Plot Synopsis

Henry Rollins travels the world to investigate the human-animal relationship, revealing our obsession with animals, unveiling animals' role in religion and uncovering how animals are used in medicine. Investigating the role animals play in religion, Henry sees a desert ritual in which spiritual seekers illegally smoke the poisonous skin of a Sonoran toad, and finds Christianity has room for a surprising role for dangerous animals in the snake-handling churches of Appalachia. Then, Henry investigates the trade in animals' blood, organs, limbs and toxins, where he finds some animals are medically important, while others are simply outrageous delicacies -- sometimes involving cruel treatment of endangered species. Finally Henry seeks out animal collectors, including a snake collector in Miami who drives a hearse and has fangs like the animals he keeps -- a king cobra, rattlesnakes and vipers that live in a room of his unassuming suburban home. Nat Geo Wild aired the U.S. premiere of this series on Monday, May 28, 2012 at 8pm ET, showing all three episodes back-to-back on the same night. This series was inspired by Henry Rollins' 60-minute special, "Snake Underworld," which aired on Nat Geo Wild on Friday, April 29, 2011 at 10pm ET.