Why Wild Animals Shouldn’t be Pets or Brought Into Captivity

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Wild animals in captivity refers to animals removed from their natural environment. There are many animals that are kept in captivity include bears, seals, whales, dolphins, turtles, tigers, Monkeys, gorillas, lions, elephants and giraffes. Exotic birds are at high risk of captivity through the exotic pet trade. The biggest culprit of bringing wild animals into captivity and trying to tame them are people who try to bring these animals into their home and make them pets, circuses and traveling acts which try to show off their dominance by training these wild animals, and even zoos, aquariums, and marine parks. Eco-systems are disturbed if wild animals escape into neighborhoods and systems not designed for them.

Most Humane Societies and organizations, animal welfare groups, anti-captivity and wild animal safety protection campaigns advocate that wild or exotic animals not be allowed as captive domestic pets or for business use.The societies urge people to consider the effect of traumatically removing an animal from its own environment, family and mates, away from the open expanse of space to which it is accustomed and requires for a maximum healthy life. They list significant risk issues pertaining both to the animals and their human owners. These include the appropriate and humane care of animals as well as recreating the appropriate natural environments for each species, to the greatest extent possible.

Humane Society Resources

PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than 2 million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in the world.
Animal Concerns: The Animal Concerns Community is a project of the EnviroLink Network, a non-profit organization which has been providing access to thousands of online environmental and animal rights/welfare resources since 1991.
Animal Rights National Conference: The world’s largest and oldest animal rights gathering.
ASPCA: The ASPCA was the first humane organization in the Western Hemisphere. Their mission, as stated by their founder, Henry Bergh, in 1866, is “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.”

Reasons Why Bringing Animals Into Captivity is Wrong

Cages and Capturing Techniques

Reports suggest that wild animals are captured in a traumatic and unnatural way using inhumane animal traps and cages. And the stress does not end there for the animal, it continues during the journey to the place of captivity. Some animals travel miles on a daily basis usually in cages that are to small for them to move freely which causes them to be forced into endless circling movements, attached to a chain. This causes intense psychological trauma on the animal that usually is not short term.

Extinction

Many species of wild animals face extinction as mating and breeding is challenged. The threat is exacerbated by the high mortality rate and early deaths of captive animals. Natural ecosystems may be disturbed as animals escape or are released into environments not designed for them. Conversely, on the positive side, many efforts have been made by conservation centers providing sanctuaries to care for and effect reproduction of endangered species. Successful research, conservation and educational initiatives have resulted in action allowing the reintroduction and re-establishment of animals into their own environment.

Dietary Restrictions and the Health of the Animal

Diet deficiencies may be further exacerbated as the animals are fed food that neither fulfills their nutritional requirements nor allows them to acquire food according to their natural means. Many wild animals are predators and the instinct to hunt and catch their prey is curtailed. This further affects their behavior and the suppression of animal instincts can lead to stress and frustration.

Transfer of Diseases

Aspects of danger to captors include wild animal diseases that can be transmitted to humans with serious and fatal consequences. Captive animals may suddenly become aggressive and turn on trainers or members of the public, resulting in death. Diseases carried by wild animals can be readily transmitted to humans. These may be bacterial, fungal, parasitic and viral. Transmittable diseases also include rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, giardia, tularemia and leptospirosis.

Behavioral Issues

Keeping a wild or exotic animal as a pet also poses risks and danger to humans. As they are not intended for confined home use, and given the behavioral conditions of their accustomed natural homes, these animals often cause major injuries, many of which are deadly. Wild animals are not meant to be domesticated and there are countless reports of the animals suffocating, mauling or biting their human victims. A cute exotic baby animal becomes a mature one, with formidable strength, and often becomes increasingly aggressive, compounded by the levels of frustration endured. Ethically it is claimed that even if someone has the finances, the pet owner does not have the expertise required. The animal’s complex needs cannot be accommodated outside its natural habitat.

Industries that are under attack for animal cruelty

Circuses and traveling acts are considered by many to be cruel to animals due to confinement in small cages, restricted movement and unsatisfactory living conditions. Exotic animals as home pets likewise face some of these considerations. Behavior modification required to perform tricks is labeled by some as abusive treatment and training. The traveling conditions for these animals may often create inconsistent veterinary care, with temporary workers insufficiently skilled in detecting and treating illness.

Zoos may include the same problems regarding removal, captivity, cages, restricted movement and socialization issues. Many zoos fail to meet basic requirements of appropriate care.

