Zoos have been around for centuries- facepaint, food, and of course, the animals that we all love. All of the exotic animals excites everyone, from children to adults- but when is this love taken too far? In recent years, there have been over 5,000 cases of people having obtained exotic animals such as monkeys, wolves, and many more from the black market. These buyers house these exotic, wild animals as house pets. There has been an unreasonable spring of exotic pet sightings recently, and many people and animals have been hurt in the process. Yes, his business is both dangerous to animals and people alike.
People stealing these wild animals from their habitat hurts them, and this process is done by extreme force. Also, when they are taken to the home, almost always the hosts do not have the necessary habitat or adequate food for the animals to survive. Not only this, but people, or the hosts, are hurt as well. These animals are captured and brought into the host’s home- but the animal still has its natural instincts. It could easily hurt or possibly kill any human that tries to make contact with it- after ll, it was just stolen from its natural habitat.
In addition to this, when many look into the market of purchasing an exotic pet, they don’t even realize the costs. Purchasing exotic pets nowadays are very expensive- and this doesn’t include shelter, food, and the other necessary resources that the animals needs to survive. Statistics show that most exotic animal pets only live for about two years after moving in, because of the lack of necessary resources. With all of these concerning and hurtful things at stake, keeping exotic animals as pets should be illegal in the US.
To begin, keeping exotic animals as pets harms humans. A great example is given in an article of National Geographic. The author explains some of the various incidents of exotic animal pets hurting their human owners. The author states, ” In Texas a four-year-old mauled by a mountain lion his aunt kept as a pet, in Connecticut a 55-year-old woman’s face permanently disfigured by her friend’s lifelong pet chimpanzee, in Ohio an 80-year-old man attacked by a 200-pound kangaroo, in Nebraska a 34-year-old man strangled to death by his pet snake.
And this list does not capture the number of people who ecome sick from coming into contact with zoonotic diseases. ” (Slater 3) This text shows that there have been countless amounts of accidents concerning exotic pets- even though they are cute and cuddly, as they grow older their natural instincts start to show. There have been over 2,000 exotic animal pet incidents over the past couple of years- with 14 percent of these incidents being death, and 24 percent being injury. The animals knew no better- they had been plucked right out of the wilderness and into someone’s garage.
Being from the wild, they still had a survival instinct- one that meant efending themselves from predators who cause them harm. In their eyes, even if they were being sent to a mansion with their own personal food bowl and pool, they would injure or possible kill any human that tried to tie them up. An example of this is shown in another article by Michael Di Paola & Ruthanne Johnson. This article says, “The path to exotic pet ownership often starts with an irresistible attraction to unbearably cute young wild animals.
As pets, the babies become quasi-“socialized” and dependent on human caretakers-until they grow up and instincts replace dependence. ” (2 Johnson) This text is an example how people are attracted to adopt these cute, cuddle baby animals while they are just babies. Unfortunately, no matter how much love and training one might devote to the animal, as it grows older the natural survival instincts will only grow stronger, and eventually take over. All and all, keeping exotic animals as pets hurts the hosts, or people, who house the animal.
In addition to this, keeping exotic animals as housepets can harm the animals as well. This is mentioned in another article by Born Free U. S. A. Born Free U. S. A is an agency that protects and teaches people about nimal cruelty, and donates to abused animals and animal abuse foundations. They are a group of people that work for no pay. The article says, “Exotic animals do not make good companions. They require special care, housing, diet, and maintenance that the average person cannot provide.
When in the hands of private individuals the animals suffer due to poor care. They also pose safety and health risks to their possessors and any person coming into contact with them. ” (3 Myers) This text shows how the average human can’t provide the proper supplies needed to properly raise an exotic animal, because it is ither too expensive or that no stores supply it. Humans housing exotic animals can cause the animal to suffer from various serious health problems, because the host is not supplying it the resources it needs.
An average person does not have the adequate resources to properly care for an exotic animal, unless they are willing to spend multi-millions of dollars to purchase a suitable lion habitat. Even if they did have the right resources to care for the animal doesn’t mean they necessarily should, though. Sadly, these animals don’t only suffer when at the host’s house. They also suffer when being orn away from their natural habitat, and the harsh trip along the way. When humans take them away from their habitats, it is usually done by force.
