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Do exotic (within reason) animals live a happier life with humans?
I have been thinking about this for awhile after I saw some people online with things like a pet skunk and even someone with a barn owl. I have always held the belief that most animals should be in the wild because that’s their natural habitat and they can get the stimulation and environment they need.
However, the same people with these ducks, owls, armadillos, skunks, raccoons, etc are always showing clips of them with their little guys and they are just so happy, the animal and the owner. The pets are playing and jumping around, getting head scratches and pets, rubbing up against their owners and snuggling with them, and it is some of the purest forms of love I have ever seen.
These animals seem so happy around us (when domesticated and as pets), but I’ve always been taught that it’s wrong to have those animals as pets. I understand these exotic pets or just downright abnormal pets require specific and special care, which is another big contributed to the idea that it’s wrong to have them. Then again these people take good care of their little guys, they show and talk about vet visits with specialists, talking about the research they did, and talk about some facts about their animal.
Not everyone can take of these animals, largely because they require specific care. I’m talking about the pets that are well taken care of by owners who care. I have grown up the idea that it’s wrong to have them as pets so it’s just so hard for me to separate rationality from perception. The little guys are just so tiny and adorable and they always seem so happy with their owners.
Thoughts? Opinions? Questions? Concerns? Threats? Social Security Numbers?? I don’t know. I just want to hear from some other people about this.
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A lot of wild animals kept in captivity (zoos or as pets) will develop stereotypical disorders/mental disorders from stress and an unsuitable environment. This can be anything from pacing, repetitive behaviours, obsessive behaviours, pulling out fur/feathers etc.
It's something that people don't show the world because it doesn't make them look good.
A lot of the time these animals miss out on being able to perform natural behaviours such as digging, swimming, traveling long distances. They get bored or they get stressed because they simply can't be the animal they are.
In addition to that; malnutrition is very common in exotic animals because people don't know or understand the diets these animals are supposed to be on. You can't just go to the store and buy "skunk food" or "monkey food", it doesn't exist so you are left to make the food yourself. A lot of information you read online isn't detailed or is incorrect. Most zoos will supplement animals with special/expensive supplements specifically for that species and the general public won't/don't have access to it or simply don't know they need them.
Thanks to the trends online there has been a rise in the exotic pet trade and a lot more exotic animals having health issues and being treated incorrectly. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7TSZI8oT9c
A fine answer.
Seconding most of this EXCEPT....
Skunks are arguably lightly domesticated at this point. They've been captive bred for decades, come in all sorts of coat colors, and yes, you actually CAN buy skunk food (although they often do just as well with supplemented cat food). They even have a long history of being kept as pets and really do make fantastic companions to the right people.
It really does depend on the species, as some "exotic" pets actually have a long history of captive bred populations and being kept as pets. (Foxes are bred for fur farms, capybara are kept as livestock...)
Obviously no, we shouldn't be encouraging people to take wild animals out of their environment just to keep as pets. That's a terrible thing that should be rightfully condemned. And some animals -captive bred or not!- are just too dangerous or ill suited to living with humans to be allowed.
But the line here is greyer than you might think, as there will always be orphans that cannot be returned to the wild, or new domestic lines (think the domestic Siberian fox lines). And hard line laws often create situations where a happy, healthy, well socialized and controlled animal is seized from their home and either dies from stress or is outright destroyed in the name of "animal welfare". That's not something I think most people would consider "ethical" either.
Replied like a good bot, not answering the question.
Did you not read the part where I literally said they cant perform natural behaviours so get stressed?...
How many people who own Meetkats actually give them a place to build an underground tunnel system or dig for termites? Yes they are well cares for, but that still isnt allowing them natural behaviours.
You also often see the same in Parrots. They are well cared for buy rip their feathers out from stress.
I mentioned that, about if they are taken care of properly. It’s a hypothetical, would the animal be happier if it were with humans AND it was provided exactly what it needed to live a happy life. Animals in captivity also tend to have much longer life spans which is another amazing bonus, but my question is about if all of these needs were met. They were able to get the stimulation they require to be happy and stress free.
So basically IF they were wild, with everything perfect, would they want human company?
