Lions, Tigers and 16ft Gaboons, Oh my!

Tim Harrison at it again:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/elephan...3215680&page=1

Pathetic

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Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

Pathetic

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I was going to say this as a comment on their website, but decided against it cuz I don't want to get into a flame war with some of the uneducated people who commented on that site (many of which made me mad). But I wanted to vent my frustration somewhere so here it is:


I don't own any big cats or anything (and for the record I don't agree with keeping big cats, bears, or some venomous snakes as pets but that's just my opinion and I don't plan on doing anything about it..."live and let live" I say), but my reptiles are just as friendly as my cats and dog, including my Jungle Carpet Python. They are misunderstood animals that aren't given a chance because of these factors: 1.) People fearing the animals and refuse to even learn more about them 2.) the media playing into these fears 3.) the few exotic pet keepers who are neglectful to the animals and the animals then behave more stereotypical. It's all about proper education. What I mean by that is just showing people that many of the animals deemed "dangerous" because it's exotic simply isn't true. Take the Ball Python, for example: it's a python, so it's gonna be big and a killer, right? WRONG, they're one of the smallest pythons (3 1/2-4 ft) that are easily handled and prefer not to bite unless it's hurt. I bring my snakes and lizards to schools and educate the kids on proper care and just simply show them first hand that not all reptiles are even remotely dangerous and can be good pets if kept responsibly. Same with dogs and cats; if taken care of responsibly, they are great pets but if mistreated they can get aggressive; it's not the animals fault whether it's domesticated or not, but the individual keeping it. Should all exotics be kept as pets? NO! Should all exotics be banned as pets? NO! Responsibility and education is what it takes to take care of any animal, whether it be a dog, cat, fish, lizard, spider, or snake. It's the responsibility of the majority of good pet keepers (notice I didn't single out exotic pet keepers but ALL animal owners in general) to teach the public on proper care of the animals we love so much from our own personal experiences with a given species. That is something, sadly, that the pet industry is lacking these days, which causes such chaos like what we have right now especially in the exotic industry.

OK, off my soap box. :tears:

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Should all exotics be kept as pets? NO! Should all exotics be banned as pets? NO!

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Can you clarify these two statements? I am slightly confused by them for they seem to be contradictory.

What hes saying is that some exotics ( i.e. chimps bears big cats) arent meant to be pets but that we shouldn't ban all of them

Ok, My position is this: Provided that the proper caging/housing, handling, and safety protocols are practiced and in place, as well as the proper training and experience, private individuals should be permitted the right to keep and work with the animals of their choice whether they be dogs, cats, venomous reptiles, big cats, or ball pythons.

Just keep in mind, United we Stand, Divided we Fall.

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Originally Posted by King-Godzilla

3.) the few exotic pet keepers who are neglectful to the animals and the animals then behave more stereotypical. It's all about proper education.

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It only takes a few to ruin it for all and it is the uneducated who do the most damage. Personally I don't mind being required to get a permit to own an exotic animal if it will keep these animals out of the hands of people who don't understand them.

I think another problem with people own exotic animals is that they forget that they are wild. You are not going to develop a magical speical bond that will protect you. These animals will bite/attack if you forget for one moment that they are wild animals. I'm willing to admit that the first time I was bit by my ball python was because I got too comfortable with her and failed to properly paying attention to how she was feeling as I was holding her. It was my fault that I got bit and I know that. Sadly in cases where people make mistakes with larger animals such as the case of the large snake getting out and attacking the child or cases where large cats turn on their owners are not shown in the proper light. It was a mistake of the owner NOT the animal, but it's almost always the animal that pays the price in the end.

People should be allowed to own exotic animals provided they can care for them properly and know what they are doing. It never seems to me like the "other side" never considers who should be allowed to own exotic animals just that they don't want anyone to own them and that doesn't sit right with me.

I work at an animal shelter trying to undo the damage people do to "domestic" pets. The news has nothing better to do than blame animals for poor owners. Exotic or domestic people who should not own animals are the problem. like the story said 20 billion dollar industry, when has the government ever tried to stop the flow of money.