In a PETA essay, the author states, “Animals destined for the pet trade 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 be stuffed into plastic tubes that can easily be hidden 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 have been trapped inside heir shells with tape and shoved by the dozen into tube socks, and infant pythons have been shipped in CD cases. Many die before reaching their destinations. (Jackson)
This text proves that animals are hurt and even killed from being torn away from their natural habitats, and humans shipping them away in trucks uncomfortably. Animals are hurt by this process in various different ways, and many don’t even survive the trip. In the end, keeping exotic animals as housepets hurt the animals in way unimaginable. Finally, purchasing an exotic animals is much more expensive then one might anticipate. In an article titled “Big Cats- The Real Cost” they explained what not only the cost mentally, but the physical cost to purchase an exotic animal.
This article was written by the Big cat Rescue, which is a group of people that dedicate their lives to protecting big cats all around the world, and inform others about their cause. The text says, “Exotic cats range in price from a $900. 00 Bobcat to a $2500. 00 tiger cub. Most of the mid size cats, like Servals and Caracals cost $1500. 00 to $2200. 00 and Ocelots can run as high as $15,000. 00. The more rare the cat, the higher the price. ” (1 O’Brien) This text explains that buying an exotic pet really does break the bank- and this is just the purchase the animal.
The large fee does not include shipping or other transportation fees. Also, don’t forget the cost of the resources that the individual animal needs to survive if you were to properly take care of it- this could double or even triple the price to purchase the exotic animal. For example, the average big cat needs five thousand pounds of meat- per month. In this same article, the text says, “A small squeeze cage will cost you 250. 00 used and you could easily spend $2000. 0 for one big enough for a lion or leopard. (1 O’Brien)
This text mentions how there are evident additional fees for at least an adequate cage for an exotic animal, and it is quite expensive to get a proper cage, depending on the size. Also, when being taken to the vet or being transported somewhere, you not only need a cage but a vehicle stronger than a car. These machines could cost up to 300 dollars per hour to rent. Many people are not willing to spend this much money on an exotic animal, and in result of this many of the exotic animals die shortly after coming to the human home. To sum it up, purchasing an exotic animal is very costly and is not worth it.
Despite all of these dangerous and costly aspects of keeping an exotic animal as a housepet, many disagree. Some people say that if you have any breed of dog, cat, or bird in your home, then you already should support keeping exotic animals as pets. They say no animal was originally created to live in a house, or cared for by humans- and yet we have done this with dogs and cats alike. No tiger is less suitable to live in a house than a normal tabby cat, they claim. Despite what these people claim, they are mislead. Over undreds of centuries, humans have domesticated breeds of dogs and cats, so they are born into human homes and shelters.
They were domesticated, and meant to live with humans. Although humans did this with some breeds of animals, not all of these breeds were included. Cat breeds, such as lions and SO tigers, and dog breeds, such as wolves and coyotes, were not domesticated and have lived in the wild for centuries. They have been born into this, and were not meant to live in a human home unlike the domesticated breeds have. To sum it up, never be mislead by someone claiming that exotic animals are just as ikely to be meant to be a housepet than any other common dog or cat.
This is false, because some animals were domesticated and meant to live with humans, while others were In conclusion, keeping exotic animals as pets should be illegal because not only are they putting the animals in danger because they are not given the proper resources they need to survive, but this is also putting humans in danger as well. This is because the exotic animal still posses its survival-like instincts- which is to kill whatever does them any harm, which puts the hosts of the animal in grave danger.
Finally, not only does keeping an exotic housepet hurt the animal and the person, but it hurts the host’s wallet as well. To purchase the animals is very expensive, and the bill only gets longer if you wish to give your animal the adequate amount of resources for it to survive. Think about how the animal must feel, being torn from it’s family and natural habitat, and thrown into a random civilian backyard with not. the inadequate amount of supplies to survive. With all these dangers being very evident, keeping an exotic animal as a housepet should be illegal.
