Houston Zoo May Improve Our City's Brutal Reputation On Cable TV

For a while now, cable viewers have had their image of how Houston treats its animals shaped by Animal Planet's Animal Cops, which shows us basically torturing very cute puppies, just for kicks.

Happily, the image may be about to change, when the National Geographic WILD channel airs Zoo Confidential, a three-part behind-the-scenes look at the Houston Zoo.

We assume no animals get abandoned in it.

The series begins Tuesday night with an episode called "Special Delivery," when they get ready for Baylor the elephant to be born and give an alligator a bath.

Other episodes will introduce Baylor to the world, an ocelot has kidney stones, and an orangutan "gets a little help from the vets with family planning."

That last one we hope doesn't feature a how-to segment on orangutan condoms.

Here's where you can see the show, depending on your cable system: U-Verse, channel 266; Comcast 250,  Dish 190, Direct TV 283 and TV Max 189 (HD service on channel 135).