Exotic pet trade
By Fletcher Rapson
Introduction
Would you like a chinchilla or a panda? Well I bet you would but this report may make you think twice about getting these exotic animals and keeping them as pets. These animals are exotic which means they are wild not domestic, domestic cats and dogs have been made domestic from hundreds of human interaction which has given them a new habitat with humans that other animals do not have. So now lets dive a little deeper into what I have just said and see if you really want that chinchilla or panda after this.
What is the Exotic pet trade?
The exotic pet trade is a commercial trade in non-domesticated animals. These animals do not include your normal domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats, hamsters or mice, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs or any other livestock. The exotic pet trade could include every kind of wild animal if someone wanted it these animals can range from coral reef fish to tigers and bears. Thousands of animal species have been encountered in the exotic pet trade over the many years it has been going years.
Why is this a problem?
Extinction and ecosystems
the loss or extinction of local animals will slowly become a bigger problem as the exotic pet trade will slowly move animls away from there original habitats this will normally have a train reaction or a butterfly affect. Lets say I took half the parrots from the amazon rain forest in the space of 10 years that will be around a bit more than 50,000 parrots each of those parrots will not be able to spread the seeds of fruits, which will then effect the monkeys diet which will then effect the fertiliser for the trees that will effect the birds and this effect will keep going around until there are hardly any birds left and the trees are dying and the monkeys are sold of to canada or some far away place. This is the first of the 4 problems that I will tell you about.
Diseases
the increasing potential for new and emerging infectious diseases (75% come from animals and many through the exotic pet trade), introducing new parasites and diseases to native wildlife. With new and exotic animals coming to the country they can also bring new risks not just from there teath and claws but also from what they bring from the stuff on there fur. This could be a public health and safety risks as many animals are dangerous and/or carry diseases transmissible to humans.
Abbandend and escaped
abandoned or escaped exotic pets establishing themselves in the wild becoming invasive species (e.g., in Florida more than 100 foreign animal species, many from the pet trade, are now established) and competing with native species. This is a major problem as many animals can disroput a whole habitat a example would be the wallaby, it came to NZ and started eating all the new shots and disturbing the under growth this was a problem as it was stoping new trees from growing and deystroying the bugs homes that the birds ate.
Animal welfare
millions of animals suffering from inadequate housing and care, physical abuse and neglect, negative emotional states, high mortality in transport, at vendor locations and in people's homes. People will think that housing a small animal will be easy but that is not always the case. Certin animals will need more attention or more space and all different species can be different. Even if you think that you have done every thing you can your pet could still be under stress.
The people who buys these exotic animals?
Who buys big animals
A wide variety of people purchase exotic animals. The unusual or big dangerous animals, such as lions and tigers, are often purchased by people who use the animals to feel better or to look impressive to their friends. In the trade people have encountered many rich people who buy exotic animals as a status symbol and many younger men who buy giant snakes or big cats to look tough.
Who buys smaller animals
Many smaller exotic pets however are purchased in more normal. For example, a parent may see a turtle in a pet store and think the turtle would make a good starter pet for their child, so they buy the animal. They don't realize that turtles are extremely difficult to house and care for in a way that satisfies their exotic and behavioural needs and that most turtles die rather quickly from bad housing, care, neglect or abuse. Many other exotic pets face the same fate as that poor turtle.
The most common types of animls (mammels,reptiles)
There are many different people who will want different animals but the most common specie would be reptiles. This is because they are low manitances and do not take to much money to set up food or a habitat. These animals are perfect for people who live in a small place but these animals are not always legal.
What areas are they most likely to go through or be sold?
There are two main ways that exotic pets are sold. The first is retail pet stores, sometimes called the Mass Market. Most of the common birds, reptiles, amphibians and many of the fish you can routinely encounter in pet stores are actually exotic animals. Retail pet stores sell high amount of a relatively small number of exotic species. There are also a smaller percentage of pet stores that specialize in exotic species. The other way exotic pets are sold is online. Most of the unusual or "zoo-type" animals are sold by breeders or dealers online, especially reptiles. There are also the odd auctions for more rare and bigger exotic pets.
What are people doing at the moment to try stop this?
Some animal welfare organizations and wildlife protection groups are working to stop the exotic pet trade. It's a challenging task as the exotic pet industry is large and spread across the world. However, some progress has been made. In some areas, the keeping of dangerous animals has been severely restricted or stopped altogether and there are a far greater number of trade laws than there were in the past. in Canada, a number of groups have been working to change animal protection laws to be more inclusive of exotic animals (many exotic animals are excluded from protection) and to challenge some of the cruelest practices in the courts. The exotic pet trade is still a huge problem and not enough is being done by governments or official enforcement agencies to stop it.
What are up coming options that could help in the future?
The most promising trend in recent years (in some parts of the world) is that people are rejecting the idea that wild exotic animals are appropriate as pets. In the past in Canada where my exspert lives, it was normal and accepted to keep a big cat, wolf, bear or monkey as pet. Today, very few people think that way. That's a very positive step. The other area that looks promising involves elected officials and bureaucrats. Years ago they thought exotic pet issues were a big joke, but not anymore. Most policy-makers now take these issues quite seriously and, at the least, are willing to discuss what can be done. An example is that there in Canada, they are now proposing a different way of regulating exotic pets - using a Positive List . That means that laws would list the kinds of animals that are allowed to be kept, instead of what many laws do now which is list the animals that can't be kept - a Negative List. Changing to Positive Lists will help tremendously as they are a lot easier, more effective and precautionary (prevents harm to animals). Perhaps the most important aspect of Positive Lists is that every exotic animal is banned unless it is on the list. If policy-makers hadn't changed the discussions we are having about Positive Lists now would never have taken place.
Conclusion
Do you want that panda or cute chinchilla now or do you want be the reason that these animals have to suffer, well I hope you want to help and here is how you can. First we need the publics help as they will have a big influence in changing the politctions minds. Then we will put trackers on some animls in a area that these sellers are getting there animals from, we will then be able to track the trades men to where they keep the animals and bust them red handed. More and more people are releasing that the exotic pet trade is crule but there are still people who buy these animls