Wildlifeintergroup (Staci McLennan)

SHOULD PEOPLE BE ALLOWED TO KEEP EXOTIC ANIMALS LIKE CHIMPAZE OR TIGERS

National Geography (Patrick krug)

A Wild animal is born, raised, and lives in a natural environment nature and environmental. It has certain inborn behaviours and learned behaviours from its parent and peers which are necessary to survive in a competitive natural environment, this environment is a proper home for hundreds of thousands of species, many of which are exotic and others close to extinction/vanishing. Throughout recent years, humanity has made a solid effort in order to prevent extinction of some species, protect the habitat of these species, and somehow minimize the negative consequences, effect and impact of the presence of humans. However, there exists another problem which has not been paid enough attention to, this problem is keeping exotic animals as pets. Although owners of exotic animals might believe they are not doing anything bad, in fact such a practice should be prohibited due to a number of incident involving exotic animals.

Almost no one, except perhaps the owners of exotics animals, can provide a wild animal with all its necessary conditions. Exotic animals have unique needs. For example, wild tigers need a large territory to roam. A venomous Monocle cobra, which can be legally bought in a number of states for a puny $100, will repeatedly strike when feeling in danger. A bobcat can hunt a prey eight times bigger than itself. Chimpanzees for climbing, and sea mammals need vast water basins to swim freely. The examples are numerous. to repair the problem arises the creation of protected parks for example, we had the Virunga park in democratic republic of Congo that retains a unique specimen of antelope called okapi. Can an average American citizen afford keeping an exotic pet? Not just for a year or two, but for 25 or 50 years? Just for an example 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. Clearly, being a keeper of a wild animal is beyond the capabilities of an average citizen (bigcatrescue).
If the previous paragraph did not persuade you, consider the danger of biological contamination. According to different estimates, at least one in three reptiles (which are among the most popular exotic pets – Marmosets, tamarins and iguanas, for example) is a host for salmonella and shigella bacteria; the overall percentage with salmonella is probably up to 90 percent. According to data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 90 percent of imported green iguanas carry unfamiliar strains of intestinal bacteria. Other species are not safer. About 25 percent of both imported and domestically bred macaques are reported to have had the herpes B virus. Among other diseases carried and transported by wild animals, one should mention such infections as chlamydia, Yabba virus, giardia, tuberculosis, measles, Marburg virus, hepatitis A, campylobacteriosis, rabies, streptothricosis, and a lot of other malicious microorganisms, including worms (ASPCA).
In addition, wild animals can pose a direct physical threat to their owners. During the last 10 years, there have been dozens of attacks committed by captive big cats such as lions and tigers; in one of the saddest incidents, a tiger killed a three-year-old boy, who was its guardian’s grandson. In another case, a Bengal tiger has bitten off an arm of a four-year-old boy. Since the beginning of the century, four people were hunted down (and killed) by wolf hybrids. This is not to mention the cases when wild animals attacked other domesticated pets – cats, dogs, and so on (PETA).

Along with well-known ecological problems – such as the extinction of species, or the destruction of rainforests, there is also another significant issue: people tend to keep exotic wild animals as pets. This is a bad practice, since wild animals require unique conditions which an average citizen cannot afford; exotic animals carry and transmit exotic diseases, which can pose a threat to owners; and there were numerous incidents when a captivated wild animal attacked its owner, or members of their families. All this is solid proof in favour of the claim that wild exotic animals should not be kept as pets.