Should people be prohibited from owning exotic and potentially dangerous 'pets'?

Dangerous Man · 27-08-2012 06:42PM

Shouldn't everyone be allowed to have everything they want all the time? Is that the new thing now? Allow everything?

Sure!

Wibbs · 27-08-2012 06:56PM

Duggy747 wrote: »

It's bad for them to be in captivity but I'd love a Slow Loris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18-xvIjH8T4

Ahhhhh how cute is he/she. I squeeeed a little.

But, ultimately, I'd love a pet male baboon...............dress him up in a tiny butler suit and shìt............get him to attack any unwanted guests at the door:

*ding dong*

Me: "Look JoJo, it's those fcukers Airtricity again! Go get 'em, JoJo!!"
JoJo: "Oooooh waaaaa!!! WAAAAAA! WAAAAA!!!!
Jehovah Witness: "Oh fùck, this is the house with the goddamn baboon.............leg it!!!"

FYP

Reindeer · 28-08-2012 03:09AM

How 'bout 18 Bengal Tigers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4rnchDmGMU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=tgL8l_O90ag

1ZRed · 28-08-2012 03:43AM

Exotic animals have no place here. They should be left where they are because it is crazy high maintaince to keep them and they are demanding and expensive to care for, so a lot of the time the animals either get mistreated, neglected or thrown into the ill fitting wild to fend for themselves.

I think a prime example of this is the Burmese python outbreak in the Everglades and the snakehead fish crisis the US also. These were pets and the latter was more a food source but they were released and/or escaped causing massive damage to the environment. So now they are being slaughtered to contain their numbers eventhough it's not their fault but the people's.

Ultimately though, I think it's just cruel to cage them up when they are so far flung from their natural environment and end up miserable and a lot of the times not properly cared for. If the animals were more suited to this climate where you could build them a big outdoor enclosure so they could be happier, then I think that would be perfectly fine.

/rant

scudzilla · 28-08-2012 04:12AM

christmas2012 wrote: »

personally i would air on the side of caution and say for health and saftey reasons a big fat NO to allowing civilians to casually owning exotic pets,for obvious reasons if the 'pet' got loose and decided to go on the rampage,lets just say a snake bit a human in ireland,where would the antidote be available in ireland?Its just far too dangerous for many,many different reasons as there are many different dangeous exotic 'pets'..

Ah come on, this is AH, less of the sensible answers, you should be like everyone else and just post some crap ya think is funny to get it 'thanked'

batistuta9 · 28-08-2012 04:42AM

Reindeer wrote: »

How 'bout 18 Bengal Tigers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4rnchDmGMU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=tgL8l_O90ag

i seen that on channel 4's True Stories there about a week ago, America's Animal Hoarder: Horror at the Zoo it's called

57 animals i think he had, tigers, lions, bears, jaguars, etc.

it interviews the cops, 911 people & that

the guy went up to the cages unlocked them, cut holes in the mesh then shot himself.

28-08-2012 03:01PM

scudzilla wrote: »

Ah come on, this is AH, less of the sensible answers, you should be like everyone else and just post some crap ya think is funny to get it 'thanked'

Is keeping a Culchie trapped in your garden shed and throwing him scraps every 3 days, considered an exotic pet?

leeroybrown · 28-08-2012 03:05PM

RVP 11 wrote: »

Is keeping a Culchie trapped in your garden shed and throwing him scraps every 3 days, considered an exotic pet?

I believe the word you're looking for is "fetish".

Mr Whirly · 29-08-2012 12:11AM

ScumLord wrote: »

WE could maybe even throw in something for the animals welfare. Maybe how torturous their life will be and all that.

In what way would their lives be tortuous?

I have kept many exotics and I don't see how any of their lives have been tortuous. Have you had a bad experience?

I see no difference between keeping a hamster or a snake. All pets can have irresponsible owners. Because exotics are harder and expensive to keep I would imagine most of their owners to be fairly well up on their care.

syklops · 29-08-2012 12:15AM

So this theoretical exotic animal which might kill someone might get banned. But cars are fine.

Stop the world, I want to get off.

EZ24GET · 29-08-2012 12:37AM

RVP 11 wrote: »

Is keeping a Culchie trapped in your garden shed and throwing him scraps every 3 days, considered an exotic pet?

Nah, but could be considered potentially dangerous. :eek::p

krudler · 29-08-2012 12:46AM

Duggy747 wrote: »

I've a Syrian Hamster and 2 Degu whose species are from Chile. :pac:

It's bad for them to be in captivity but I'd love a Slow Loris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18-xvIjH8T4

as cute as they are, they're poisonous and have to have their teeth pulled out,usually without anaesthetic before they're put in captivity, they excrete a foul smelling toxin from their elbows (yeah I know) and lick it and bite you, it can cause anaphylactic shock in humans.

