1. Should Individuals Keep Wild or Exotic Animals as Pets?
No. Wild and exotic (non-native) animals are unsuitable for home rearing and handling. They have complex needs that are difficult to meet. Most individuals have neither the finances nor the experience to care for them properly. It has been estimated that 90% are dead within the first two years of captivity. Many wild animals forced into a domestic situation cause injury to humans, especially children. Others, if released into the environment, can cause irreversible and costly damage to our ecosystem.
2. When Is Captivity Justified?
Wild animals should only be kept in captivity by professional zoological facilities. The only individuals who should be allowed to have wild animals are licensed wildlife rehabilitators and certain breeders. In both cases, they should demonstrate a thorough knowledge of their field and an ability to care for the animal humanely.
3. Why Are Public Health and Safety Concerns?
Every year, privately owned wild animals seriously injure or kill humans. Pet snakes have suffocated babies; raccoons have killed children; and lions have mauled their owners. Individuals legitimately concerned about wild animals being kept in their neighborhoods regularly seek assistance in dealing with this problem.
Animals in traveling acts also present considerable danger to the public. One particularly notorious act involved a wrestling bear that, though muzzled and declawed, managed to bite off fingers and break bones.
Furthermore, wild and exotic animals carry a number of diseases that are transmissible to humans, including rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis, tularemia, leptospirosis, salmonella, and ringworm, and other parasites.
4. How Does the Exotic Wild Animal Trade Cause Environmental Damage?
Wild animals often escape; others are abandoned by their owners. If they survive and become established in an environment where they do not belong, they compete with the resident animals for the limited resources of the area, in some cases completely overtaking and displacing the native animals, much to the detriment of the ecosystem. A classic example is the introduction of the Indian mongoose into Hawaii to eradicate rats in the sugar cane fields. The mongoose soon turned to feasting on other crops and on other animals, thereby pushing a number of native species to near-extinction.
These wild animals also bring diseases to which domestic or native wild animals have no immunity, such as deadly Newcastle disease, rabies, and brucellosis.
5. What Does the Future Hold for a Wild or Exotic Animal in Captivity?
Most owners are ignorant of a wild animal's needs. Their local veterinarian can neither properly diagnose nor effectively treat health problems. The animal's behavior is usually misunderstood and often radically altered in captivity as a result of inappropriate care; in order to domesticate the animal, the owner resorts to such "corrective measures" as defanging, declawing, and castration. When at last the owner decides to get rid of the animal, it is usually impossible to find her a new home. Obviously, other individuals are no better equipped than the original owner to care for her; reputable zoos, for a variety of reasons, generally do not accept such animals, and facilities that will take them must be regarded with suspicion. The few sanctuaries that exist are often stretched to the breaking point, and local animal shelters are ill-equipped to handle anything other than the occasional raccoon.
6. Doesn't the Federal Animal Welfare Act Protect Wild and Exotic Animals Owned as Pets?
The Animal Welfare Act, even if fully enforced, only provides protection to those animals in the custody of U.S. Department of Agriculture permit holders, i.e., research facilities, dealers, exhibitors, and operators of auctions. Thus, this law provides no protection for wild animals kept strictly as pets. Some states have laws that either forbid or regulate the ownership of wild animals, but they are in the distinct minority.
7. Who Would Be Adversely Affected by a Ban on Possession of Wild and Exotic Animals?
Most legislation would only affect those persons, businesses, or groups who want to sell or keep wild animals and those who wish to exploit animals for "entertainment" purposes; the legislation would not attempt to regulate laboratory activities or government-sponsored field studies. Legitimate possession of wild animals would continue with the welfare of the animals safeguarded. Such bills are not intended to criminalize purely unintentional or momentary captures of wild animals (e.g., a child picking up a toad in the woods). The specific intent required for possessory crimes, precautions written into the legislative history, and prosecutorial discretion are all safeguards against absurd applications of the statute.
8. How Much Can It Cost a Government to Have Such a Law?
A better question might be, "How much can it cost not to have one?" A government, state or local, does not have to incur much, if any, cost to enact and enforce this type of law. It can, however, incur great expense if it fails to control the private ownership of wild and exotic animals in some way. Local communities with such ordinances report that costs involved are negligible.
9. Do Any States Have This Kind of Law?
Yes. Georgia and California, for example, have two of the more comprehensive laws in the country. The Georgia statue relies on a strict permit system which, in operation, resembles a ban in that the private ownership of virtually all wild animals as pets does not qualify for a permit.
Relatively few state laws already on the books apply to all wild animals; many prohibit or restrict the private ownership of wild animals native to that state through their hunting and trapping regulations, or they involve just one or two species such as skunks, raccoons, or venomous snakes. A few, unfortunately, have the same shortcoming as some local laws; i.e., they either totally ignore or at best address only adequately the humane considerations of such ownership. Some of the newer ones, however, seem more conscious of this aspect of the problem. Few states make any provision for performing animals and other traveling exhibits or roadside menageries.
10. Would the Pet Industry Support This Type of Legislation?
Usually not. Remember, the pet industry is composed of people running businesses whose goal is to make a profit. They have shown little concern over the source of their animals or who will care for them after they are purchased. Dealing in exotic wild animals as pets is a big business.
