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Ignorance toward exotic pets

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at 4 Jun 2008: 10:47

I believe this is a furry subject...since it has to do with animals and all. What is with people's complete ignorance toward exotic pets? The whole attitude that "wild animals are unpredictable" is COMPLETE NONSENSE. My friend has an exotic pet(a caracal) and it is in no way unpredictable. They hiss A LOT but it's their way of communicating and even though it's kind of scary to be hissed at by a fairly large cat that could probably cause huge damage to me it turned out to be a very friendly pet.

The thing is...domesticated animals have basically been "broken" into mindless beasts that will more or less follow the owners commands no matter what. Exotic animals on the other hand have their own personality and you NEED to respect them or suffer the consequences. In the same way a person wouldn't let you hurt them or abuse them an exotic animal will fuck you up if you don't pay attention to it's communication toward you.

The thing that pisses me off most about the whole subject is my friends neighbors despite the caracal being properly contained in an area that's impossible to escape from constantly complain about the danger of the pet to their children. It sickens me that they feel they have the right despite the fact my friend has a permit to basically write the government and try to do everything to take away his pet. Of course to my friend it's not just a pet, it's family, it's his friend. A pitbull is more dangerous than the caracal because the pitbulls people have usually aren't properly contained.

Looking online I saw how many owners who were responsible and never had an incident had their exotic pets taken and put to sleep because of the ignorance of people around them. Mindless and ILLOGICAL fear. Then of course in line with retarded PETA style thinking the animals were either put to sleep or forced to live in zoos for the rest of their life having no contact with their companion for 10+ years. Yeah, that's real fucking humane.

Can exotic pets be "tamed"? No. Can they be predictable? Yes. Do they give signs when they are angry? Yes. Do they give fair warning before attacking? Yes. In actuality...it's pretty damn hard to get an animal to attack you even if it's wild. You have to cross several lines...which unfortunately most people do cross those lines with domesticated pets on a daily basis.

2Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 10:53

>>1
To add on to my post...I feel most of the negative perception of exotic pets comes from the fact they require so much more care. It takes a lot of responsibility, personal attention and effort to become friends with an exotic animal. Most people are lazy and hate exerting any kind of effort thus shitty owners think it'd be oh so cool to get some exotic pet then realize how hard it is and immediately give up the pet to a shelter.

Part of the problem with why exotic pets aren't more widely accepted has to do with the social problems of modern day society and the overall laziness/lack of effort people have.

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at 4 Jun 2008: 12:14

All animals are unpredictable. Not just exotics. Safe to have? Yes, so long as someone knows what they're doing. Predictable, no.

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at 4 Jun 2008: 12:27

>>3
I disagree. The unpredictable stereotype stems from a lack of understanding the animals body language. People who actually bother to STUDY animals will tell you that animals are quite predictable if you pay attention to subtle nuances in their body language.

Saying an animal(exotic or domestic) is unpredictable is like saying a japanese person is unpredictable because you can't understand japanese and get cut in half when you fail to heed the warning he is giving to step the fuck back. Or an even better example would be to say...we all thought tribal culture was "savage" because we couldn't understand their motives, personality or actions but as we studied them it became more apparent they had a reason for doing things.

There is no reason an animal should be unpredictable to someone LOOKING to understand the language. I knew when to back the fuck off from my friends caracal cause he told me the body language and so even though I was a stranger...within about 8 hours the caracal warmed up to me and let me pet him.

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at 4 Jun 2008: 13:15

>>4
animals and people can both be unpredictable weather you study them, know them, or not. There's to many complex emotions involved to say you know exactly what they'll do. Most the time the danger is rough play or territory rather than obvious growling and "back off" action. Like I said, they can be safe and you can know most the time what they're thinking, but they're in no way perfectly predictable.

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at 4 Jun 2008: 15:02

I've had a fingernail bitten off by a "well trained, harmless" dog before. Animals really are unpredictable, and wild animals even more so than standard domesticated ones. Not saying all wild animals will attack you, but it's more likely that they will because they haven't been around humans all their lives, nor have they evolved to be more docile. (An effect of domestication.)

7Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 15:06

>>1

I, too, am tempted to jump in on the nitpick party concerning whether animals are "unpredictable (in b4 fate/determinism)".

I will at least note that it is arrogant for humans to put absolute trust in their ability to predict them, which is why certian precautions must be (and, in the case you give, clearly are being) taken.


For the most part, though, I am just going to break fchan precidence and nod my head in agreement. You're right, and it's sad.

8Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 16:14

Animals rarely attack without reason...to a human it doesn't make sense for someone to threaten to attack another over a "favorite pillow" but to a leopard that is exactly what will happen. I read a story about one guy who was cornered for 15 hours by a leopard who got angry about his master trying to touch his favorite pillow.

Unpredictable and illogical are two different things. With that said...certain species are quite loving and sociable. Others are more solitary and territorial. There is quite a few species of exotic animals that make outstanding companions. Just to name a few;

Small Cat Species- Serval, Siberian Lynx, Cougar, Caracal, Bobcats, Jungle Cats, Asian Leopard Cat, Geoffry's Cat. (These all have varying levels of care but for the most part they can all be sociable and taught to be non-aggressive.)

