Stream It or Skip It?

Discovery’s newest three-part series, Animals on Drugs, follows wildlife biologist and adventurer Forrest Galante on his quest to uncover the effects of human drug use on wildlife—a little-known phenomenon. When drugs are flushed during raids, washed away in floods or even just disposed of through human waste, they end up accumulating in animals, causing strange, and often dangerous, reactions.

Opening Shot: Forrest Galante (Shark Week) paddles a canoe through a bog in Citrus County, FL. While paddling, Galante explains a chilling development—increased alligator aggression. This particular county is facing some of the worst, he said, perhaps due to its status as one of the biggest meth capitals in the United States.

The Gist: Galante is a wildlife biologist and adventure seeker who told Decider he has “spent his whole life trying to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.” In the pilot episode of this three-part series, he travels to one of the most meth-addled areas of the country to seek out gators that have been affected by the drug. There are numerous ways drugs enter waterways, eventually bioaccumulating in wildlife, Galante said. To start, Florida experiences more storms and floods than any other state, meaning rising waters often wash drug supplies into waterways. Additionally, during police raids, drugs are often flushed down toilets, traveling through septic systems and straight into the water. In an interview, Galante told Decider that something as simple as a guy taking Viagra and peeing into a toilet can have negative effects.

Emergency wildlife trapper “Captain” Ron Sanderson and wildlife rehab specialist Chris Gillette join forces with Galante to track down and study alligators affected by meth. They start by tracking the reptiles themselves, responding to calls about nuisance gators. But none of those gators were actually affected by meth—something Galante and the team could tell by simply observing their behavior. Meth gators are erratic and aggressive, but these ones were simply minding their own business, leading the team to believe they were not affected. So, they decide to reverse the process. Instead of tracking the gators down, they would track the meth. Galante spoke with residents of a particularly impacted community, who told him of a gator residing in an abandoned pool nearby.

One thing is clear: these guys are dedicated. Galante and Gillette wade waist deep into this abandoned pool-turned-swamp full of sewage, garbage and, yes, a real, live meth gator. The water is impossible to see into, but Gillette and Galante float their hands around in search of the gator in question, making for a thrilling and adrenaline-inducing watch.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Animal Planet’s Gator Boys immediately comes to mind, as Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle returned nuisance gators to their natural habitats before they could be killed by trappers. Also, just like how Tia Torres rehabs pitbulls on Animal Planet’s Pit Bulls and Parolees, Galante captures a meth gator and brings it to a rehab sanctuary, where it turns into a completely different gator than how it was found.

Our Take: The show combines exciting, interesting and important elements: danger, drugs and the consequences of human actions on wildlife. I loved how it tackled a topic that’s so easy to sensationalize, but attached a deeper purpose to it and actually used it for good. Galante certainly achieved his mission to bring awareness to a less discussed consequence humans have on the environment.

Plus, who wouldn’t want to see how animals on drugs behave? In Episode 2, booze-driven bears break into homes, and episode 3 follows cocaine-addicted hippos who were raised by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. You’d be hard-pressed to find these bizarre concepts anywhere else.

Parting Shot: The team brings the meth gator, aptly dubbed Methanie, to Gillette’s rehab sanctuary, Bellowing Acres. After Methanie has a few months to recover, Galante returns to check on her progress, and the gator has transformed. She’s darker in color, has put on some weight, is friendly and overall in much better health and spirits. Methanie has been renamed Matcha, a much more fitting moniker for her new, sober lifestyle.

Sex and Skin: None.

Sleeper Star: Methanie/Matcha’s open mouth as Galante feeds her chicken evokes an ear to ear smile. And yes, maybe she’s just hungry, but it appears a smile nonetheless, and her toothy grin stole the show and my heart.

Our Call: STREAM IT! Animals on Drugs is thrilling and meaningful at the same time.

“The message I want people to take away is just to be responsible,” Galante told Decider. “I’m not saying don’t do that. Do that if you need to do it, but be responsible with the things you’re doing, where substances could be ending up. Imagine if a kid got into a meth house. We’d have a meltdown as a nation. But when it happens to an entire swamp in Florida, nobody blinks twice about it. And it’s just as important in its own way.”