Don’t Sentence Exotic Animals to a Life in Cruel Captivity

Target: Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States

Goal: Make it illegal to own exotic animals as pets in the U.S.

Hundreds of millions of exotic animals are kept as pets across the world, ranging from mammals to birds, amphibians to fish. While owners may be well-intentioned, they oftentimes aren’t aware of the amount of care these animals require when purchasing them. The average person does not have the resources required to properly care for and maintain wild animals and, in turn, deny these animals of their natural inclinations to hunt, socialize, roam freely, and mate, among other things.

These animals are often possessed through illegal trafficking means. The exotic pet trade industry–which is worth around $15 billion per year–is particularly cruel, and animals that end up as pets are either trapped and stolen from their homes by poachers or bred into a life of captivity. Animals are transported across long distances in dirty, cramped conditions, often without any access to food or water. Many individuals do not survive the trip and those that do are not much better off.

The act of owning an exotic animal is also very dangerous and can result in serious injuries or even death in extreme cases. Some of these animals–like chimpanzees and bears–are particularly unsafe to own, and there have been a number of stories about these animals turning on and brutally attacking their owners. Wild animals are unpredictable. And just because they might live in a home does not mean they do not still possess the same instincts and behaviors that they do in the wild. Domestication is a thousand year long selective process that only animals like cats, dogs, and livestock species have really undergone. Living in such close proximity to wild animals also poses health risks as well. Many wild animals host a series of diseases– including rabies, ringworm, salmonella, polio, and tuberculosis–that can be transmitted to owners or other pets.

Currently, many states across the U.S. have only limited laws regulating captive wild animals, and four states have no laws at all. Sign this petition to ban the ownership of exotic animals throughout the entire U.S..

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Biden,

Throughout much of the U.S., it is still entirely legal to keep wild animals as pets. However, this is an extremely unfair and dangerous process, and people purchasing these animals typically do so without understanding the implications of their actions. Wild animals require a ton of resources–much more than the average person can provide–and often suffer from loneliness, malnutrition, and stress from confinement and forced human interaction. When kept in homes, these animals do not have the same access to territory and mates, and are forced to forgo many of their natural instincts and inclinations to climb, socialize, swim, and hunt.

The exotic pet trade industry–through which many of these animals are obtained–is very unforgiving, and animals are often illegally poached from their native homes or bred into a life of captivity to be sold for a small profit. These animals endure treacherous journeys, as they are shipped across the world in cramped quarters without food or water before they are sold. Many of these animals die throughout the process of their entrapment and transportation.

Exotic pets are also dangerous to own. Not only are they unpredictable and at risk of causing serious physical injury to their owners or other people, but wild animals also harbor a series of diseases that can be fatally transmitted to people or other pets.

We are asking you, Mr. Biden, to enact stricter federal legislation against the ownership of exotic animals. Wild animals belong in the wild.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Tim Donovan/FWC