I'd like to know what kind of prey that 16 foot gaboon is taking.

I'd like to offer it to my snakes. :D

I seriously have no desire to keep venomous. But it's a shame that a few idjits go and mess things up for the folks who do keep them and do so in a responsible manner.

I say as long as you can properly care for the animal and protect it from those who can't (i.e. small children, neighborhood teens causing trouble, drunkards, etc), get whatever animal you want. If you have a few hundred acres in New Mexico and you want to keep a bull African elephant, knock yourself out. Just know that if it tramples you into the ground, it's your fault.

You know how many people have been killed by cows and horses? Don't see them banned in any states.

This movie was meant to show the absolute worst side of exotic pet ownership and was completely biased and inflammatory.

A lot of the movie deals with Tim Harrison's experiences over the last 20 years, especially incidents concerning big cats, lions, etc. If you believe the movie, there's a huge number of large cats, reptiles and primates that are kept in private homes throughout the U.S. There is nothing which tells you where he gets his figures but they are sprinkled all throughout the movie. He says his main concern, supposedly, is caring for the animals since most of the escaped or abandoned exotics were bought by people who were not prepared to care for them properly.

It's a pretty sad movie. They show cases where animals were killed and then dumped or kept in pretty inhumane conditions. The movie featured a guy who raised a pair of lions which then went on to have 4 cubs. During the owner's home video, later in the movie, it actually shows the adult male being accidentally electrocuted through some faulty wiring in a nearby freezer. Terrible.

Reptiles, besides alligators, arent covered much in the movie. They do show Tim going out on a call because someone's kids found an usual snake. This turned out to be a full-grown Gaboon Viper, in the garage behind some garbage cans. He says that the kids were playing with it, putting it around their necks, which I believe is a fabrication outright.


All in all a pretty sad movie in terms of how the big cats were treated and also some footage of an exotic animal auction somewhere out west. You heart really goes out to some of these animals. It makes us all look bad.

On the other hand, it was a pretty biased account. No responsible exotic owners were interviewed except for a very short segment that featured the owner of an exotic pet store. His words are prophetic though, he said and I paraphrase, "we better learn to police ourselves, or THEY will do it for us."

Every single statistic cited was meant to invoke fear in people and plant the thought that irresponsible exotic ownership is an epidemic in the U.S. They didn't think to mention that dogs bite hundreds of thousands of people every year, a majority of them kids. Is there any talk of a dog ban? Just flaming rhetoric!


In terms of the people they did interview, exotic owners aren't coming out of this looking too responsible. (Especially the idiot at hamburg who had just bought his young son an american alligator and tells Tim on camera, "yeah, it's gonna get about 8 feet")

I live in NYC and we arent allowed to have any snakes from the python or boa family or any large lizards at all. No iguanas, tegus, monitors, etc. I havent been able to find out why this happened as the law went into effect back in 1995.

My concern as that this film feeds the flames into an outright ban of all non-native species in the US. Don't get me wrong, and this might not be too popular, but I dont agree with someone having venomous if they live downstairs from me, i live in an apartment building. But if a responsible keeper down the street, who lives in a single family house, had venomous, I wouldnt mind. In my mind, if you're an educated responsible keeper, and you can house your exotics safely and humanely, I don't see a problem. But, people buying primates, bears, wolves, lions, tigers, cougars, & really large or venomous reptiles, need to get their act together before none of us can keep even a corn snake.

Having said that, we don't do to well with compromise here do we? It's all or nothing. Either you can have whatever the hell you want, this is America, rah rah rah, or it's a ban of some kind or another.

But, it seems like we've got to come up with some best practices ourselves before it's too late. I suspect that unscrupulous vendors, out for the fast dollar, are our worst enemy.

This guy is SO right, I guess I should lock up my ball python before it strangles me in my sleep like the vicious, soulless, bloodthirsty creature it is.

What a load. It's the few stupid people that get in over their heads that ruin it for the hundreds of thousands of responsible keepers out there.