Owning Exotic Pets: Should You Get One?

Last week's news about an Ohio man freeing his exotic pets before killing himself brought attention to laws governing tigers, crocodiles, lions, big bucks, and the like. Each American state has its own rules, but eight have no laws at all on keeping exotic animals.

Laws vary widely. For instance, Arkansas bans large carnivorous animals like bears, tigers, and lions but each citizen is allowed to own up to six bobcats.

A compilation of exotic animal incidents from an organization called Born Free USA reported that 75 people have died handling such animals. About 1,500 other incidents were also noted, with the most cases in Florida.

Yet, a lot of people especially private collectors, are not contented with the usual house pets. Trading exotic animals has been a hobby for some collectors as well. Who wouldn’t want to own a baby cub for $700, a young cougar for $675 or a 2-year-old giraffe for $25,000?

On the contrary, owning an exotic pet in Australia is not as easy. Some small exotic animals can be owned like frogs, salamanders, and other reptiles. Hybrid cats like bobcats maybe permitted depending on the owner’s status and the number of cats to be owned. However, they do not allow ownership of large exotic animals like crocodiles, gorillas, lions, tigers, and elephants.

Australia allows some domestic trading of exotic plants and animals but commercial trade of exotic animals internationally is illegal.

Owners of small exotic pets should never release their pets in the wild. These animals might damage the environment or introduce an exotic disease. Besides, they might just die from starvation or exposure.

Trading Exotic Pets: Why Is this Illegal?

Trading exotic pets is illegal because not all animals is solely used as pets. Some people buy exotic animals like tigers to gather raw materials for their crafts. Tigers’ whiskers and bones can be used as ingredients in traditional Asian medicine, while the skin can be used in creating coats, bags, carpets, seat covers, and much more.

Governments and other organizations are teaming up to stop this animal trafficking system. But they are having a hard time because some people earn money from this multibillion-dollar business.