The Dangers of the Exotic Life
The thought of owning an exotic pet such as a chimpanzee or even as extreme as a Bengal tiger is so thrilling to some people. Most of these people will see these animals on shows, movies or just in pictures and have to have them as some sort of trophy pet to show off. Honestly, when I was younger I thought it would be so cool to have a monkey as a pet, but then in 2009 I learned about a woman who owned a chimpanzee and it tore her friend’s face and hands apart, ever since that day I am just as happy to see them while watching documentaries on them. In this essay, I will be talking about how the exotic pet trade is dangerous for not only the animals involved, but also the humans, U.S state regulations, and how some exotic pet enthusiast would argue against this.
Exotic animals such as the African gray parrot, chimpanzees, Bengal tigers, lemurs, and many others can carry zoonotic diseases. These types of diseases are transferred from animals to humans. Some examples of these diseases are rabies, west Nile virus, Lyme disease, and salmonellosis (commonly known as Salmonella). Exotic animals can also transfer diseases to other animals who aren’t accustomed to these certain diseases. According to an article from National Geographic, there was an outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease, also known as END, that caused the death of twelve million birds here in the United States back in the 1970s. This case was traced back to parrots that were smuggled from South America. Exotic animals can be seen as cute and cuddly when they are young and new to the world, but their wild instincts don’t leave them just because they become somebody’s pet. Someone who would argue against points made in this part, would likely say that some of these diseases aren’t real or can’t be transferred from an animal, even though they’ve been scientifically proven and are still being researched.
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These “pets” are still wild animals and can flip their internal switch at any moment. It doesn’t matter if you had raised the animal since it was a baby, they still have predator or prey instincts in their brains that tell them how to act in certain situations. In most cases, people will love how cute looking the baby, exotic animal looks, but once it grows up and starts to look how the adults do they will get tired of it and either try to resell, give it to a sanctuary or zoo, let it go, or kill it. In other cases, the owners keep them, but in poor conditions due to the expenses of keeping up with the growth of the animal. This can cause a great amount of stress on the animal which can cause it to lash out on the owner or the owner’s family or friends. According to a website called “TreeHugger”, a man named Terry Thompson from Zanesville, Ohio made national headlines once he released the horde of wild animals that his wife and him kept on their property, which included Bengal tigers, monkeys, lions, wolves, baboons, and many others. After releasing them he did kill himself, leaving the task of trying to control the animals to authorities. Police ended up having to shoot more than fifty animals to stop them from terrorizing the town. People who are a part of the exotic pet trade could argue this by saying Thompson got in over his head and got too many animals and that’s why he did what he did, not all everyone who is a part of this is as careless as he is. That could be true, but it still isn’t a smart idea to take these animals from the wild or breed them in captivity and then try to release them into the wild because you get bored with them.
Most states have begun to make it harder for people to own such exotic animals by setting regulations. These regulations cover all types of exotic animals, such as large cats, bears, reptiles, monkeys and apes, and amphibians. There are four different types of regulations that the states have decided upon, eighteen have the comprehensive ban, fourteen states have the partial ban on exotic pets, fifteen have the permit private ownership of exotic animals under a licensure
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or permit scheme, and the remaining three have no statutory or regulatory scheme, but those three states do require health certificates and other important permits for these animals. States have tried to really put a stop to the exotic pet trade, but the use of social media has helped people involved with it be sneakier when setting up conventions in order to get new animals out there and make more money. The Netflix show “The Tiger King” is a good example of how the media was able to show how exotic pets can be exploited. The one guy from Vegas bought cubs and used them to have women pose with them for pictures and then he began to have his zoo and decided to use them to get more money. Joe used the cubs to get more money from his zoo to have people take pictures with them, he also claimed that he would never hurt any of his tigers yet they found dead tigers on his property that were shot with what was believed to be his gun. Carole Baskin, she had a love for the bobcat, which I believe started her love for the exotic cats. She has the big cat sanctuary, but I believe that it is basically the same thing Joe had going on, but she just has it running better and smoother due to the help of her husband and the volunteers they have. Publicity like this can show how “good” it is to have these big cats, they hardly show the downsides of having to care for them.
Some of the people who are exotic animal enthusiast would argue how they have these animals to teach those around them because you don’t normally get to see these animals. If that is the case, great, but have the proper facilities for it so no one, including the animal, gets hurt or worse killed. Another argument could be that the animal is going to docile because they are raising it from such a young age. That might be the case for a little bit, but once it reaches maturity, the animal will start to behave how it would in the wild, making it dangerous for anyone near it. An argument can be, how hard could it be to take care of, it can’t be any harder than taking care of a normal pet. If that is their logic before getting an exotic pet, no matter the
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kind, then they need a stern life lesson. Any pet will take a ton of time, patience, training, skill, and of course money. The bigger and more exotic the animal, the more of those things you are going to need, also you aren’t going to be able to go to just any veterinarian, especially if the pet you decided to get was a tiger. Most of the invasive species, such as the Burmese python and iguana in Florida, were forms of people’s exotic pets that either got too big for their enclosers or the thrill of owning one faded and the owner simply released them into the environment allowing them the take over the surrounding areas little by little. Invasive species can easily be insects coming on fruits from other countries or being as simple as an animal being brought over illegally from another country to another.
In conclusion, exotic pets are not for the faint of heart and definitely not to be used for our enjoyment. If anything, exotic animals should be kept where they belong, in the wild, not poached away when they are too young to even open up their eyes. The exotic pet trade is very dangerous for our native animals and for us humans. If you are interested in exotic animals, simply go to a zoo or sanctuary, learn about them from documentaries, go on an African Safari. Don’t put others or yourself in danger simply because you want a pet that is different from others and that you can show off to the world like it’s a trophy. If you ever need another reminder to not get an exotic pet, think of 9 year old me wanting a monkey, then getting my dreams crushed while watching the news and hearing about the woman’s friend who was mauled by her 200 pound chimpanzee, losing the skin from her hands and face, talk about nightmares for months. They may be the bigger version of your pet cat or dog, but putting yourself and others at risk is not worth spending all the money on a cool pet that you will have to end up sheltering from the public once it starts to grow.
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Citations:
Actman, Jani, and Video by Sean Gallagher. “Exotic Pet Trade, Explained.” National Geographic, 20 Feb. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reference/exotic-pet- trade/.
Copeland, Blythe. “6 Tragic Stories of Exotic Pet Ownership Gone Wrong.” Treehugger, 11 Oct. 2018, www.treehugger.com/tragic-stories-exotic-pet-ownership-gone-wrong-4858636.
“Map of Private Exotic Pet Ownership Laws.” Animal Law Legal Center, www.animallaw.info/content/map-private-exotic-pet-ownership-laws.
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