Guest guest Posted June 16, 2003 Report Share Posted June 16, 2003 - " BEKOFF MARC " <Marc.Bekoff <Undisclosed recipients:> Saturday, June 14, 2003 12:49 AM Wash Post Editorial > washingtonpost.com PRINT ARTICLE ONLY > > Get a Dog > > > > > Friday, June 13, 2003; Page A28 > > > CAVE PAINTINGS showing men hunting with dogs prove that the desire to > domesticate animals is as old as civilization itself. Unfortunately, > contemporary humans are not always so wise in their choice of pets. The > recent outbreak of monkeypox -- a relative of smallpox that likely was > brought into this country by pet Gambian rats and spread via pet prairie > dogs -- is only the latest example of the multiple dangers that the > importation of exotic pets poses to both animals and humans. Certainly this > is not the first time pets have transmitted diseases to their owners. In > 1975 the Food and Drug Administration banned interstate commerce in small > pet turtles after they were found to have transmitted salmonellosis to > children. The Humane Society has also compiled a list of several dozen cases > of dangerous exotic animals, mostly wild cats, mauling their owners or their > owners' children. > > Animals transported long distances pose threats to other animals too, > spreading diseases such as rabies around the country. And diseases borne by > wild animals are poorly understood and hard to treat. The cruelties involved > in trapping and transporting wild animals across the country and around the > world weaken the animals as well, probably making them more susceptible to > disease and certainly killing many. > > Nevertheless, regulation of the trade in wild animals is strangely lax. > State by state, rules vary enormously. Massachusetts has a near-total ban on > the ownership of many wild animals, while in Texas, hunting ranches > featuring exotic game are common. For the most part, federal regulation > applies only to interstate commerce and the licensed import of certain > species and has little to say about the breeding or care of captive wild > animals. Trade in wild birds is heavily restricted, as is trade in primates, > which are known to transmit diseases to humans. Trade in other species is > not. As a result, it is still frighteningly easy for anyone to get hold of > tigers -- there are some 5,000 in captivity in the United States, possibly > more than there are in the wild -- and other exotic species. The trade in > wild species for medicinal purposes is no less dangerous, as the appearance > of the northern snakehead fish in Maryland last summer amply demonstrates. > > Yesterday a House Resources subcommittee held hearings on a proposal to > ban trade in dangerous big cats, including lions, tigers, leopards and > cheetahs. Passing such a bill would be a start but wouldn't go far enough. > Exceptions can be made for zoos, but there is no other reason for the > national or international trade in wild animals to continue. This is a > public health and animal welfare issue, not a free trade issue: There is no > inalienable right to own a Gambian rat, a Siberian tiger or any other animal > that was born to live in the wild. > > > > © 2003 The Washington Post Company > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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