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. Baby turtles have been trapped inside their 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 destination. Parrots often have their beaks and feet tape 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.
In caretakers who are incompetent and unprepared, many exotic animals are abandoned and die. The head Environmental Crime Investigation unit in Western Cape, South Africa, estimates that 90 percent of exported reptiles die within a year. Animal control authorities confiscated a crippled cougar cub from a Buffalo, New York, basement. The animal kept by a teenager, had been fed a diet deficient in calcium and, as a result, suffered from deformed legs. Hedgehogs, who roll themselves into tight balls, can easily become injured if children try to "uncurl" them or if cats attack them. Sugar gliders are very social animals, and if they are not given enough attention, they may self-mutilate or die 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 of fall victim to the elements of predators. Id they do survive, they map overpopulate and wreak havoc with the ecosystem, killing native species.
The exotic animal trade in dangerous for humans as well. There have been dozens of attacks by captive big cats on humans in the past decade. In one incident, a tiger mauled his guardian's 3-year-old grandson. A lion killed several dogs and trapped a child in his room, and a Bengal tiger tore off the arm of a 4-year-old-boy. Since 2000, at least four people have been mauled to death my wolf hybrids - the offspring of wolf hybrids-the offspring of wolves and domesticated dogs. People who breed these animal and sell them as pets are playing Russian roulette. It is a gross misrepresentation to sell these animals as pets, says one veterinarian and animal behaviorist.
According to one Center of Disease Control and Prevention officer, there are all kinds of species that may be unknown vectors of human disease.. seventy-five percent of an infectious diseases originate from nonhuman animals. The monkey pox 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 animal dealer's shed. Prairie dogs have also been known to carry the plague and tularemia. The herpes B virus, which is about 70 percent fatal to humans, can be transferred from macques to humans. 70,000 cases of salmonellosis in humans are due to reptile and other exotic animal accounts. Deadly to humans, parrots can transfer psittacosis.
Laws are being passed by federal, state, and local governments that prohibit the private ownership of certain 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. 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. I am personally VERY guilty of doing that in the past. I had quite a collection of animals, mainly consisting of reptiles. I suppose considering the circumstances, they were taken wonderful care of.. but it wasn't write. I didn't know at the time what I was really participating in and contributing to.
No comments:
Post a Comment