive towards or frightened of men who remind them of their old owners. They can generally be trained out of this.
* DownerEnding - When an animal needs to be put down, and/or the abuser gets away scot-free.
* FairCop - Anne-Marie Lucas (''Animal Precinct'') and Kathy Labrada (''Miami Animal Police'') are two of the most prominent examples.

* IJustWantToBeLoved - Abused dogs are often pleased to get the attention. So do cats, but they tend to take longer to warm up.
* ImTakingHerHomeWithMe - The best possible outcome for a lot of the animals is to be adopted. In some cases the officers become attached to the animals and adopt them themselves.
* ItNeverGetsAnyEasier - Many people feel this way about having to put down animals.
* TheJudge - Judges are frequently featured issuing search warrants or presiding over hearings for the abusers, and at least in many if not most of the cases shown they seem to come down on the ASPCA's side.
* JurisdictionFriction - Mostly averted, since local law enforcement works closely with the ASPCA's officers in many cases.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes - These shows have never been released to DVD.
* KindheartedCatLover - Many of the officers.

* KindlyVet - Anyone working at the ASPCA hospitals is ''incredibly'' dedicated to their job, as they do their jobs for even less money than their private practice counterparts.
* MercyKill - Sometimes if an animal is too far gone, has no chance of being rehabilitated or is suffering too much [[TearJerker this is the only humane choice]]. In examples of animal hoarding this is usually what ends up happening to many if not most of the recovered animals.
* MilkmanConspiracy - Dogfighting rings are notoriously hard to pin down. Even if one of the experienced officers identifies an area as a fighting pit which was used ''earlier that evening'', there is rarely any solid evidence or even a list of suspects to investigate.
* NeverLiveItDown - [[{{In-universe}} Brings this into the spotlight]] for breeds like the pit bull, generally seen on the show solely as fighting dogs. As anyone familiar with dogs can attest to, pits are generally kind, sweet, and devoted unless specifically bred and raised to fight. The officers and shelter workers also work very hard to rehabilitate them for adoption for that exact reason.
* NewMeat - Rookies in general. Particularly the poor guy on the case of a man who beat in the faces of cats to kill them.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow - Investigators frequently wind up being surprised by what they find, and ''not in good ways''. One particularly memorable case was where they found a neglected horse that had somehow managed to survive having ''a hole through its neck'', which you could ''see through''. Even the seasoned investigators were dumbstruck by the sight.
* ObliviouslyEvil - Many of the hoarders--though it's more "Obviously Guilty of Neglect" than actual evil, and a lot of more recent episodes of all the shows acknowledge that hoarding is often a sign of psychological or mental issues. A lot of hoarders actually think they're ''rescuing'' the animals, and some are even convinced that they're the only ones that ''can'' care for those animals.

* OpeningNarration - "Eight million people. Five million pets. Twenty animal cruelty agents with full police powers. This is the Animal Precinct." (The Animal Precinct opening narration)
* {{Pixellation}} - For suspects, since, as noted at the end of each episode, most of them had not been yet tried at the time of the episode's original airing.
* PreciousPuppies
* SerialKiller - One who killed two cats and nearly managed another surfaced in Miami.
* SomewhereAnEquestrianIsCrying - the Houston series in particular tends to feature a lot of horses in deplorable conditions, and since it's Texas, where horses are SeriousBusiness, the investigators there are ''very'' unamused whenever they see horses that are too skinny or whose feet are not being propertly taken care of. One particular case of a horse with overgrown feet managed to piss off even the otherwise unflappable officers because the owner ''was a farrier!''[[note]]i.e. someone whose ''job'' it is to trim horse hooves[[/note]]
* TheTag - Some of the animals featured in the episode being shown with their adoptive families, foster carers, or having been reunited with their owners if they were lost.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman - One abuser said "wait, I'm being arrested for a dog?". The dog had been abandoned and was starving to death before rescued.
* TrashOfTheTitans - Animals are often found in abhorrent conditions like dumps or hoarding situations.
* TheUnfavorite - Occasionally, owners will be found to be neglecting one or more animals terribly, while taking excellent care of another of the same species. Often this gets them slammed by the judge, because they clearly know ''how'' to properly take care of a pet, they just haven't been bothering.
* UnstoppableRage - Not only can some stories be [[TearJerker tearjerkers]] for people who love animals a lot, the people who do such horrid things to their pets can often inspire this, as well. Many people cannot watch any of these shows for more than ten or fifteen minutes without wanting to find these animal abusers and demonstrate the proper use of a crowbar, a la [[VideoGame/{{Half-Life2}} Gordon Freeman]].
* [[ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare You Fail Animal Care Forever]] - InvokedTrope. All too often, either through ignorance or indifference.

* SomewhereAnEquestrianIsCrying - the Houston series in particular tends to feature a lot of horses in deplorable conditions, and since it's Texas, where horses are SeriousBusiness, the investigators there are ''very'' unamused whenever they see horses that are too skinny or whose feet are not being propertly taken care of. One particular case of a horse with overgrown feet managed to piss off even the otherwise unflappable officers because the owner ''was a farrier!''[[hottip:*:i.e. someone whose ''job'' it is to trim horse hooves]]

** Several segments note that the ASPCA officers don't have power of arrest or the ability to issue search warrants, so the cooperation is very much necessary to save animals. Averted with the NY ASPCA, as they have full police powers.

