Keeping Exotic Animals As Pets - Millie Annabeth

An exotic animal by definition is an animal that is relatively rare or unusual to keep, it is generally more of a wild species rather than a pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time as animals become firmly established in the world of animal fancy, they may no longer be considered exotic. Exotic animals such as lions, tigers, wolves, bears, and reptiles belong to their natural habitats and should not be in the hand of an individual as a pet. Exotic animals are mostly wild animals that are not well adapted to live without their natural habitat. Exotic animals by their nature are potentially dangerous and don’t adjust well to a captive environment, not only that it is not safe, exotic animals are not domesticated which is a selective breeding process that takes place over thousands of years

Exotic animals don't just randomly appear in a household one day. The journey for an animal to be traded is often cruel and deadly, these animals are always violently captured, transported, and housed. The journey limits the natural behaviour of an animal and places both their mental and physical wellbeing at risk. They often lack adequate shelter, food, room to roam, and environment control to keep their body at the temperature it needs to be. Even when the animals are kept, diseases such as malnutrition, stress, trauma, and behavioral disorders are commonly happening. And unfortunately having medical care is really difficult not just because it is illegal but most animals would hide symptoms of illness

Having an exotic animal might always make them suffer in captivity and pet trade. Having exotic pet trade itself threatens wild populations as animals are taken from the wild in a large number, which will be endangering the populations in their natural environment. Reports itself have shown that up to 21% of the wild population of grey parrots are harvested for the trade every year, with wild populations having decreased by up to 79% in almost 50 years.

A helping hand would always be a great thing to help stop private possession of exotic animals :

• Report to the animal control agency if you have observe an exotic animal being abused, living in deplorable conditions, etc

• Educate others and spread awareness by sharing this article

• Support legislation at all levels to prohibit private possession of exotic animals.

• Find out if your county regulates private possession of exotic animals. If your county does not prohibit private possession, contact your state representative or do a protest to urge them to ban possession of exotic animals.