Wild animals as pets?

[Superfly]

Poll question: Wild animals as pets?

Just saw the Natl Geographic special on big cats as pets and the consequences of keeping wild animals as "companion" animals. We're talking bengal tigers, cougs, grizzly bears, etc.

What are DUers' thought?

Let me be the first to vote....

[Superfly]

1. Kick...need more votes/thoughts, people.

...

[Alenne]

2. I think it should be illegal

It is potentially dangerous to the owner, the people around it and the animal. Wild animals should be in the wild.

[boilerbabe]

3. Not a great idea to keep wild animals as pets unless ...

you have a good habitat for them, you know, like an apartment in NYC! At the rate that this current administration is accelerating the destruction of their living spaces, we all might have to consider adopting a wildebeest or two!

[joeybee12]

4. Horrid UNLESS the animal has been injured and taken in OR

has been rescued from a circus, etc.

[Nikia]

5. Domestic animals used to be wild too

I think that a person who keeps wild animals needs to know what they are doing and keep a careful eye on their animal. A large and/or carnivorous mammal probably shouldn't have the run of the house especially around young children. The animal would probably have to have been captured as a youngster. Young that had lost their mothers would be good candidates. Most people that rescue these young animals do release them back in the wild. This is probably the right thing to do but I don't see why it would be necessary if it had bonded with its owner and the owner is willing to care for it. If the animal has been socialized to humans at an early age, fed sufficiently, given enough exercise, kept away from small children, and treated with respect, I don't think having a pet bear or cougar would have to be that different from having a large dog. I haven't really read too much about it though so perhaps I'd want more information.

[joeybee12]

6. There have been centuries of domestication for cats and dogs

And bred down through the ages. One isolated animal--from wild parents--will still have too much wild in him. If the animal has been injured, keep him--it's only humane. But trying to raise one wild animal from infancy and thinking just because it's been socialized at an early age won't make it domesticated.

[chenGOD]

8. Weel see here's the difference...

What the bear or cougar might think is just playing could seriously injure a person, yes even a full grown adult. Large dogs, when playing, would not injure a person. Yes a pit bull or doberman or greyhoud or german shepard can injure a person seriously, but in those cases they are not playing around.

Plus, as others have said, dogs/cats have had thousands of years of domesticity bred into them. The bears/tigers that like to maul magicians (sorry, in poor taste) have not had that bred into them. Plus these animals often need hundreds of miles of land to live comfortably (which is why protected wilderness acres need to be connected large chunks of land, not isolated islands, but that's a different topic). With real estate prices being what they are in Manhattan, not many people can afford hundreds of miles of land...

get a cat or a dog if you want a pet (or a hamster/non-exotic bird/fish or something like that).

[boilerbabe]

9. I think that it would be hard to release them to the wild

after taking care of them. I was always told that young wild animals would be rejected by others if they carried the scent of humans...

Most areas have certified wildlife rehabilitation people but I have (mostly unsuccessfully) tried to rescue oppossums, crows, sparrows, praying mantises and people. Oh well. If a tiger wandered up my driveway, I would have to keep it separate from my little kitties for sure.

:smile:

[scarlet_owl]

10. Depending on where you live

you can call your local nature center or college in these circumstances. They can put you into contact with good places to take injured wildlife. We are lucky to have the University of Illinois vet med here, but your community might have something different. Also, your local Audubon Society might be able to help with the birds. If all else fails, try the Humane Society. I don't think they will want to help with the praying mantises, though. ;)

[scarlet_owl]

7. Definatley NOT a good idea.

I personally take care of numerous animals that were once wild and are now in captivity, mostly because of injury. The snakes and turtles seem to adjust well, but our owls sometimes have problems. For one thing, owls hearing is so sensitive they can hear toes wiggling in shoes or hearts beating in chests. We have lots of visitors to our center, including about 300 schoolkids a week, so this can be hard on their ears. We do everything possible to keep them comfortable and stress-free, but their natural cycles are interrupted. These are injured owls, and they would die if they were released as they can no longer hunt for themselves. The care our animals recieve is top-rate, which is something I cannot say for all wild animals that are in captivity. Wild animals belong in their habitats. While I think rehabilitation and keeping injured wild animals in captivity for education is a great idea, keeping wild animals for pets is a very poor idea. Captivity is very hard for a wild spirit.

[WWW]

11. Wild cats. We have a cat

who is very scary. I know this is off the topic, but he falls into the wild cat heading. He has a lot of house cat in him, but a lot of something else also....One night, about a year ago, we saw this cat banging on our outside deck window. We put some food outside and the next night he started banging on the bathroom window. We took him in the third night and subsequently took him to the vet. He was very emaciated. He weighed in at the vet's at 14.5 lbs. He has a total of 23 toes, and had to have one amputated because it was on his pad and he had difficulty walking. The vet is stumpted as to what he is. He is now topping 19 pounds of pure muscle. He is such a sweet cat. But the thing is ..what is he? As an aside, he brought home a rabbit a couple of months ago..Not a vole, mouse or rat, a full grown rabbit.
The question is: Should we have taken him in?

[TheReligiousLeft]

12. Here is a real wild pet

<>
Yeah, my parents did this to the poor pup.

[SoCalDem]

13. I would NEVER have large wild animals, but have had many small

I have had the following wild ones as pets..

wild parrot
coatimundi
assorted lizards & snakes
raccoons
opossoms(sp?)
an owl (I found him , injured, walking down the main street in my home town. Took him home, bound his wing and eventually my biology teacher took him to his farm where he lived out his life as a mouser owl in a big old barn )
numerous wounded birds ( only 2 died)
part wild-part domestic, jungle cat (found as a kitten at the stables, which was in the jungle...hence the inbreeding )
a baby sloth..(I found it at the busstop and thought it was a MONKEY...what does an 8 yr old know??)
marmoset monkeys
spider monkeys

Now I just have boring domestic cats :loveya: