Why do we still let people buy and sell exotic animals or keep them as pets?

[Altoid_Cyclist]

Refuges such as the one run by Tippi Hedren are one thing, but these animals are not meant to be kept in small pens made of concrete and steel fences.
Perhaps the couple in PA had saved them from someplace worse, I don't know. But they should not have been able to be bought and sold in the first place.

Link to Allentown paper story:
http://www.mcall.com/news/all-bear-mauling-update-100509-cnap,0,596872.story

Pictures of cages housing their animals:



Link to Tippi Hedren refuge.
http://www.shambala.org/index.htm

[AllentownJake]

1. This happened near me?

Shit, why do we always make national news for crazy fucking stupid stuff.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

5. That's OK, Altoona usually only makes national news for negative reasons too.

The one positive was before the election when B.O. stopped in for some bowling.

[rpannier]

2. We need stronger regulations on the ownership of exotic animals

n/t

[Orrex]

3. When I read "Tippi Hedren," I thought you were making a joke about "The Birds"

Then I remembered...


What a messed-up story. A shovelful of dog food? I'd want something a little more certain than that, if I'm going to enter a bear's enclosure.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

7. Yeah, I don't think that a shovelful of dogfood is the best defense against a bear.

This whole thing will probably traumatize the kids who witnessed it.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Trade in wild animals needs to be more tightly regulated and enforced. nt

[ZombieHorde]

6. What is an exotic animal? nt

[Altoid_Cyclist]

8. This is the definition per Wikipedia.

An exotic pet is a rare or unusual animal kept as a pet, or an animal kept as a pet which is not commonly thought of as a pet.

These are the animals that they kept at one point or another.

Walz, who has been licensed since 1994, reported to authorities in 2007 that he kept a lion, cougar, jaguar, tiger, black bear, leopard and two servals on the property in Ross Township, a rural area in the Pocono Mountains.

This is a great link to the Florida python invasion:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1909404,00.html

[ZombieHorde]

10. The snake killing the 2 year old story is sad. Thanks for the link and the definition. nt

[Altoid_Cyclist]

12. I have to apoplogize for the choice of words to the link.

I can't believe that I used the term "great link" when it dealt with the horrible death of a two year old. I just wasn't thinking.

[ZombieHorde]

13. I understood what you meant by "great". nt

[riverwalker]

9. reminds me of this story

November 2006
DULUTH, Minn. _ Country Singer Troy Lee Gentry admitted Monday that he shot and killed a domesticated black bear in a 3-acre penned area and not in the wild, as he had claimed when he registered the animal with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Gentry pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Duluth to the misdemeanor crime of submitting a false hunting registration form after killing the bear.

Gentry, 39, of Franklin, Tenn., a member of the country singing duo Montgomery Gentry, had been scheduled to stand trial starting Monday but reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office

[Altoid_Cyclist]

11. Thanks for that one. I hadn't heard about that until now.

I know a guy who used to own a place called Paradise Ranch near State College PA. Very wealthy people would come from all over the country to "hunt" all sorts of animals there. Of course, these were all fenced in animals with no chance to get away. I don't know any true sportsmen who didn't despise the whole concept. It sounds like something Darth Cheney would enjoy though.

Plus there was the story about the record boar shot by the 11 year old that turned out to be his neighbors' recently released pet.