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Anderson Cooper Hunts Sharks, Monkeys and Wild Rats
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Jeff Hutchens/CNN
The Daily Beast talks to Cooper about his new high-octane environmental special, racing Michael Phelps, and tangling with great whites while protected by nothing but a bathing suit.
In a genre that slides ever further into glossy infotainment and shock-of-the-week stories, Anderson Cooper is a vocal advocate for putting more actual news in the ratings-focused cable news cycle. But he still knows how to package, which is why tonight’s CNN special, Planet in Peril: Battle Lines, promises serious environmental issues, but also Cooper hunting wild monkeys with bush men in the Congo. The sequel to last year's award-winning documentary, in which Cooper explored the threats to tigers and rare amphibians, this year’s two-hour installment also features chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Oprah’s Lisa Ling. The Daily Beast spoke with Cooper about America’s resurging interest in hard news, racing Michael Phelps, and why out-of-control population growth will be one of the world’s most pressing issues in the next few decades.
Where did Planet in Peril take you this year?
I was in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and South Africa. I was pretty limited because of the election season and wasn’t able to travel as much as I would have liked. Lisa Lang was also in Chad and Nigeria, looking at a rebel movement, which has sprouted up against the oil companies, against the government there over oil. She was in Chad looking at elephants. Dr. Sanjay Gupta was with me in Cameroon, hunting viruses and he was also in Peru. Lisa also went up to the Arctic and was off the coast of Costa Rica and I was also in Taiwan, looking at shark-finning, which is decimating shark populations around the globe.
How did you stay up on news while you were on these shoots?
I sort of didn’t. It’s tough in Cameroon. We were out with hunters for days at a time in very isolated, remote regions where, obviously, there was no internet service and BlackBerries didn’t work for email. So there would be days where I was sort of cut off. I kind of enjoyed those days.
“I had never really spent intensive time with a hunter searching for food, and it takes far longer than I had possibly imagined.”
What was the most challenging part of the filming?
There were two things. One, we went out with hunters who were hunting for bush meat. Bush meat trading around the world has exploded. It’s no longer hunters trying to feed their families and local populations. It’s really become an international, global trade. There was just this story yesterday, a woman smuggled a sedated monkey into the United States. It’s all part of the illegal international pet trade. Going out with hunters is really tough. I had never really spent intensive time with a hunter searching for food, and it takes far longer than I had possibly imagined. We’re talking three or four days, and they come back with nothing but two or three rats and a small monkey.
The most challenging was diving with great white sharks. I started off on a cage dive, but then the man I was with, Dave Rutzen, was known for free diving with great white sharks. He’s one of the only people who does it and agreed to take me out. So I actually went free diving with great white sharks, with no cage. That was pretty intense. You know, you’re stepping into bloody water and there are three or four sharks circling around you and they’re great whites. It definitely gets your heart pumping.
More so than swimming next to Michael Phelps for 60 Minutes?
[Laughs] Yes. Swimming with Michael Phelps seemed tame by comparison. Equally hard on the ego.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Henry Seltzer is a homepage editor for The Daily Beast. He previously worked at UsMagazine.com and The Huffington Post and filed for Gawker and Wonkette under the moniker of "Henry the Intern." He occasionally contributes to Project.ioni.st and once published Press Gaggle, a blog about the White House press briefings.
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Henry Seltzer is a homepage editor for The Daily Beast. He previously worked at UsMagazine.com and The Huffington Post and filed for Gawker and Wonkette under the moniker of "Henry the Intern." He occasionally contributes to Project.ioni.st and once published Press Gaggle, a blog about the White House press briefings.
When is this hypocrite going to come out of the closet already? He dodges questions about his sexual orientation by categorically insisting he doesn't publicly discuss his personal life, then goes and publishes a book on the profoundly personal subject of his pain over his brother's suicide. He will have ZERO credibility as a reporter until he stops the double-speak.
And I was watching his live broadcast the night he prematurely- and falsely- reported (before seeking proper confirmation) that the Sago miners had survived the mine's collapse. It was one of the most appalling things I've ever witnessed. He should be eternally ashamed of his handling of that tragic event. No award for reporting on my hometown's losses to Katrina will ever make up for that in my book.
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