IncoheRANT - Bambi Can Shove It.

Why is it that people see the word "exotic pet" and they immediately jump on the "abuse" train (which is not to be confused with the Dane Train)?

All you hear are these inane comments about how they are "ripped out of their home and away from their families" (yes...actual quote). Um...no, no they are not, this isn't a Disney movie where all the little happy furry creatures can talk.

Responsible breeders are just that, breeders, they do not pull on the high-top spiked nazi boots and trek out to the Amazon, cutting down trees with their machetes along the way until they find a cute critter to cram in a box and mail it to you. This is not Fern Gully, or a GTA 3 radio ad.

The exotic pets we see today are bred "down", partnered with a similar, domestic species so your pet won't maul your face off in the middle of the night. You can't just slap a wildcat into your home and think it's dandy. Your looking at the second, third, or even fourth generation of offspring of the original wild species before it enters your home.

And yes, some exotic pets aren't second or third generation offspring, but they still are, as infants, bred and hand raised by humans...in captivity. All this generally leads to the fact that, if we let all these cute little fuzzies go, just release them back into the wild, they would be dead within a day, thanks to the wild "families" you think they were "ripped from".

Granted, this doesn't mean that I think you should let a Tiger walk around your kitchen, feeding him little tid-bits of your steak dinner, because Mr. Fluffy-kins is an "exotic" pet. No. No he's not. He's a 600 pound wad of muscle and 3 inch long teeth, that can jump over 30 feet. Your face is only 5 feet away. By "exotic" pets I mean animals like Chinchillas, Fennec Foxes, Coatis and I don't know..bats. Animals that you don't see in crappy reenactments of "When Animals Attack!", just weird ones, like you'd expect them to be normal pets in Harry Potter's world.

And yes, because our world isn't perfect, there are those Captain Planet Bad Guys who sneak into the jungles and prairies and shove little baby animals into crates to ship to rich snobs just dying for a monkey or a lion, or hell, probably a unicorn that shits gold. And those are the people you should be targeting with all your nasty "abuse!" comments. Those are the people you should be directing your time to fight against. Not some poor responsible dude who takes care of and loves his Fennic Fox pet.

All of this was spurned by my thoughts of owning a Fennec Fox (the things your mind latches onto at 2 in the morning!), and digging around the internets on some info on owning these adorable and fun creatures. (Let's just say I won't be owning one soon....seeing as it will cost me my first born child....) Consequently I found a lot of negative comments toward owners.

So after my good laugh, I must say to these comments that: ALL pets were at one time wild, and then were domesticated. Where do you think we got good old Fido from. He was once a wolf. LE GASP, I know, shocker.

Domestication is a part of who we are as humans. There's a difference between "domestication" and "abuse". Learn it. Just because some rich dude buys two tigers and keeps them locked up in tiny cages does not mean that you must think all exotic pet owners are evil. Don't stamp everyone with the word "Abuse" the minute you see "exotic."


It really just comes down to this: Grow up and learn that life is not a disney movie.

Well that, and just be smart! Don't buy an pet that's going to eat you in your sleep.