Wild caught animals Vs. Captive bred

by **Karagain** Sun Jul 03, 2011 11:37 am

Whilst working in a reptile shop, I heard alot of stories of royal pythons that were wild caught that would refuse to eat mice due to the fact they were white mice instead of brown (like in the wild)... I also learned that wild caught exotic species are STILL a growing popular way to import into the pet trade.... What is your opinion of this? Is it cruel to take an animal out of its wild habitat for reasons such as pet trade....

Lets start with what is an exotic species..

What is an exotic pet?

This is hard to define, usually it is classed as any animals that is kept outside it’s country of origin but this would include pets like rabbits, chinchillas and hamsters but most organizations such as the RSPCA class exotic pets as:-

Not well established or commonly kept as a pet
Limited or inconsistent husbandry literature available
Veterinary knowledge is limited by most veterinary practitioners.

Global pet trade

Global trade in exotic species has been growing in recent years due to the increase of interesting keeping exotic species as pets, for example exotic turtles grew inpopularity in the 1980’s due to the television show “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The exotic pet trade has increased so much that the variety of exotic species largely outnumbers of range of domesticpets (E.g. Cats and dogs).

Where do the animals come from?

Some exotic pets are captive bred from private and commercial breeders. But this is not always the case, to meet the high demand for the pet trade there are thousands of species taken from their native habitats each year; as a result of this, many ecosystems are damaged and many animals die during horrendous transport methods

Problems the pet trade can cause…

·Threatening public health and safety with dangerous animals.
·Disrupting ecosystems
Causing species to become endangered and extinct
·Unnecessary suffering during transport or smuggling
Suffering caused inappropriate housing, care and nutrition.

“For every pet sold, at least 2 or 3 of its kind have died. Up to 70% of exotic
animals die during transportation.

(Croes, 2011)

What is in place to stop it?

Current UK and International Law play a part in prevention of suffering, illegal trade and damages to ecosystems and population numbers.

The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement with governments. The aim of this agreement is to monitor and control the international trade in species and ensure that it does not threaten their survival.

This also helps to reduce the cases of wild caught species because by law the species requires import, export and re-export licenses through a licensing agency, which means you need proof that the species has been bred in captivity and not wild caught . The role of DEFRA is to manage CITES but it is up to Customs and the RSPCA to enforce it.

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 also affects people who keep exotic pets as well as more “common pets”. It ensures that the five freedoms are given to the species and that unnecessary stress and suffering is prevented.

A lot of suffering in exotic pets is caused by ignorance and lack of knowledge of the species needs. The legislation is put in place to prevent animal cruelty before it happens. The RSPCA’s role is to monitor and enforce these laws to ensure that no animal is treated cruelly. RSPCA are also play a role in raising public awareness on such subjects.

Other legislations involved

The Dangerous Wild animal act 1976 (DWA) came into force due to the “fashion” in
the 1970’s for keeping exotic animals such as tigers and bears. The primary
purpose is to protect the public’s interest and regulating the keeping of the
animals.

Local authorities are responsible for grant licenses to any person who is intending to keep any animals on the DWA. The conditions of this license are:-·

The species is kept only by the person or people named on the licence.
·Restriction on the movements of the species
·Requirement that the license holder has a current insurance policy
The enclosure is adequately and secure.

Case studyMexican Red Knee Tarantula
Scientific
name: Brachypelma smithi

Current status: Classed as lower risk/ near threatened on the IUCN
red list and listed on Appendix
II of CITES

Threats:
The major problem that affected this species was collection for the Exotic pet
trade and now habitat loss has become the main threat to their population ).

Conservation:
Insitu:
Mexico has put in place permits that are required to collect or remove this
species from its natural habitat. This will help prevent over-collection of the
species which could affect the population numbers and cause further decline .

Exsitu:
The best exsitu projects is one that is involved in the trade of this species,
this is controlled by CITES and it means the international trade of this
species is monitored to ensure no damage is caused to the native population .

Do you think enough is being done to prevent illegal trade and capping trades in endangered species? have you ever come across a wild caught species.... what was the behaviour and health like? I would love to hear what you guys think! it is such a controversial subject

(P.s. no idea why the formatt went all weird!!)