Sara Covington Covington 1 Intro to Writing 4/10/16 Should Exotic Animals be kept as Pets? On October 18th, 2011, a man released 56 exotic animals into his home town of Zanesville Ohio (bigcatrescue.org). Unfortunately, 50 of these helpless animals were killed when higher authorities arrived at the scene. It was later established that the owner, Terry Thompson, cut off the doors to the exotic animal’s cages ensuring that they would never be in captivity again. Despite his efforts, all 56 animals were either executed or sent to live at another rescue center. Soon to follow this devastating massacre was a new law stating that all owners of exotic animals …show more content…
Pythons are at the top of the list when it comes to exotic animals that have been released in Florida. Unfortunately, these owners only keep their exotic pets for a little over one year, then decide to set them free in their communities (animallaw.info). This obviously creates an even bigger problem by threatening the lives of innocent people in these local areas. Exotic animals are especially known for carrying diseases which can be very dangerous and in some cases fatal (aza.org). Another main issue that comes along with exotic animals being released in these communities is the disruption of ecosystems. Since pythons and other exotic animals are capable of killing smaller animals and even humans, they have the potential of ruining the food chain in that specific area (nytimes.com). Sometimes it only takes the ignorance of one person to destroy the lives of …show more content…
These innocent creatures may also give up their spirit if they are being mistreated by their owner. Far too often the owners of exotic animals will try and break the wild animal’s natural instincts by using force against them. Rather than facing the fact that wild animals are not meant to be kept as pets, some people will attempt to change the animal into a tame pet and will treat it as a dog or cat (bornfreeusa.org). However, when the animal’s behavior does not change as rapidly as they anticipated, the owner will usually mistreat it or abandon it at the side of the road. When purchasing an exotic animal, owners are usually unaware of all the specific needs that the animal requires. Providing the proper care, nutrition, and habitat are all things that some owners do not take into consideration when choosing the right exotic pet (bigcat.org). Perhaps one of the biggest reasons exotic animals are released, besides their dangerous nature, is the financial burden they may cause their owners (spca.bc.ca). Since exotic animals necessitate such a strict diet and living area, they definitely require more financial needs then the average