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums claims that accredited places may protect endangered wild animals from extinction, have educational value and heighten conservation awareness. Simulating the natural habitat as closely as possible is favored.

Animal protection agencies and international humane societies advocate greater public awareness and more stringent government, federal and local laws. Despite the fact that the Animal Welfare Act sets minimal standards, these are not always enforced consistently. The argument is posed that the best form of protection is to clean up and protect the animals’ natural environment and not to create a simulated artificial one. At the same time, under acceptable conditions, there can be protection and conservation benefits.

What are the effects of animal abuse?

If a person is intentionally cruel to animals in the United States he or she is breaking the law and could face criminal charges. The reasons for this legislation are first and foremost for humanitarian reasons. Naturally, purposeful infliction of suffering upon any life form needs to be stopped. However, there is a more indirect humanitarian concern around the mistreatment of animals. Cruelty to animals by an individual has been proven to be a strong indicator of the likelihood of that individual perpetrating violent crimes.

There are many contributors to the reasons why people commit animal abuse. It is not hard to conceive that contributors based on psychiatric and psychological factors would play a role in a tendency towards animal abuse and would also play a role in a person’s tendency towards violence, in general.

Why do people abuse animals? Animals, like humans, are social beings. They can show affection and are discriminating with their affections. Not all animals can display the same range of affections and emotions as the average human can. Many vertebrates have the capacity to express like and dislike; pleasure and pain; sadness and happiness. If abusers gain satisfaction from the feeling of perpetrating pain or distress upon people, they will also be able to experience that same satisfaction from inflicting distress upon animals. Animals display distress and pain much in the same way that people do. They may not talk but they do express fear and terror much like humans by their physical reactions.

Youth studies have shown that children that self-reported experiences with animal abuse were more likely to commit violent crimes when they grew up than those who didn’t. An important question to be asking teachers who are involved in assessing “at risk” youth, is: “Is the child cruel to animals?” It is a question that is often overlooked, but in light of the strong correlation between animal abuse and the perpetration of violent crimes against people, it should not be.

What the boundaries as to what is considered cruelty to animals? Surely, a goldfish would rather swim in a pond, than a fish bowl, according to some. Zoo animals might rather live in the wild. It is doubtful that a cow or pig enjoys being led to slaughter and chickens probably prefer to leave their nests occasionally and not be cooped up so they will constantly produce eggs. There is also the issue of insect exterminations and how that should be handled.

Although the various states in the U.S. have different legislation in regard to the exact boundaries considered cruelty to animals, all states agree on some basic levels of legislation which address not all life forms but mainly vertebrates. The use of animals for food is considered socially acceptable by most people, as is hunting certain animals in certain states, which can vary by state. The common definition of cruelty to animals refers to causing unnecessary pain or suffering or death to vertebrates, beyond the realm of what is socially accepted by a given society. The types of animal abuse which have been reported and which the legislature deals with are very similar to the definitions of child maltreatment: neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and death.

Using animals for agriculture is permissible and there are veterinary guidelines as to the practices permitted in veterinary clinics. Animals, as a rule, are not treated with the same exact ethical standards as humans. Humans in hospitals are not “put to sleep” or “put out of their misery,” when dying from a painful disease or trauma. However, animals, as a rule, are euthanized. However, using animals for medical experimentation was far more permissible in the past than it is today. Today there are ethical boards that grant scientists permission to use animals in a given scientific experiment. The legislation of a given state regarding cruelty to animals would be referred to, despite the benefit that the experiment may offer in easing human suffering.

There are many gray areas regarding animal use that might overlap into the realm of animal abuse, depending on your perspective. Each society needs to work with its legislators to define what the term “socially acceptable” means to their own society.

More Resources about Animal Cruelty and Animal Rights

Regan’s The Case for Animal Rights (1983) is regarded by many scholars and commentators as the seminal work in the field. He argues that animals have moral rights of the sort enjoyed by humans, especially the right to life.
Ethics of Animal Rights and Welfare from Sandiego.edu
A. P. Gelpi Animal rights and animal experimentation. Implications for physicians.
FBI.gov: Multi-Agency Joint Terrorism Task Force Reward Offered in Latest Attack Targeting UCLA Professor and Update to Outstanding Rewards for Similar Attacks Claimed by Animal Rights Extremists Since 2006

Resource by k.Pearson

My name is Kim, I am a volunteer at a local Zoo in Chicago, IL. I have been a volunteer for about 5 years now and love it. My full time job is at a vet just outside of the city. I am intrigued by the nature of animals and how they interact with one another.

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