Smidge · 29-08-2012 12:49AM

I was told yesterday by a relation(when talking about the Essex lion) that when he was a lad there were people in Cabra who kept monkeys in a cage out the back. Two doors from them the people kept big feck off snakes ie cobras etc. :eek:

Oh Hell Oui! · 29-08-2012 12:59AM

Certain people should be prohibited from owning exotic or potentially dangerous pets, ie people who dont know how or cant cater for the needs of the animal , Then again I know plenty of people who are like this with their children

ScumLord · 29-08-2012 05:26PM

Mr Whirly wrote: »

In what way would their lives be tortuous?

They're imprisoned, usually in small boxes or cages, just because you can meet they're dietary requirements doesn't mean your doing them a favour by keeping them in captivity.

I see no difference between keeping a hamster or a snake.

There is no difference, both are exotic animals. The other problem with our captive friends is most are coming from a ridiculously small genetic pools. Did you know all laboratory and pet hamsters come from one breeding pair that lived in 1930?

There's a big difference between our standard pets IE: Cats and dogs, and the rest of our pets. Cats and dogs entered a relationship with people willingly, it was mutually beneficial and both species knew that. We didn't capture and tame either of those two animals.

MaxSteele · 29-08-2012 05:29PM

Didn't the drug dealer Dee Dee O 'Driscoll from Ballyfermot have like a pet jaguar or a panther in his house. ?

steddyeddy · 29-08-2012 05:45PM

Melion wrote: »

All dogs are potentially dangerous, should they be outlawed? Especially my staffie who is a pure killing machine judging by the way people react while i am out walking her.

Thats the thing about dogs. They may not be dangerous but a person acting nervous around them has been the cause of at least some of the attacks ill bet. Not thats its the nervous persons fault in anyway.

Da Shins Kelly · 29-08-2012 06:00PM

I don't really agree with keeping exotic animals cooped up in cages, out of their natural habitat. Seeing a huge snake lying in a glass box with nowhere to go seems really sad to me. A lot of the time too, I feel like people who own snakes and other such creatures, only own them for the sake of it. It's not because they really want a pet for companionship (which seems to be why a lot of people get cats or dogs), but more because owning a potentially dangerous, unusual animal is "cool". Not saying everyone owns them for this reason, but I'd say there are a lot of people who do. I'm sure there's plenty of money to be made in the buying and selling of exotic animals too.

Sure, maybe it's good for endangered species to be in captivity, but in a lot of ways that's interfering with nature too. Species go extinct all the time, maybe it's just the way it's supposed to be.

ScumLord · 29-08-2012 06:13PM

steddyeddy wrote: »

Thats the thing about dogs. They may not be dangerous but a person acting nervous around them has been the cause of at least some of the attacks ill bet. Not thats its the nervous persons fault in anyway.

Dogs are very good at reading peoples emotional state, as good as people in many cases.

I don't think a dog is going to see a nervous person as something they should attack, in many cases they just want to try and show the person they've nothing to be scared of, unfortunately they might do this by jumping up on them wagging their tail.

steddyeddy · 29-08-2012 06:17PM

ScumLord wrote: »

Dogs are very good at reading peoples emotional state, as good as people in many cases.

I don't think a dog is going to see a nervous person as something they should attack, in many cases they just want to try and show the person they've nothing to be scared of, unfortunately they might do this by jumping up on them wagging their tail.

I dont know much about dogs Im afraid thanks for clearing that up! I just noticed attacks where kids out of fright hit the dog on the nose or something and then the dog bit the kid!

metaoblivia · 29-08-2012 06:25PM

I think people should only be allowed to keep exotic pets once they show they are able to care for it, keep it from harm and keep others from being harmed by it, and can provide a suitable environment for it to live in. For some exotic pets that wouldn't be too difficult of a standard to meet. For others, it would be harder.

I watched a documentary a few weeks ago called The Elephant In the Living Room, and it was about how many people who keep exotic pets don't know what they're doing or how to really care for an animal like that. They just want a cool pet. And at least in some parts of the U.S. it's incredibly easy to buy a lion cub or an alligator or a cobra. The film focused on man in particular who lived in a state where, at the time, there were no regulations on exotic pets, and he was keeping two fully grown lions in an abandoned trailer. And there was nothing anyone could do except try to convince him to give the lions up to a big cat sanctuary. They also went undercover to a few exotic pet shows where all you had to do was hand over money and get a poisonous African snake or an alligator in return. And I just don't believe it should be that easy. People need to show that they're equipped to deal with these kinds of animals before bringing them home.

asherbassad · 29-08-2012 06:31PM

christmas2012 wrote: »

personally i would air on the side of caution and say for health and saftey reasons a big fat NO to allowing civilians to casually owning exotic pets,for obvious reasons if the 'pet' got loose and decided to go on the rampage,lets just say a snake bit a human in ireland,where would the antidote be available in ireland?Its just far too dangerous for many,many different reasons as there are many different dangeous exotic 'pets'..

