Are you looking to buy an exotic pet?
Wildlife, Not Pets.
We know people purchase exotic pets because they love animals. We empathize because we are animal lovers too. Unfortunately, many people are misinformed and unaware that the exotic pets are still a wild species of animal, and keeping them in captivity is extremely difficult and potentially dangerous.
World Animal Protection data shows that Canadians own millions of wild animals, despite these animals being entirely unsuitable as pets. An estimated 1.4 million wild animals are kept as pets in Canada. Our research also found that 45% of exotic pet owners are unaware that their pet is actually considered to be wildlife; whether poached from the wild or bred in captivity exotic pets are wild animals, they are just as wild as any animals you would find in Canada’s forests, prairies or waters.
Do you agree that wildlife should remain in the wild?
Pledge now to never buy an exotic wild animal as pet.
Pledge nowAn Exotic Pet Is Wildlife
Animals suffer before reaching your home.
The journey for a wild animal in the exotic pet trade is inhumane– and often deadly. Poached from the wild or bred in captivity, these animals experience stress and often physical pain at every stage of the trade.
Taken From The Wild
Large-scale poaching uproots and devastates natural populations. Animals are usually caught in inhumane ways and in shockingly high numbers. As many as 21% of wild African grey parrots, a species already at risk of disappearing, are captured for the exotic pet trade each year.
Animals that survive being caught, face a treacherous journey. They are packed into small containers or crates, unable to breathe or move. Many suffocate, starve or succumb to diseases before reaching their final destination Worse still is that the illegality of the trade in animals is often aided by government corruption and poor enforcement of trade legislation.
Captive Bred
The breeding industry causes its own set of distinct problems, often with animal suffering as result. Animals are bred in unnatural and intensive conditions. Common selective breeding procedures places the animal's physical and mental health at risk, all in an attempt to create rare designer breed animals. This practice is particularly common in snakes and lizards, with created designer breeds known as ‘morphs.
Being born in captivity does not make an animal domesticated - although they may become tame to the touch of humans, they are still wild animals. Their behaviours and needs are equal to their wild counterparts.
No wild animal can have its needs entirely met when kept as an exotic pet
In a home, there is no way to replicate the space and freedom that wild animals need and enjoy. Captivity limits their natural behaviour and places both their mental and physical well-being at risk.
Basic Needs Not Met
World Animal Protection research showed that that basic needs are often not met. Basic needs includes, among other things, the space to perform the variety of behaviours an animal would display in the wild (e.g., running, climbing, swimming, bathing, digging, etc.) and access to a naturalistic diet. Some exotic pet diseases are inherent to life in captivity and are highly unlikely to occur in the wild. For example, reptiles can suffer from soft bones due to an unbalanced and improper diet.
Emotional and Physical Trauma
Exotic pets display behaviours that researchers have likened to emotional trauma in humans. Parrots rip out their own feathers due to isolation and chronic stress – not dissimilar to self-harm in humans. Asian otters can display repetitive destructive behaviours similar to people suffering from obsessive compulsive behaviours. Improper housing causes snout and foot injuries in reptiles because they fail to recognize invisible barriers like glass; continuous attempts to go through the boundary results in injuries.
Early Death
An alarming high number of snakes, lizards and tortoises that are kept as pets die at home within the first year. Many of these deaths are premature and are likely caused by stress-related illnesses related to animals' captive environment. In the wild, some animals, like tortoises, can grow as old as a 120 years.
And it's not just animals that stand to suffer
While human handling of delicate animals like many reptiles and amphibians, can expose them to unfamiliar germs which can cause disease and death, it’s not just animals that can get sick.
Zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans) pose a significant risk to human health. They cause approximately a billion cases of human illnesses a year. Interacting with exotic pets increases the risk for you or your family to fall ill; 35% of zoonotic diseases in humans have been linked to an exotic pet.
In December 2019, Health Canada released a public notice; more than 90 reported cases of salmonella across six provinces were linked to the interaction with captive snakes and rodents. Health agencies in Canada and across the world warn that anyone can become sick but that especially children aged 5 years and under, older adults, pregnant women or people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk to become severely ill from animal-related salmonella infections.
Already Own An Exotic Pet?
If you already own an exotic animal, and haven’t done so, please seek advice from an expert, ideally from a specialized veterinarian, to ensure you’re meeting as many of the animal’s welfare needs as possible. We encourage you to continue to give your pet the best life possible, for as long as you can.
Never release exotic pets into the wild, most will not be able to survive and those that survive may establish themselves and cause harm to the native habitat, and please pledge to not breed or to purchase an exotic wild animals in the future.
Still Want A Pet?
Pets like cats and dogs are domesticated. They have been selectively bred to live alongside humans over thousands of years. With the right care and conditions, they are able to live with humans in captivity without suffering. Please choose your pet responsibly and pledge to never buy a wild animal as a pet.
Are you a responsible pet owner? Sign the pledge.
