Wildlife Pets
From Pets of Namibia
WILD ANIMALS ARE WONDERFUL, BUT THEY ARE NOT PETS!!
People keep wild or exotic creatures as pets for a variety of reasons: as display or decoration, status or trophy, curiosity or novelty, baby or child substitute, or because they are “cute”.
Breeders, traders and some pet stores play on the public’s demand for baby wild animals, selling them as “pets”. But when the novelty of having a wild or exotic pet fades or the animal’s adolescent or adult demands become unmanageable, these creatures are relegated to cages in backyards, garages, basements or worse.
Some are resold, reentering the exotic animals market to be resold to roadside zoos, become exotic meat, food for carnivores, or trophies in canned hunts.
Only very few arrive at animal sanctuaries while many are abandoned or killed.
Whether large or small, native or exotic, captive bred or imported, wild animals kept as pets suffer immensely from confinement, improper diet, separation from their own kind and surgeries performed to try to tame or make them less dangerous.
Estimates suggest that, depending on the species, up to 90% of wild and exotic animals do not survive the first year as a “pet”.
For humans, the misguided attempt to make a wild animal a pet brings disappointment, heartbreak and guilt; not to mention the risks of disease, injury or death.
Contents |
Why it’s not a good idea to have Wildlife pets
First of all, it’s illegal to keep or handle any wild animal for any reason without a permit. This is mostly to protect people from diseases that wild animals transmit including plague, parasites and rabies. It also protects people from injury. Wild animals, even babies, communicate fear and hunger by biting and scratching. Mother animals, who are often nearby and unseen, may cause human injuries when their young are disturbed.
Second, wild animals found by people are most often in trouble because of human activity; automobiles, lawnmowers, landscaping and poison. Keeping an animal who has been injured by humans in close proximity with humans can prevent the animal’s full recovery. Captive wild babies may not eat and do not maintain sufficient activity to remain healthy without careful support and appropriate enclosures.
Additionally, prey animals have a panic response to the sight and scent of danger. Wild animals living in busy households are in a constant state of fear and panic, especially in homes with domestic pets. Constant stress is harmful to an animals health.
To complicate matters, wild animals have the ability to hide symptoms of disease by changing their outward behavior. This is because most predators would recognize weak animals as sources of food. It is often impossible for people to recognize that a wild animal is ill, until very advanced stages of a disease, at which time it is unlikely that the animal will survive even with proper medical intervention. Veterinary care for wild animals is difficult to find in an emergency. Specially trained veterinarians are necessary to care for wildlife because their needs are so different from dogs and cats or livestock.
For example, penicillin commonly used to treat dogs and cats will kill rabbits. If the animal needs intensive care, it may be too stressful to confine the animal at a hospital which also treats dogs and cats. Anesthetizing a panicked wild animal is risky. Recovery is also complicated because the animal will not heal well while confined but will injure himself if set free.
Finally, wild animals travel extensive territories every day (or night) foraging for food and avoiding predators. A human household contains many dangers from fans to electrical cords. Living in a confined space and having food provided can leave a large amount of the animal’s time unoccupied. This can lead to development of abnormal behaviors. It is possible to enrich a captive animal’s life as zoological parks do, by offering appropriate climbing, hiding and food finding activities to an animal’s safe enclosure. Most households do not have the space or resources to provide the activities to which as species has adapted for centuries. Wild animals can become suddenly aggressive during mating season, making them impossible to handle safely under any circumstance. Especially once they view humans as part of their social group. Unfortunately, they can not always be safely neutered.
What if the animal seems suitable?
Tragically, even for those households which can provide a suitable environment for a wild pet, upon reaching maturity, these animals develop behavior which prevents them from being maintained as pets. After a lifetime of reliance on human care, these animals can not be released into the wild. They can not support themselves, do not get along with other members of their species, and will approach people without fear. Unfortunately, zoos and wildlife rehab centers are not able to accept them, either. These facilities do maintain animals with injuries that prevent their release. However, these animals are able to interact with others of their species and have a calming effect on new captives. Wild animals raised as pets, can not serve this purpose.
For all the reasons stated, wild animals should not be considered potential pets. Although unusual circumstances exist, and knowledgeable handlers can make this work, it is likely that the end result will include injury to people and death to the animal. Wild animals should only be handled by folks with the appropriate permits with the intention of returning them to their wild habitat.
Another major welfare problem for wildlife pets is surgical procedures such as defanging or declawing intended to make them more suitable pets. These procedures do not change the essential nature of the animals, and may have negative effects on their health and well-being.
Wildlife Rescue
Adult wildlife behaving normally should not be disturbed.
Baby wild animals that are walking or flying can be left alone until their parents return!
Some precocious baby animals are born with fur and open eyes. These babies can make it on their own if they must. Altricial babies (hairless, featherless) babies with their eyes closed should be returned to the nest. Wear gloves.
Mother animals WILL (even though we were always taught otherwise) feed babies that have been handled by humans. They may not return to the area while humans are still around, though.
Only if you have evidence that the parents have died, should you intervene in the care of a baby animal. Contact or get the animal to an experienced handler or wildlife rehabilitation center as soon as possible.
Caring for wildlife
It’s extremely complicated to care for a baby animal sufficient that his release into the wild will be successful.
If a wildlife rehabilitator asks you to hold or transport an orphaned animal:
- Do not feed the baby. Especially not with bread, milk or egg. All these foods are harmful to baby birds and mammals.
- Do not offer fluids. Babies easily drown by breathing the water offered. Do not allow water to enter the ears or nostrils.
- Do not offer swimming water to baby animals such as ducks, geese or beaver. They will become chilled.
- Wearing gloves, place the babies in a small dish or box with crumpled paper towel for bedding. Babies can be injured by loose threads of cloth or slippery newspaper.
- Place the dish inside an aquarium with a screen lid.
- If possible: Warm the aquarium to 27-32°C by placing a heating pad under part of the aquarium. Hang a thermometer inside the aquarium to monitor the temperature and check for hot spots. Be sure the heating pad is not directly under the dish/box that contains the babies because the babies can not move if they get to warm.
- Keep the babies away from bright light or loud noises such as television, stereos and household pets.
- You should not allow your children to handle the baby because as much as your children will enjoy this experience, the baby animal will be extremely frightened even if he appears to be “resting”.
Wild / domestic hybrids
Hybrids such as wolf / dog crosses or wild / domestic cat crosses create a special situation. Wolves and wild cats have a low tolerance for constant stimulation from human households. There is no way to predict if a particular wolf/dog puppy or cross bred kitten will inherit his wild parent’s increased sensitivity or his pet parent’s domestic tranquility. Within one litter, each baby will have his own physiological mix. How do we predict which puppies must remain with the wolves and which can be kept as pets? Will the kitten inherit the domestic response to a rabies vaccine which makes it effective? If he inherits hunting instincts and can escape any fence, will we build an enclosure fulfilling enough to prevent him developing a habit of incessant pacing or self mutilation?