:pac:
You're pretty good at erring.

Hazys · 29-08-2012 06:31PM

I want a pet eskimo

Mr Whirly · 29-08-2012 06:32PM

ScumLord wrote: »

They're imprisoned, usually in small boxes or cages, just because you can meet they're dietary requirements doesn't mean your doing them a favour by keeping them in captivity.

I only know reptiles so I'll stick to that. These are primitive animals and very few (not all) live in a social hierarchy. Once a heat gradient, light cycle, correct humidity, proper diet and good sanitation is provided I have found most will thrive in captivity.

Snakes do not need a lot of space as they will spend large amounts of their lives in a snug hide only leaving to bask, eat, drink and breed. Lizards and tortoises should be provided with more space but again will spend large amounts of their days basking, eating and hiding.

This can all be provided in 4 - 6 foot vivariums in peoples homes.

What are you basing your opinion on? If it is purely the imprisonment aspect I'm afraid I think that is nonsense.

As far as inbreeding goes this is not a problem in reptiles yet.

ScumLord · 29-08-2012 06:42PM

steddyeddy wrote: »

I dont know much about dogs Im afraid thanks for clearing that up! I just noticed attacks where kids out of fright hit the dog on the nose or something and then the dog bit the kid!

To be fair to the dog I wouldn't blame it. The family dog we had when I was younger hated very young children because the child would hurt her often unintentionally. Our dog would even go as far as to leave the room when a young child was around.

Babies pull and drag out of things, us adult humans accept that but they can really hurt a dog and the only thing the dog can do is bark and snap to let everyone else know they don't like it. I've never seen a dog bite a child, it's usually an aggressive snap of the teeth.

steddyeddy · 29-08-2012 06:43PM

ScumLord wrote: »

To be fair to the dog I wouldn't blame it. The family dog we had when I was younger hated very young children because the child would hurt her often unintentionally. Our dog would even go as far as to leave the room when a young child was around.

Babies pull and drag out of things, us adult humans accept that but they can really hurt a dog and the only thing the dog can do is bark and snap to let everyone else know they don't like it. I've never seen a dog bite a child, it's usually an aggressive snap of the teeth.

Ah yea Im not blaming the dog. Im just saying if one the rare occasion it did bite someone It could be something more than pure aggression at play.

Mr Whirly · 29-08-2012 06:43PM

metaoblivia wrote: »

They also went undercover to a few exotic pet shows where all you had to do was hand over money and get a poisonous African snake or an alligator in return. And I just don't believe it should be that easy. People need to show that they're equipped to deal with these kinds of animals before bringing them home.

I agree with this and licensing will stop this. I think the whole thing is blown out of proportion because of the nature of the animals involved. Aside from venomous animals and crocodilians (which I think should be only sold in a highly regulated environment i.e zoos etc), the majority of other reptiles are in no way more dangerous than any dog and in my opinion are far less likely to end up being abused than any other animal being kept as a pet.

The initial cost for buying the correct set up for a reptile can be very high. This will usually put off anyone without a good interest. You could pick a cat up from anywhere today for free and on impulse. There was a box if kittens with a "take one" sign down at our local Spar last summer. Which one of these two scenarios is likely to lead to good pet ownership?

ScumLord · 29-08-2012 06:49PM

Mr Whirly wrote: »

I only know reptiles so I'll stick to that. These are primitive animals and very few (not all) live in a social hierarchy. Once a heat gradient, light cycle, correct humidity, proper diet and good sanitation is provided I have found most will thrive in captivity.

Like I said at the start I have two turtles, they're well cared for but they are active and even though I bought a large tank they could clearly make use of more space. I'll maintain that just because you can provide for their basic needs it doesn't mean they wouldn't be happier out in the wild able to roam as they see fit. People in prison have their basic needs met but they're certainly not happy about being in prison.

Mr Whirly · 29-08-2012 06:51PM

People aren't reptiles. It's a stupid argument.

steddyeddy · 29-08-2012 06:54PM

Mr Whirly wrote: »

People aren't reptiles. It's a stupid argument.

No its not. Your maintaining that not being in captivity is a condition liked only by humans.

Should people be prohibited from owning exotic and potentially dangerous 'pets'?

Comments