Should People Be Able To Keep Exotic Animals
Boas, Chimps or Tigers: Wild fauna Are Non Pets (Op-Ed)
Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United states of america (HSUS). This Op-Ed first appeared on the blog A Humane Nation, where it ran before actualization in LiveScience'due south Practiced Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
For years, The HSUS warned Ohio policy makers well-nigh the madness of assuasive private citizens to go on unsafe wild animals as pets. They ignored the outcome, or what to me is more incriminating, they bowed to the influence and pressure level of the rowdy ring of exotic animal owners who claimed it was their right to have any animals they wanted.
Pretty much every sane person got clarity on the issue in 2011 afterwards Terry Thompson released near fifty large, unsafe, wildlife in Zanesville, just before taking his own life. Law enforcement personnel dramatically hunted the creatures downwards as dusk enveloped the eastern Ohio town, in an attempt to protect the community from the tigers , grizzly bears and cougars that were on the loose.
The question is, why adventure the lives of people and animals merely and then someone tin can claim bragging rights by having a big, powerful creature in his control? Hey, I become the homo-animate being bond also as anyone, only that can be satisfied with a domesticated dog or cat . Getting your animal fix need not require a chimp or a tiger or a boa constrictor. The risks far exceed the rewards for society. And yes, we are members of a club, with a collective set of rules. It'south not a free-for-all, where nosotros do anything we wish, regardless of the consequences.
So this brings me to last Monday's incident, where a 100-pound African stone python escaped into a New Brunswick apartment in a higher place a pet store, found its style into a sleeping room and killed two little boys by asphyxiating them.
Even though it occurred over the national border in Canada, will this be our wake-upwards moment in the United states on the reckless trade in large, constricting snakes ? Practice we have to witness a mass release of pythons or anacondas in a customs, a colonization of a fragile ecosystem and destruction of the native wild fauna, the death or injury of more innocent people and the demise of thousands of more big, constricting snakes through the exotic-animal trade in order to become clarity on this situation?
Eighteen months agone, the Obama administration took a half-step on the issue, banning merchandise in just iv of nine large constricting snakes that the U.Due south. Geological Survey had recommended for listing nether the Lacey Human activity. Amazingly enough, it was the hollering of reptile breeders and snake owners — and their false claims nearly an outrageously large economic impact — that prevented the White House from taking stronger action.
With the election now in the rear-view mirror, it's time for the Obama assistants to complete the job. I of Vermont's largest papers, The Brattleboro Reformer, weighed-in on the outcome recently with authority and clarity. The newspaper has information technology only correct, and it's my hope that the new secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the White Firm will human activity with all deliberate speed to get a new policy in identify. There'south no compelling rationale for inaction. We should not expect until crises happen before we enact sensible policies. We should prevent problems before they occur.
Pacelle ' s almost contempo Op-Ed was No Matter the Spin, Whales in Captivity Deserve Improve. This article was adjusted fromYes, That's the Tolling of a Wake Upward Call…Again., which showtime appeared as on the HSUS blog A Humane Nation. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This article was originally published on LiveScience.com.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/38857-wild-animals-are-not-pets.html
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