Why exotic animals should not be pets?

Exotic animals are those that are by nature designed to stay in the wild. They include most non-human primates, reptiles, and certain birds’ species. Some of the common examples include monkeys, bears, tigers, pythons, wild dogs, leopards, and skunks.

Even though attempts to domesticate them have gained currency globally, it is not advisable to do so. The object and the intents of the discussions below shall be to highlight and explain some dangers of doing so.

Reasons Why To Avoid Exotic Animals 

Possession of Wild Instincts

Exotic animals have wild instincts. These are fixed patterns of behavior in animals that determine how they respond to certain stimuli. Under normal conditions, exotic animals appear tame, calm, composed, and friendly. However, when they are agitated, threatened, or hungry, they may often resort to their real wild instincts. If and when this happens, they will usually disparage their owners by way of poisoning or even death. Due to this, it is not advisable at all to keep them as domestic pets.

Carriers of Diseases and Parasites

Most exotic animals are carriers of diseases and parasites. This means that they are themselves not affected by those diseases but are nevertheless capable of transmitting them to third parties. This stems from the fact that the immune systems of wild animals are naturally stronger than that of humans.

By way of illustration, skunks and amphibians are carriers of rabies and salmonella whereas monkeys are carriers of the Herpes B Virus, and so on. To add to these, more exotic animal species are infested with parasites such as ticks and fleas which they can easily transmit to humans.

Illegal in most Jurisdictions

The practice of domesticating exotic animals is illegal in most jurisdictions. It, therefore, follows that any attempt to do legalize them may inevitably lead to friction with the existing jurisdictions. Any rational animal enthusiast will, therefore, consider keeping off this practice as much as possible.

Costlier

Whereas most domestic breeds can comfortably survive on the ordinary human foods, exotic breeds cannot. They will thus require the purchase of plenty of pet food, pet carrier, and other incentives to maintain them. Other than that, the pet’s mess will have to be taken care of by investing in such cleaning items as pet hair vacuum cleaner. This exerts extra financial burden on the part of the owner.

Exercise in Futility

Domesticating an exotic animal is to some extent an exercise in futility. This is to say that it is a pointless action that achieves almost no fruitful end or goal. This is due to two reasons.

First, it takes very long to truly domesticate a wild animal. Most common domestic animals like cats and dogs took thousands of years to completely domesticate. It is therefore unlikely that an exotic animal may be domesticated in short a duration of time such as one lifetime.

Secondly, a young exotic animal may be tame and manageable. However, once it grows old enough, it becomes unruly. At such a point, it will have to be released into the wild because keeping it further may jeopardize its owner. This means in some regards the attempt to domesticate an exotic animal is ‘a waste of time.’

Interferes with their Growth and Development

Domesticated exotic animals eventually get returned to the wild habitats after some time as has already been hinted above. This is because when they grow older, they become unruly, impossible to subjugate, and potentially harmful.

This attempt to domesticate them interferes with their growth and development. This is because when they are isolated from their natural habitat, they fail to acquire the skills that are essential for survival there. When they are returned to the wild later, they may fail to cope with their new environment and to also bond with their mates well.

Increases Mortality

Studies upon studies have indicated that most animal species that are returned to the wild after spending much of their time with humans do die prematurely. This is for the sheer reason that they lack those skills that are essential to survive in the wild environment, as has already been explained above. It, therefore, follows that by attempting to domesticate an exotic animal, you inevitably contribute to their premature death!

Threatens Public Safety and Order

Keeping an exotic breed as a pet threatens public safety and order. Whereas you may be comfortable with a particular kind of exotic breed such as a python, your next door neighbor may not. In case the python strays from your compound to your neighbor’s, the neighbor may not like it at all. He may end up calling 911 or taking any other appropriate actions. Moreover, the stray exotic animal may injure, harm, or poison the neighbor altogether.

CLOSING REMARKS

It is very clear from the foregoing explanations that domesticating wild animals is a no-go zone. This is because the potential dangers of this practice are quite numerous and far-reaching. In light of this, any animal enthusiast is better advised to consider playing it safe by preferring the well-known domestic animals. This way, all the attendant side effects that have been enumerated above may well be avoided.

It is also noteworthy that the dangers discussed above are by no means exhaustive. Indeed, there are several other potential dangers that inevitably had to be left out due to the limitations of space.