I don’t understand it, myself. Most wildlife belongs in their natural habitat. Other than the woodchucks and rabbits that feast on my gardens, which may be considered by others to be their natural habitat, but I don’t. Some animals have been domesticated – dogs, for example, or house cats, or the occasional gerbil or goldfish. Others are work animals, like oxen and mules. People keep horses for riding, pulling carriages, or jumping over fences, and I get that. Cows, sheep, and goats are sources of food. But does it really make sense for humans to “collect” exotic animals that aren’t designed to be house pets?
This item was in the news over the weekend by a reporter for the New York Times: “The driver of the VW Passat said he had nothing to declare, according to US Customs and Border Protection officers . . . Stashed inside the vehicle’s dashboard were 14 live Keel-billed toucans, a species of bird that is illegal to bring into the United States, and can each sell for up to $5,000, authorities said.” The driver denied all knowledge of the birds’ presence, although he was charged with illegal smuggling. Not only that, but the birds had been sedated and literally tied up, suffering damaged wings and broken legs, and because they bypassed any type of required screening process, they could too have been carrying potentially devastating diseases.
In all honesty, I know why the smuggler did what he did. But I seriously question the sanity of the those paying $5,000 to have one of those birds. Endangered, injured, and possibly diseased. What are they thinking? Or perhaps they aren’t – they’re in need of “bragging rights.”
Every so often, we read or hear of an exotic pet that escapes from its “owner”. There was a large snake that spent almost a month on the Boston subway system. “Penelope the pet snake’s long journey on the MBTA came to a happy end yesterday. The Dumeril’s boa had slithered away from its owner, Melissa Moorhouse of Allston, while she was riding on the Red Line nearly a month ago. Moorhouse said she first noticed the snake missing as she headed outbound on the Red Line in the late morning of Jan. 6. MBTA employees helped her look in the subway car in which she was riding at the JFK/UMass station, where they held the train for a few minutes, and performed a more exhaustive search at the Braintree terminus, walking through each of the six train cars and looking under the seats, with no luck.” (Feb 2011; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainsmen). Ok, Melissa. What were you thinking, not only having this snake, but more importantly, taking on the subway? I know I’d have used Uber a lot in the month that Penelope was roaming the subways.
There was an incident with a 200 lb chimpanzee in Stamford, Connecticut in 2009, in which it mauled and nearly killed the owner’s friend, who had come to her rescue when the chimp attacked. The chimp, named Travis, had been acting strangely, so his owner had given him a spot of Xanax in his tea. How crazy was she? Let me count the ways. Or, and this is one of my favorites. “United Airlines turned away an emotional-support animal — a proud peacock — at a New Jersey airport this weekend, . . . United Airlines said in a statement to NBC News that the peacock “did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size.” The incident took place in the lobby of Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday. ‘We explained this to the customer on three separate occasions before they arrived at the airport,’ the airline said in its statement to the peacock network.” (NBC News, Jan. 2018). As the story unfolded, the peacock wasn’t so much an “emotional-support” companion as part of her show as a “performance artist.” Can you imagine the unfortunate passenger in the seat next to the peacock, who, judging by the mental stability of its owner, is a bit high-strung as well, particularly as the plane begins to taxi down the runway. Perhaps a dose of Xanax that worked so well with the chimpanzee might help. Or imagine that passenger getting home and a spouse or family member asks, “how was your flight?”, how does one respond exactly? “Funny you should ask.”
Humans, or some humans, have over the centuries been captivated by wild and exotic animals. It was quite fashionable in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries for European royalty and aristocrats to maintain menageries of animals on their large estates. Presumably someone had to take care of them, but it probably was not the estate owners. They’d probably just peak out at them from a second story window. Recent excavations at the Tower of London revealed bones of big cats – lions and leopards, and we’ll assume that there were others. Estimates are that they go back to the 13th century. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the sailing ships bringing them over, for a number of reasons. Of course, bears and other wild animals were used for sport, often before they were killed. Animal collections seem to have served as symbols of wealth and power, so many varieties from big cats to elephants were brought to Europe from Asia, Africa, the Middle East. In fact, from all over the globe. Interestingly, though, they were private collections, not open to the public as most zoos are today. And in many cases, they were not confined but allowed to roam freely. On a visit to Blair Castle in Scotland a few years ago, we saw one or two peacocks moving about the grounds, along with a resident flock of geese, which, historically, made remarkably good guard animals.
A few years back, a moderately sized alligator appeared in a pond here in New Hampshire. That was a mystery, until its “owner” explained that they’d caught it down south as a baby and brought it home. Again, how many braincells were actually functioning here? As it grew bigger and more unmanageable, rather than notifying authorities and having it sent back, they simply let it go. Not only was that dangerous, but also cruel because alligators wouldn’t survive a New Hampshire winter. That phenomenon seems to happen a lot, particularly with chicks and rabbits at Easter time. If you (and your trees) survived infestations of gypsy moths, it is interesting to note that the moths were brought here deliberately in an experiment to breed with silkworms, producing a new type of silk. “This experiment was conducted by Leopold Trouvelot, an amateur lepidopterist from Medford, Massachusetts, who at one time had more than a million larvae in cultivation behind his house. In 1868 or 1869, several individuals of adult Gypsy Moths escaped from his house, with ten years elapsing before the neighborhood trees were badly defoliated by resulting populations of the moth.” (Smithsonian). And I hate to point it out, but often gardeners are just as bad, importing exotic plants that prove invasive or infect and kill off native species. Man, thinking he or she knows best, and their interactions with nature end badly.
Some of you may have seen the offbeat comedy classic, “Bringing Up Baby”, starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, playing the roles of paleontologist and somewhat “scattered” heiress. It turns out that “Baby” is a leopard, showing up at various times in double – on a friendly pet and the other a viscous animal going to into permanent confinement. There are the typical mix-ups and moments of confusion. For some reason, though, that film has always made me just a bit uneasy as “Baby” appears. Every so often, a highly trained and deemed “friendly” animal, be it exotic or domesticated, will inexplicably turn on its owner.
If you are a fan of the 1990’s television show, “Friends”, you will remember the period when Ross had the pet monkey, “Marcel”. Marcel arrived at a New Year’s Eve party as Ross’s “date”. Eventually, Marcel reached his “sexual maturity”, and needed to be placed in a more appropriate environment. There was, however, one hilarious episode where Rachel is “babysitting” Marcel, and he of course gets away. The hunt and return are very, very funny. Also, speaking of that show, a number of episodes centered on Rachel’s pet experience with a short-haired cat, on which she spent a sizeable sum. It turned out to be totally unpleasant, spending most of its time hissing and scratching her. In the end, she couldn’t even give it away.
Despite the appeal of exotic animals, it’s time we learned to keep them in their native habitats and stop interfering with them. They’re not “pet” material, and they’re certainly not trophies. As some species become endangered – either through our activities or the destruction of their natural environments, we can certainly help them. But we really need to do it from a distance, and be content with leaving them alone to survive. More importantly, we need to stop paying exorbitant fees to capture them or smuggle them across the globe. That provides incentive to less-than-honorable people to do bad things for money. If one has thousands of dollars to spend on animals, make a donation to the World Wildlife Federation or a local animal shelter. Then, go get a beagle.
I'm Thinking...No! 