Probably not because they would have no reason to need it and no interest to crave human attention.
Petting is very much a human behaviour and not a behaviour shared anoungst most animals. A lot of exotic animals dont like it or only accept it because they have been raised knowing it. But just because they can be touched, it doesnt mean it has the same relationship meaning that it does between human and dog.
I guess you need a simplified answer: "Not a good idea, may be bad for the animal, requires resources that are not readily available to the public"
^ This for sure.
If they are born in captivity, they know nothing else. If they are removed from the wild and hurt so badly they cannot return, I think they are better off. If they are taken from the wild just because... I don't think it's right. Wild animals are just that. Wild. I understand people wanting to domesticate certain animals but I think it's cruel to a point.
This.
Species is probably the biggest factor. Some animals are far easier to keep happy and meet their needs than others. Naturally social animals need a suitable social group (and people generally aren't enough to meet their social needs). Naturally soiltary animals need to have that solitary need respected. Meeting the basic needs can be tough too and the most basic need for most animals is space. Nothing that would naturally wander a large area is going to be happy in an apartment. For example, if you have a pet zebra, you'd better have several of them and tens to hundreds of acres for them to wander.
The most exotic animals I have are rhea, patagonian mara, and a sulcata tortoise. All three of which are really easy by exotics standards. I am a licensed game bird breeder and there is some overlap between that and the exotic animal community. I know or have met people with pet big cats, crested porcupines, kinkajou, coatimundi, camels, zebra, giraffes, lemurs, ostriches, llamas, kangaroos, a wide variety of exotic parrots and other birds, all sorts of reptiles, bison, fennex fox, various deer and antelope, and prairie dogs, and I am just one degree of seperation from people with capybara and even cassowaries. Some of those would be really challenging (to impossible) to keep happy and healthy.
Hey! I see your username has to do with Texas. I’m from texas and have actually been looking for a game bird breeder. Do you mind if I reach out to you? Fingers crossed you’re not 7hrs away lol
Sure! I am in south TX, not far from Corpus.
So 7 hrs away 😂
What specifically are you looking for? I might know someone closer to you.
I’m a falconer. Most of us (and in the USA all of us) have flown a wild caught bird at some point. It’s legally required. I actually just picked up a wild caught red tail this morning. Falconry dabbles a bit in conservation as 80% of raptors die in their first year. We can only trap juvenile birds and most falconers release them later to rejoin the breeding stock. These birds have skills that otherwise they may have died trying to develop. Once they rejoin the breeding stock they have a better chance at keeping their chicks fed. That being said the majority of falconers also understand that falconry as a whole is selfish. To counter this we make sure to give our animals the best shelter, food, and vet care we can. We also make sure to get them hunting out in the field as often as possible. In fact one of the ethics questions in the state test asks what the right thing to do with a bird you don’t have time to fly is, the answer is release it (as long as it’s wild caught and not captive bred).
Wild animals such as exotics need to be kept in enclosures that stimulate their natural habitat. They also need to do the things they naturally would in the wild. Unfortunately very few people can accurately replicate these things and with the laws around exotics being so relaxed in certain areas you have random people buying animals they have no reason having.
I don't belive so they should be in nature.
There are captive bred bloodlines of: red foxes, raccoons, skunks, owls, most birds of prey, crows/ravens/magpies, several reptile and amphibian species, rodents like squirrels and prairie dogs, and I think fenec foxes as well. These animals are captive bred going back multiple generations, so they would do very poorly if released into the wild. Captive bred animals do better with humans, because they don’t have the ability to survive without human assistance.
That said, they still have some wild instincts, especially birds, reptiles and amphibians, and need to have these instincts taken into consideration when setting up their husbandry. Rodents need to dig, birds need to fly, raccoons, skunks and foxes need to dig, etc. If their instinctual nature isn’t respected and their needs aren’t met, they are not going to be happy.
It depends on the species and the keeper, iv known people with pet crows who essentially let them " play out" be loose in the garden where they could leave if they wanted but they stay and come back into the house after a few hours ( or if it rained).
It's about giving them not only what they need but what they want as well, intelligent social animals will normally accept human company just as happily as their own species.