Exotic animals seized in Arlington

I am not a pet!

Photo: Nigel Treblin / AFP/Getty Images

The largest animal seizure of its kind in the country took place in this week in Arlington, TX when as many as 20,000 critters were targeted for seizure from an exotic pet distributor Tuesday morning. Many of them were in appalling condition, starving or suffering from being kept in inappropriate conditions for their species; a large number were already dead when authorities made the raid.

The fact that the distributor ran a multi million dollar business trading in exotic animals for over a decade hints at the demand for such unusual “pets” in this country, and poses some unique challenges for animal welfare groups (and communities at large) when people cannot adequately care for their exotic charge. Some are simply released – into non-native habitats where they die because of conditions they are not meant to live in; or where they thrive and decimate native fauna and flora – sometimes to a dangerous degree (think of some of the African and Burmese pythons now cross-breeding with local snakes in the swamps of Florida). Some attack their owners or other people, while some simply die from neglect and ignorance of their unique environmental, dietary and social requirements. And some, usually involuntarily, are surrendered to animal welfare agencies who themselves are ill-equipped to assist in the care and re-homing of highly specialized animal species.

It’s bad enough that we have an overpopulation of everyday companion animals like dogs, cats and rabbits – but the additional burden placed on rescue and welfare groups when exotics are added to the mix pushes the system well beyond its already-strained limits.

Wild animals are not pets, people! It is irresponsible and inhumane to be capturing, transporting and trading exotic, non-native wildlife to be kept as pets or status symbols.

What you can do about this issue:

• Never buy or promote the ownership of exotic or wild animals as pets.
• Please support the awesome groups who have been pulled into this latest seizure: SPCA of Texas, Arlington Animal Services, and Humane Society of North Texas
• Get educated about the issue of exotic wildlife as pets by checking out the HSUS page - http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/exotic_pets/ 
• And let your elected officials know you support legislation such as the Large Constrictor Snake Trade Ban (recently approved by a Senate panel, now under consideration by the Senate). How to you do that? Check out the HSUS page http://www.humanesociety.org/action/now/ or the ASPCA page http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/lobby-for-animals/.

Our motto “No More Disposable Pets” means exactly that – no more disposable pets of ANY kind!!