NC has few regulations for keeping exotic animals

RALEIGH, N.C. (May 10, 2013) — Young wildlife may be cute — and it may be tempting to bring a fawn, cub, chick or kit home — but tiny animals are not pets. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is reminding people that touching or feeding them can hurt wildlife and jeopardize human health. It also can harm the ecosystem.

Human encounters with young animals often increase in the spring, when many wildlife species bear young.

“Wild animals are not pets, and they are not meant to be raised and fed by humans,” said Ann May, the Commission’s extension wildlife biologist. “Wild animals still have their wild instincts, even if they seem tame. Well-meaning people can be injured by a wild animal just following its instincts,and the interaction can be harmful to the animals as well.”

It is illegal to keep native wildlife as a pet in North Carolina. Also, capturing and handling a young animal can stress it, sometimes fatally. In addition, young animals that look abandoned often are not. Many species do not stay with their young constantly and only return to feed them. The parent may return and become aggressive in an attempt to defend its young. And, as a young animal grows, it,too, can become aggressive.

Feeding animals may seem harmless or even helpful. However, it causes the animal to lose its natural fear of humans and seek more human food. An animal may become aggressive or cause property damage in its search for more human food.

Wildlife can transmit diseases, including rabies and roundworm, to humans.

For more information on coexisting with wildlife, including young animals, visit www.ncwildlife.org.

What this means, in a nut shell, is, I can’t raise a coyote pup as a playmate for my dog, but yet I can buy and keep a Boa Constrictor as a pet for my 8 year old.

I can’t have a raccoon sitting on the back of the couch but North Carolina has no problem with a tiger curled up in front of the fireplace?

I personally don’t like the idea of people keeping exotic animals as pets. Too many times, especially with exotic snakes, people release them for various reasons. What happens when they get too big, too expensive to continue to feed, too hard to handle or just get too aggressive? Well, this animal has been their “pet” for years and they don’t have the heart to put it down so out in the woods it goes.

The state of Florida is seeing the damage that this kind of behavior can cause. The Burmese Python have nearly taken over the Everglades and threatens their entire ecological system.  All across the Southeastern United States we are seeing the damage caused by some well-meaning fur producers from back in the 1700’s when they brought in Nutria from South America to raise for the fur market.

I can understand the rule about not keeping wild animals as pets but I do have to make this comparison. If I have a pet fox that escapes or gets released, there’s no real problem there. Another fox loose in our woods where fox already thrive will make no real difference one way or the other. But, for the sake of argument, let’s say that it was a cheetah that was liberated from my possession. Now we have a problem! Ain’t no cheetahs in our wild here and frankly, I don’t think it would be a good thing for the rest of the forest.

We all remember the guy in Ohio who released 56 animals that he was keeping? Out of that 56, only 1 grizzly bear, 2 monkeys and 3 leopards survived to make it to the Columbus zoo. 18 tigers, 17 lions, 6 black bear, 2 grizzly bears, 3 mountain lions, 2 wolves and 1 baboon had to be killed. Even Jack Hanna defended the killings saying at a press conference, "If you had 18 Bengal tigers running around this area, you folks wouldn't want to see what would happen,”

And the crying shame of it all is the fact that some of these animals are already on the endangered list.

For instance:

18 Bengal tigers were killed. There are ongoing efforts right now to save this species.

3 mountain lions. That’s a cougar. If y’all don’t know it, the Eastern Cougar is all but extinct here in North Carolina.

2 wolves. How many relocation and conservation efforts are currently underway all across our country to save these critters?

But due to one man’s insanity, poor judgment or whatever you want to call it, that’s 23 animals, who are listed as endangered or special concern that money and resources have been spent in trying to save, that are simply gone, erased, deleted, never to be seen again.

This event along with what’s happening in Florida and even all across the Southeastern United States with the Nutria raises the question, “Should the general population be allowed to keep exotic animals for any purpose?”

I’d like to hear your opinion on the matter. I have left the comment option open on this page in order to get your response. Tell us what you think. If you are for exotic pets, then tell us why. If apposed, likewise.

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