Imagine having our noses cut off, our legs tied up, being stuffed into a plastic bag which is then sealed up, deprived of food and then waking up to a totally new environment we are stranger to. How will we feel? Loneliness, traumatic stress, malnutrition. These are only some of the cruelty that animals are subjected to after they are inhumanely captured from their natural habitat and smuggled for illegal pets trade. Illegal exotic pets trade has gone rampant over the years as more breeders and sellers took their business online. Accordingly to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), exotic pet trade is a $15 billion dollar business and this is exclusive of the trade that is happening outside the country. There are countless of various types of animals being traded illegally across the globe but the more common ones include snakes, birds, monkeys, big cats and turtles. There is also an increasing trend of keeping hedgehog and slow lorises. Just two months ago, a friend sent me pictures of his new pet -- a baby hedgehog. It got me thinking about why people want to keep exotic animals despite knowing it is against the law. Apparently, there are many …show more content…
We are all entitled to live in an environment that is best for everyone. Owning an exotic pet affects not just ourselves but everyone around us. According to HSUS, there are more than 74,000 cases of salmonella poisoning in the United States linked to the harmful salmonella germ that reptiles and amphibians carry. Other exotics pets such as monkeys also carry viruses that are highly infectious and may even cause death to humans. Such viruses include Herpes B-Virus, Monkeypox, the Ebola virus and other threatening diseases which are usually not dangerous for the monkeys but fatal to humans. Introducing these exotic pets to our environment is also introducing these zoonoses (diseases passed on to humans from animals) to the people around