Exotic Pets on Tiktok: a short rant

The Black Baron

The Black Baron

Member
Owning an exotic / non-domesticated animal is unethical and the caretakers SHOULD be held accountable for the exceptional care that animal requires, their partcipation in exotic animal trafficking and the inherent risk they're putting viewers by displaying a wild animal as a pet, and NOT be enabled by fans because the animal is cute and seems happy...

...vs animals raised in captivity CANNOT be released back into the wild and demanding they be released is ignorant to the animal's needs and what SHOULD happen is an enriched life in captivity, educating the audience why they should NOT get a wild animal despite their cuteness and supporting nonprofits that care for captive exotic animals...

...are things that can and do exist at the same time.

This might be niche but man I am MAD seeing a 20 something Tiktoker toting around a BOBCAT and all the comments being like, "Blah blah blah y'all don't know her maybe she rescued him."

OH SHE DID?? SHE RESCUED A WILD PREDATOR IN HER CUTE LIL APARTMENT?? INTERESTING.

But THEN people who know something's off don't just ask casual questions nooo, they demand, "Wow you need to release this animal IMMEDIATELY abuser!"

YOU ARE NOT BEING HELPFUL! THE CAT WILL DIE IN THE WILD! WE JUST NEED PROPERLY SITUATED CAPTIVE SPACES AND NOT PETS! AH!

Okay /endrant, again apologies if this is niche but dang I just love animals and there's a lot more nuance to this situation than most people care to see.
 
The Black Baron said:
Owning an exotic / non-domesticated animal is unethical and the caretakers SHOULD be held accountable for the exceptional care that animal requires, their partcipation in exotic animal trafficking and the inherent risk they're putting viewers by displaying a wild animal as a pet, and NOT be enabled by fans because the animal is cute and seems happy...
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While I agree that people who do not know how to care for an animal should not keep that animal, is there any harm from someone who does know how to care for an animal to keep it? Also, most exotic pets are not illegally trafficked.
 
birdsandbats said:
Also, most exotic pets are not illegally trafficked.
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Depends where, I would say most of exotic pets around the world are illegally trafficked, maybe mammals are now overall protected from trafficking, but when it comes to reptiles I think it's still a hot mess. Also the number of specimens on Asian animal markets are for sale as pets I believe (birds, fishes, reptiles and small mammals), maybe some are also eaten?

But I agree that if one can take care of his legally obtained animal, then I don't see the problem, if the animal was not wild caught.
 
TikTok? If you take anything seriously there, you shouldn’t be there, yeah some people are incapable, but instead of complaining, contact anyone who you know can help e.g. the local animal agency of where they live, ZooChat isn’t the place you can rant if you don’t like anything you see on social media
 
Rayane said:
Depends where, I would say most of exotic pets around the world are illegally trafficked, maybe mammals are now overall protected from trafficking, but when it comes to reptiles I think it's still a hot mess. Also the number of specimens on Asian animal markets are for sale as pets I believe (birds, fishes, reptiles and small mammals), maybe some are also eaten?

But I agree that if one can take care of his legally obtained animal, then I don't see the problem, if the animal was not wild caught.
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Oh yeah for sure there are obviously lots of legal means to own exotic pets!

I'm more speaking to instances like this girl and the bobcat, where that is clearly not a situation suited for that animal. In addition to the increase of influencers who have menageries of exotics obtained through questionable means and have controversy surrounding their care, but their followers just support them regardless?

I'm over generalizing here for the sake of melodrama, whoops lol. Maybe this was too specific of a take to publish
 
elefante said:
All exotic pets are unethical? Seems a bit extreme.
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I'm more speaking to instances like this girl and the bobcat, where that is clearly not a situation suited for that animal. In addition to the increase of influencers who have menageries of exotics obtained through questionable means and have controversy surrounding their care, but their followers just support them regardless?

Obviously there are lots of ethical ways to obtain and own exotics, I'm over generalizing here for the sake of melodrama, whoops lol. Maybe this was too specific of a take to publish

(Reposting this comment for sake of clarity because I feel bad for making a blanket statement ah)
 
birdsandbats said:
While I agree that people who do not know how to care for an animal should not keep that animal, is there any harm from someone who does know how to care for an animal to keep it? Also, most exotic pets are not illegally trafficked.
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Especially considering "exotic" covers a very broad range of animals. I don't think many people would see an issue with owning a leopard gecko.
 
There's a massive debate to be had over what animals can be kept in a private household, but with the ones that anyone would agree should not be kept, the focus should be on getting them to a situation where all their needs will be met. It's especially unfortunate if the person got it from the wild.

It's worth noting that, at least in the US, you cannot rehabilitate/"rescue" wild animals unless you are licensed and that you can only hold them for 24 hours.

(As an aside, there are some common exotic pets that I am not convinced can be kept ethically in a house by most people, but that's not really the point here)
 
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