Just about every single “exotic.” I’ll make an exception for most fish (please nothing endangered like the Blue Tang), insects, crustaceans, lizards (other than a Komodo Dragon) and snakes (with the caveat that the owner really understands these animals just keep getting bigger, and once they get to a certain size, you need to have a plan on hand as to what you are going to do with it). The parrot family is a problem too; too many people take on parrots without having studied what is involved, and the poor birds end up neglected and neurotic. And I say this, owning 12—half of which are rescues or re-homed.
I really wish that anyone who wants to take on an exotic pet had to go through the same certification and licensing that a falconer has to go through in order to get a license for that pet—a multipage exam, inspection of the housing where you intend to keep it, verification of the vet you intend to take it to, and a stiff licensing fee of a couple hundred dollars every year.
One of my commenters works at a zoo, and told me horror stories of how zoos get calls all the time from people wanting them to take on their exotic pets (zoos won’t; it’s too much of a liability). How these people get angry when the zoo won’t and insist that the dealer they bought the exotic from promised them that the zoo would take it when they couldn’t handle it anymore (of course he did; and of course he lied through his teeth. All he wanted was to make a sale). And then, they abandon their exotic in the zoo parking lot when the zoo says they won’t take it. I am sure you can imagine the fate of these poor animals when animal control gets there.
If it’s lucky, it goes to a sanctuary, but sanctuaries are increasingly full, and often have to turn people away. What usually happens if the exotic isn’t killed, is that it ends up back with another breeder, forced to give birth to another set of exotics that will go into the cycle, goes to the first idiot on Craig’s List who comes up with the money and is stuck in a tiny pen in someone’s back yard as a “look what I got” until it dies of neglect, or it goes to a roadside “zoo,” where it ends up in a tiny cement-floored cage, going crazy—or is kept drugged and dragged out for pictures.
And that’s the hard, sad truth.
Read other answers by Mercedes R. Lackey on Quora:
- What do dogs think when humans are fighting? (violently)
- Should we move our two adult dogs with us across the world or leave them with new owners in the environment they know?
- Which pet bird is as smart and social as a dog?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2iByTZJ
No comments:
Post a Comment