Should We Have Exotic Animals As Pets

The exotic "pet" trade is big business. Selling protected wildlife in stores, auctions, or on the Internet is one of the largest sources of criminal earnings, backside only arms smuggling and drug trafficking. But the animals pay the toll. Many don't survive the journeying from their homes, and those who do survive often suffer in captivity and die prematurely from malnutrition, an unnatural and uncomfortable environment, loneliness, and the overwhelming stress of confinement.

Animals Suffer During Capture and Transport

Animals destined for the pet merchandise are yanked from their homes in places such as Australia, Africa, and Brazil and are subjected to grueling transport. Parrots may have their beaks and feet taped and exist stuffed into plastic tubes that tin easily be subconscious in luggage, and stolen bird and reptile eggs are concealed in special vests so that couriers can bypass X-ray machines at airports. Baby turtles take been trapped inside their shells with tape and shoved past the dozen into tube socks, and infant pythons have been shipped in CD cases. Many die earlier reaching their destinations.

Ignorance Breeds Misery

In the hands of unprepared or incompetent caretakers, many exotic animals die or are abandoned. The caput of the Environmental Crime Investigation unit in Western Greatcoat, South Africa, estimates that ninety percent of exported reptiles die inside a year.

Animate being command authorities confiscated a bedridden cougar cub from a Buffalo, New York, basement. The beast, kept by a teenager, had been fed a diet deficient in calcium and, as a result, suffered from plain-featured legs. Hedgehogs, who gyre themselves into tight balls, can easily become injured if children effort to "uncurl" them or if cats attack them. Sugar gliders are very social animals, and if they are not given enough attention, they may cocky-mutilate or dice from the stress of loneliness.

Other people try to return unwanted animals to their natural homes or abandon them outdoors. Without appropriate habitats or rehabilitation, these animals will starve or fall victim to the elements or predators. If they practise survive, they may overpopulate and wreak havoc with the ecosystem, killing native species.

Exotic Animals Lash Out

The exotic brute trade is unsafe for humans equally well. In that location accept been dozens of attacks by convict big cats on humans in the past decade. In i incident, a tiger mauled his guardian'south iii-yr-quondam grandson. A lion killed several dogs and trapped a kid in his room, and a Bengal tiger tore off the arm of a 4-yr-old boy.

Since 2000, at to the lowest degree iv people accept been mauled to death by wolf hybrids—the offspring of wolves and domesticated dogs. One veterinary and animal behaviorist says that "people who breed these animals and sell them every bit pets are playing Russian roulette. It'south a gross misrepresentation to sell these animals every bit pets."

Disease Threat

70-5 percent of all new infectious diseases originate from nonhuman animals. According to i Centers for Illness Command and Prevention (CDC) officer, "[T]here are all kinds of exotic species that may be unknown vectors of human disease."

The monkeypox outbreak that affected dozens of people in the Midwest in 2003 was traced to a Gambian rat from Africa. The animal had been housed with prairie dogs in an Illinois beast dealer'due south shed. Prairie dogs besides have been known to carry the plague and tularemia. The herpes B virus, which is nearly 70 percent fatal to humans, can be transferred from macaques to humans. Human contact with reptiles and other exotic animals accounts for seventy,000 cases of salmonellosis each twelvemonth. Parrots tin can transfer psittacosis, which tin can be deadly to humans.

Few Government Regulations

Federal, state, and local governments are passing laws that prohibit the private buying of sure dangerous species, but most of these regulations are poorly enforced and are designed to protect humans from injury and disease rather than ensure that animals are handled humanely.

What You Can Practice

Never buy exotic animals from dealers or pet shops, and support legislation that would make owning exotic animals illegal and prohibit the interstate sale of exotic animals.

Source: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/exotic-animals-pets/

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