Neglect, Abuse Found during Exotic Animal Seizure Last Week in a Nevada Home is “All Too Common”
Last week, 15 exotic animals were found living inside a Pahrump, Nevada home where law enforcement discovered three lions, one Bengal tiger, eight Canadian Siberian lynx hybrid cats, one panther, one serval caracal hybrid cat, and one fennec fox locked in rooms and cages amid their own waste.
Sadly “this type of tragedy occurs with alarming frequency, sometimes resulting in human injury or death, not to mention the horrific cruelty to the animals,” according to Adam M. Roberts, Born Free USA CEO. Roberts continued, “The exploitation of animals and the threats to human safety that result from exotic pet ownership are preventable.
Since 2000, there have been more than 1,500 escapes, injuries, deaths, and other health and legal issues involving wild animals kept in a home. At least 36 people have died from attacks, including children, neighbors, and first responders.
Every year, people are attacked and injured by exotic “pets” or exotic animals in roadside zoos; some of the attacks are fatal, and children have too often been the victims. In recent years, people have been mauled by tigers, attacked by monkeys, and bitten by snakes, just to name a few of the tragic incidents involving exotic “pets” and incidents involving exhibited animals. (View a comprehensive list of all Exotic Animal Incidents that Born Free USA tracks.)
Compounding the risk to the public, many exotic animals are carriers of diseases, such as herpes B, salmonellosis, monkeypox, and rabies, which are communicable — and can be fatal — to humans.
Further, the conditions in which privately-owned exotic animals are kept also raise serious animal welfare concerns. Most people cannot provide the special care, housing, diet, and maintenance that exotic animals require. Many animals who have become too difficult for their owners to care for, or who have outgrown their usefulness as “pets” or profit-makers, end up languishing in small pens in backyards, doomed to live in deplorable conditions, or are abandoned or killed. A very few lucky ones are placed in genuine sanctuaries to live out the rest of their lives.
Kate Dylewsky, Program Associate at Born Free USA and captive exotic animal expert, explains, “It is a miracle that none of the animals in this Nevada home escaped and no one was mauled before law enforcement stepped in. Police officers are not trained to deal with 400-pound wild cats, nor should they have to be. However, the burden of protecting both the community and the welfare of exotic pets falls on the shoulders of brave officers who put their lives on the line. It is time to take the safety of our first responders and our communities more seriously, and outlaw exotic pet ownership.”
Nevada does not have a law prohibiting the ownership of many exotic animals, including big cats, wolves, and primates. There is also no federal law to restrict or oversee private ownership of these species, resulting in a largely unregulated breeding industry and pet trade. If not for the animal cruelty statute that enabled law enforcement officers to inspect the property, it would have been entirely legal for the owners of these 15 dangerous animals to continue keeping them imprisoned.
Exotic animals are not pets. They belong in their own habitat and shouldn’t be housed in a home where they are not free to live out their lives naturally as they were meant to be. The 15 animals who were rescued will hopefully go to sanctuaries where they can be free to be wild animals again.
Roberts says we should outlaw exotic pet ownership entirely so we are not faced with this situation ever again.
Yes!! There’s no reason for anyone to keep exotic pets. It’s cruel to force them to live like that. They don’t care about their safety or welfare. Selfish and very sad.
Hell yeah! Nobody should have exotic animals. I know some look so cute but they can be dangerous. They are wild animals that weren’t meant to be domesticated. You don’t when it will happen but you’re taking a dangerous risk by buying an exotic animal. People don’t think of the dangers involved. Women like small monkeys because they find it nurturing to take care of a small animal that is the closest thing to a human baby. They grow and don’t belong in a home. Does anyone remember the chimpanzee that ripped off a woman’s face as it attacked her after she was visiting her friend who owned the chimp. That chimp had attacked previously. The attacked woman lost her sight and her face. She suffered injuries to her arms if I remember correctly. Her whole life completely changed because someone didn’t think! The chimp is dead. The owner is now deceased. The woman lost her own face. You’re not only putting yourself in danger but others as well. Ban exotic animals.
one word- yep