Argumentative Essay: Why Large Cats Should Be Banned

As humans, it has become very common to have a pet companion, whether it be a cat, a dog, or a fish. Recently, attention has been drawn on exotic pets, especially on social media. What exactly do I mean by exotic? An exotic pet would be an animal that is wild and with no past history of domestication but is living in a household. Being exposed to social media, brought me to the question: why are large cats being kept as pets if they are a threat to society, and captivity is a threat to the survival of the species? It seems to me that if there are more cons to owning a large exotic cat, the private ownership of large cats should be banned. It is unbelievable that in the United States owning a wild animal like a tiger, or lion is legal. Many

and so it is possible that for example, the tigers are not being fed properly. In the wild, lions or tigers eat about ten to twenty five pounds of meat per day; however, it depends on the large cats weight. As someone who sometimes enjoys watching National Geographic shows, I have seen an episode where owners of tigers in Ohio, have had to reach out to local farms and even find deer killed on the road to feed the animals. If there is not enough money to provide meat, the large cats are starved until it can be afforded.

Sometimes animals end up dead based on the wrong decisions humans make; this happens in zoos and households. When a wild animal like a large cat escapes its confinement or is released from it, the police find the large cat to be a threat, and can end up killing the cat in order to prevent injuries or any deaths. If a hungry large cat is abandoned and travels to a city, it can start to see children as possible

In Exotic Animals: Appropriately Owned Pets or Inappropriately Kept Problems, a round table discussion, veterinarians were asked if exotic animals should be kept as pets and Dr. Molnar said yes, and explained that “private ownership helps in conservation, education, and propagation of exotic pets. A lot of pets are alive today due to private ownership.” However, with the inadequate conditions a large cat is placed in there is also a large possibility of death even if they are not in the wild. As indicated above, large cats can lack the resources needed to survive like food, and can be killed for their natural instincts like pouncing on what they could consider food. In terms of exotic pet ownership as helping in education, I think there are other ways that have more educational value. There are many documentaries on animals like large cats, and books that have a lot of interesting facts.

Although there are so many risks when owning a large cat, it is still an existing trend today, and social media has played a role in endorsing exotic pet ownership. For example, by searching on Facebook anything on exotic pets, some of the results are actual Facebook businesses that are dedicated to selling exotics like large cats. Although most businesses I found were from Mexico, there is a possibility for these pets to make their way from Mexico to the United