Exotic Animals: Appropriately Owned Pets or Inappropriately Kept Problems?

You hear about them all the time lately—exotic pets are constantly in the news—on TV, the radio, and in the newspaper. Monstrously large, non-native Burmese pythons are being released into the Everglades, threatening native species. Non-indigenous Quaker parrots have escaped captivity and are now breeding so successfully outdoors in the Northeast that they have become a menace, nesting on power lines and disturbing electrical service. Seemingly docile large wildcats, raised captively in preserves, suddenly turn on their caretakers with sometimes fatal consequences. Human-like primates, bottle fed from birth in people's homes, like child substitutes, suddenly snap and inflict severe injury on their human family members. All of these unfortunate stories make for sensational news; yet what they really should make us think about is whether we should keep these exotic animals as pets, at all. Some may argue that if exotic animals were outlawed as pets, people would keep them, anyway, and if they were illegally owned, these animals might receive inferior to no medical care. Others think that owning exotic species poses a potential threat to the health and safety of both humans and domestic pets that is too great. There are definitely valid points on both sides. To address this fundamental question about keeping exotic animals as pets, I have invited 7 individuals from different geographic locations who treat a variety of species every day in a variety of settings—zoos, private veterinary practice, and even a mix of both—to participate. Participants are Jose Biascoechea, DVM, Birds and Exotics Animal Care, Mount Pleasant, SC, USA; Laura Brazelton, DVM, Summertree Animal & Bird Clinic, Dallas, TX, USA; Orlando Figueroa-Diaz, DVM, MS, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Lake Howell Animal Clinic, Maitland, FL, USA; Eric Klaphake, DVM, Dipl ACZM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Animal Medical Center, Bozeman, MT, USA; Attila Molnar, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), All Animals Medical Center, Calabasas, CA, USA; Sam Rivera, DVM, MS, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA; and Amy B. Worell, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), All Pets Medical Centre, West Hills, CA, USA. I hope that hearing their different perspectives will all make us consider the pros and cons of keeping captive the extraordinary exotic species we all treat.