Animal Precinct

Infobox Television
show_name = Animal Precinct


caption = Black and white version of series logo
genre = Reality
Documentary
creator =
writer =
director = Paul Berriff
Rebbecca Colins
Jamie Matson
Ben Rowland
developer =
starring =
narrated = Michael Madsen (2001-2005) Holt McCallany (2005-Present)
composer = Ernie Wood
Robin Forrest
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 7
num_episodes = 115
list_episodes =
executive_producer = Andrea Cornes
Alexandra J. Bennett
Sarah Tobin
producer = Jason Benjamin
Kevin Hefner
Vanessa Frances
Richard Bonser
Paul Fitzgerald (II)
supervising_producer =
asst_producer = Kate Jones
Louisa Griffith-Jones
location = New York
cinematography = Paul Berriff
Bala Bailey
Richard Graveling
Jamie Matson
Ben Rowland
Jason Shepherd
camera =
runtime = 60 minutes
network = Animal Planet
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_aired = June 26, 2001
last_aired = Present
related = "Animal Cops Detroit"
"Animal Cops Houston"
"Miami Animal Police"
"Animal Cops San Francisco"
""
website = http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/animalprecinct/animalprecinct.html
production_website =
imdb_id = 0348507
tv_com_id = 34630

"Animal Precinct" is a reality television series that premiered on Animal Planet on June 26, 2001. Set in New York City, the series follows the animal cruelty agents of the ASPCA's Humane Law Enforcement department as they work as advocates for the five million pets and other animals in New York City, sometimes removing them from dangerous situations and pursuing arrests of those who have been cruel to animals.

The show is filmed locally by crews from Anglia Television, edited in the UK and shown on Discovery Channel networks worldwide.

Format

When the series debuted in 2001, episodes were 30 minutes in length. This was later extended to a full hour, and has remained there for all subsequent seasons. The pilot episode was quite different from subsequent episodes, as it focused primarily on Special Investigator Annemarie Lucas and included her discussing various parts of her job, such as how she felt about carrying a gun.

easons

pecials

"Animal Precinct at Ground Zero"

On October 12, 2001, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, Animal Planet aired a one-hour special focused on the work to rescue the many animals that were affected by the fall of the World Trade Center towers on September 11.cite web |url=http://www.charitywire.com/charity17/05206.html |title="Animal Precinct at Ground Zero" TV Show To Spotlight ASPCA During WTC Crisis |publisher=Charity Wire |date=2001-09-01 |accessdate=2008-01-28 ]

Cast

The ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) officers can be classified as Special Agents or Special Investigators.Fact|date=January 2008 Many HLE officers are identified by name on-camera; however, some are not, instead spoken of only by initial (most notably “Special Agent M” and “Special Agent Q”) with their faces blurred when on-camera as a way to protect their identities so that they can do undercover work for the ASPCA.

During the first three seasons, the HLE team had ten investigators. At the start of the fourth season, the team had been expanded to fifteen investigators. In season six, the team expanded again, and as of May 2008, the HLE has twenty investigators, including a female undercover agent ("Special Agent L").

In 2007, Special Investigator Annemarie Lucas was promoted to Supervisory Special Investigator. As a result of the extra duties associated with her promotion, she does fewer street work cases, but still occasionally participates in investigations when other agents need her assistance.

* Kristi Adams
* John De La Torre
* Diane DiGiacomo
* Adam Gankiewicz
* Bob Clark
* Mike Geller
* Paul Lai
* Annemarie Lucas
* Mark MacDonald
* Joe Pentangelo
* Richard Raheb
* Peter Rivas
* Paul Romano
* Henry Ruiz (formerly "Special Agent H")
* Richard Ryan
* Tina Salaks
* Joann Sandano
* Timothy Stack
* Michael Tietje (retired in 2006)Fact|date=January 2008

pecial Agent H

Special Agent Henry Ruiz was known as “Special Agent H” during the show’s early seasons but revealed his true identity in the episode aired on July 18, 2005, after he ceased performing undercover work. Ruiz’s “unmasking” was the subject of a series of special episodes of "Animal Precinct", in which footage of Ruiz’s past rescues was shown for the first time without the facial blurring, as well as footage from his last major undercover operation for the ASPCA (reconnaissance and surveillance of an area holding roosters bred for cock fighting) with Ruiz demonstrating and explaining his undercover techniques on-camera. However, completed episodes filmed while Ruiz was still "Special Agent H" still have his face blurred whenever he appears on-screen.

Reception

The success of "Animal Precint" lead Animal Planet to create an "umbrella rotation" of similar shows known that are collectively as "Animal Planet Heroes." Though the shows have similar formats, each has their own unique elements due to the differences in the ways the individual cities deal with animal care and cruelty cases. There have currently been six similar shows based on the "Animal Precint" concept.

* "Animal Cops Detroit" (Detroit, Michigan)
* "Animal Cops Houston" (Houston, Texas)
* "Miami Animal Police" (Miami, Florida)
* "Animal Cops San Francisco" (San Francisco, California)
* "" (Phoenix, Arizona)
* "Animal Cops South Africa" (Cape of Good Hope, South Africa)

In 2002, the series won the Genesis Award for the "Best Reality Programming" category.

References

;General
*cite web |url=http://television.aol.com/show/animal-precinct/740231/episodes |title=Animal Precinct: All Episodes |publisher=AOL Television |accessdate=2008-01-29 ]

;Specific

External links

*
* [http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cruelty_animalprecinct ASPCA page on Animal Precinct]
*
*
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4625925 NPR story on "Weekend Edition"]