Misc Species- Wolf, Fox, Raccoon, Hedgehog, Fennec Fox, Wolfdogs....there is a huge list really so i'll stop there.

Personally, i've dealt with Cougars, Caracals, Servals, Wolves, Raccoons and Crocodiles. Of course it's necessary to take proper precautions to make the home safe for the animal and yourself but generally none of these animals will willingly attack someone who has raised them. Strangers need to be more wary but if your friend introduces you and you don't force the animal to come to you then it will eventually trust you as it trust's it's master/companion. One of my friend let's his crocodile freely roam the house and it doesn't attack anyone. The only real danger is when feeding it because the eyes close and it can accidentally bite you not realizing this until it's done too much damage. Otherwise crocodile are suprisingly intelligent and will form a social bond with people. They are very easy to read as well...if they are wanting you to stay away they make a distinctive growl and due to their intelligence they adjust their habit to stop 'hunting' for food knowing it's going to come at an EXACT time every day. Just don't forget to feed it because it expects the food on the minute.

9Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 16:19

>>8
People tend to fear and make wild assumptions about that which they do not understand, watch this video to see how sociable and intelligent crocodiles can be;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xVlWaY0qRw

We give animals a lot less credit than they deserve.

10Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 16:26

>>9
Damn it, wrong link. This is the video I meant to post...it's about a japanese family with a pet crocodile. The first link is still worth watching though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Peo8NisyuB4

11Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 16:58

>>8

I can't argue with anything you've said there.

However, you did use some sneaky language. Yes, those animals can all be very friendly and social and make great companions. No, that doesn't necessarially mean that they make good housepets.

Semantic arguements can ensue on what "safe" does or doesn't mean. Most people will tell you that if a single human mistake can and will result in serious injury then that is not a "safe" pet.

At the very least it should be stated that most of these aren't for casual pet owners. Some require special care or specially constructed living spaces; others are (frankly) extremely dangerous unless their owner knows what he is doing. They're all exotic for a reason.

12Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 17:08

>>11
No, they aren't for casual pet owners. They are for people willing to put the same care and understanding as they would their own child...though I guess that's a bad example since many treat their children AND pets like shit too.

They can all be quite dangerous but so can a domesticated animal if you piss it off and abuse it enough. My point remains though that many exotic animals can be very trustworthy, sociable and loving. Even animals in the wild exhibit kindness to other species in certain situations. There is all kinds of documented cases of leopards caring for baby monkeys, birds caring for kittens, hippos trying to save and revive impalas attacked by crocodiles and elephant seals trying to feed humans who they think need help.

My point in all of this isn't that the casual pet owner should go out and give exotic pets a chance...the point of these posts is to educate people to animals and the fact that exotic pets properly taken care of are not that dangerous. All those people out there wanting to ban exotic pets are letting fear and ignorance cloud their mind. Why is it their business in the first place when those animals will never interact with the neighbors?

I currently have a cougar and a serval who both get along quite well with each other and me. My neighbors have confronted me on many occassions saying they are going to get my friends taken away from me because they are dangerous. They will not listen to reason or logic and it sickens me.

13Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 17:30

>>12

Yes, as long as you aren't clouding the distinction between domestic animals and exotics we're in agreement.

A domestic is a wild animal which has been conditioned to do well under casual care.
An exotic taken care of by a very informed and careful person is typically no more or less dangerous than a domestic under the care of a compitent but casual pet owner (and, likewise, treating your wolf like a dog puts your neighbors in about the same danger as treating your dog like a punching bag, give-or-take).

But when they see an exotic, people just don't know.
And they make up their minds before finding out.
And once their mind is made up it doesn't change.

14Report
at 4 Jun 2008: 17:48

Where I live, keeping bobcats as pets is relatively common (though you don't see it as much nowadays as you used to..).

People may raise an eyebrow, because as I said you don't see it often, but everyone has at least known someone who knew someone who had one.

They know that if their cat or dog crosses paths with one it is going to get hurt (so they keep their pets in their own yard), and they know that if they start playing our roughhouseing with o'l Bob they could come away bloody (even though the cat means no harm). They know it's a wild animal. But it's a familiar one, and so it's easy for them to accept.

You pull in some freaky spotted thing from Africa, though, and people don't know what the hell to make of it, even though they're both just wildcats and one isn't really any more dangerous than the other.

15Report
at 6 Jun 2008: 00:50

I owned a grey fox years ago. Only problem I had with it was the smell. Other than that, she never once bit me, and was just as excited as any common dog when I came home from school.

16Report
at 6 Jun 2008: 10:29

I'm less worried about well off furries shelling out for exotic pets to have as some sort of status symbol among furries then I am about the growing number of budding zoos within furry buying huskies and such to sate their sexual lusts.

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at 6 Jun 2008: 12:05

>>16
That's a different matter altogether.

18Report
at 7 Jun 2008: 05:44

What? There are zoos where furries infiltrate them and then buy up huskies to screw?

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at 7 Jun 2008: 18:10

>>18
I think he ment "zoo" as in the short term for "zoophile" in this instance.

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