** Several segments note that the ASPCA officers don't have power of arrest or the ability to issue search warrants, so the cooperation is very much necessary to save animals.

* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes - Sometimes the investigators are stumped when they discover that the person abusing or neglecting an animal are themselves employed in a field that works with animals. See the farrier who somehow allowed his own horse's feet to grow until they were making the horse lame.

** Subverted by one Michigan officer who said it's the "small, furry" animals that tend to freak him out a bit, but then that's why he's the main reptile seizure officer...cue being very caring with the various reptiles he was getting in that episode.

** The Phoenix series had a woman who was apparently a vet tech but let a tiny puppy be neglected to the point that both ears were completely covered in ticks and the dog nearly died of blood loss.

* [[ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare You Fail Animal Care Forever]] - [[invoked]] All too often, either through ignorance or indifference.

* BeastlyBloodsports: Animal cruelty investigators deal a lot with dogfighting rings and the poor animals involved in them. The worst cases involve "bait dogs", dogs used as practice for fighting dogs.

* BeastlyBloodsports

* UnstoppableRage - Not only can some stories be [[TearJerker tearjerkers]] for people who love animals a lot, the people who do such horrid things to their pets can often inspire this, as well. Many people cannot watch any of these shows for more than ten or fifteen minutes without wanting to find these goombas and demonstrate the proper use of a crowbar, a la [[VideoGame/{{Half-Life2}} Gordon Freeman]].

* CrazyCatLady - Many real life examples, not limited to cats, or women.

* ''Animal Precinct'' (2001-2008) - the original show. Set in NewYorkCity.

** One episode had a couple of officers an a large portion of the local fire department trying to save a kitten from a storm drain, after having failed the previous day. One female firefighter actually climbed up the sewer pipe, slowly so she wouldn't startle the cat, and then held still in there for an hour to get it to come to her. They saved the cat.

* NeverLiveItDown - Brings this into the spotlight for breeds like the pit bull, generally seen on the show solely as fighting dogs. As anyone familiar with dogs can attest to, pits are generally kind, sweet, and devoted unless specifically bred and raised to fight. The officers and shelter workers also work very hard to rehabilitate them for adoption for that exact reason.

* AndKnowingIsHalftheBattle - The shows kindly point out that ''The (name of organization seen in episode) is a non-profit organization funded by donations from the public'' (or somethign similar), usually during a major seizure or a heartbreaking rescue.

* KindlyVet - The veterinarians and veterinary technicians do their jobs for even less money than their private practice counterparts, who ''already'' don't make much. Anyone working at the ASPCA hospitals is therefore, by definition, ''incredibly'' dedicated to their job.

* NeverLiveItDown - Brings this into the spotlight for breeds like the pit bull, generally seen on the show solely as fighting dogs (naturally). In fact, as anyone familiar with dogs can tell you, pits are generally kind, sweet, and devoted unless specifically raised to be a fighting dog. [[invoked]]

* CutenessProximity - The investigators often coo and fuss over the animals they are rescuing.

* FairCop - Anne-marie Lucas (''Animal Precinct'') and Kathy Labrada (''Miami Animal Police'') are two of the most prominent examples.
* IJustWantToBeLoved - Abused dogs are often pleased to get the attention, and so do cats but they tend to take longer to warm up.

* PreciousPuppies - No matter how hardened an officer is, whenever baby animals come up.

* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow- Investigators frequently wind up being surprised by what they find, and ''not in good ways''. One particularly memorable case was where they found a neglected horse that had somehow managed to survive having ''a hole through its neck'', which you could ''see through''. Even the seasoned investigators were dumbstruck by the sight.

* PreciousPuppies
* SerialKiller - One who killed cats surfaced in Miami

** Not to mention the countless instances where the abusive and neglectful owners INSIST that they've been feeding their pet. Even though the animal is just skin and bones and their food container has literally no sign of food.

* BeyondTheImpossible - Investigators frequently wind up being surprised by what they find, and ''not in good ways''. One particularly memorable case was where they found a neglected horse that had somehow managed to survive having ''a hole through its neck'', which you could ''see through''. Even the seasoned investigators were dumbstruck by the sight.

* {{Pixellation}} - For suspects

* ObliviouslyEvil - Many of the hoarders--though it's more "Obviously Guilty of Neglect" than actual evil, and a lot of more recent episodes of all the shows acknowledge that hoarding is often a sign of psychological or mental issues. A lot of hoarders actually think they're ''rescuing'' the animals, and some are even convinced that they're the only ones that ''can'' care for those animals

* ObliviouslyEvil - Many of the hoarders
** Some of them actually think they're ''rescuing'' the animals!

AnimalPlanetHeroes is a set of so called "Wheel Series" airing on AnimalPlanet. In other words several different (but in this case, very similar) shows rotate in the same time slot. This works because it is a non-fiction series focusing on animal rescue and, to some extent, TrueCrime when cruelty prosecutions are involved.

* ''AnimalPrecinct'' (2001-2008) - the original show. Set in NewYorkCity.