Funny Pet Pics

Find the Funny Pet Pics you want on this page or please view the following pages for more Funny Pet Pics.

Keeping exotic pets is lighting fuse for danger

A toddler is strangled to death by her family's pet python. A woman lies in a coma, her face and hands ripped off, after being attacked by her friend's pet chimpanzee. A 9-year-old girl is dead after an attack by her stepfather's pet tiger. Thousands of people all over the country - most recently in Florida, where the horrific python attack took place - have been bitten, mauled and killed by exotic pets.

How have we reached the point at which lions and tigers live in basements, monkeys are diapered and alligators are walked on leashes?

Every year, countless people succumb to the temptation to purchase "exotic" animals such as monkeys, macaws, lizards - even tigers, lions and bears - to keep as "pets." Unbelievably, there is no federal law prohibiting the private ownership of wild or dangerous animals. But captivity is often a death sentence for exotics and, in too many cases, for the people who "had" to have them.

The ugly cycle begins when breeders remove newborn animals from their mothers within hours or days of birth so they can be "hand-raised" and acclimated to human contact. Big cats, bears and primates all have close bonds with their offspring, and such traumatic separations leave both mother and infant emotionally scarred for life. Birds and alligators are extremely nurturing and will fight to the death to protect their babies. Being bred in captivity doesn't negate the instincts and desires of these animals.

Dealers market exotics as if they were little more than stuffed toys, and they downplay their extremely specialized needs. Because exotics are sold at flea markets and auctions, in classified ads and on the Internet, it's all too easy for people to buy them on a whim.

But exotic species have precise dietary needs and require specialized veterinary care that even zoos, with their vast resources, hav

Rate This Article: - Excellent Good Average Poor Terrible

Comment on "Keeping exotic pets is lighting fuse for danger"

Your Name

Your Comments

Verification Code: V276JA
Enter Code: