Exotic Animal Ownership Bans

By Cynthia Kosco, May 2008

To quote my brother, Dave, “we have freedom of speech as long as you don’t offend the wrong people.” How true that statement seems to be in the world in which we live today.

There are large animal “pseudosanctuaries” that are becoming increasingly vocal in their pathetic attempts at seeking attention. These individuals are extremely egotistical and seek to draw attention away from their dark pasts and cause problems for the responsible exotic animal owner. The responsible exotic animal owner remains private and goes about their business of caring for their animals, which they dearly love.

If you want to address the question of “if people didn’t keep exotic animals, there would be no need for sanctuaries”, then you better address the fact of all the unwanted domestic farm animals, dogs, cats and, yes, even children. How do you fix these problems which are way more profuse than a few unwanted exotic animals?

The sad truth is the majority of these sanctuaries who are spewing lies have purchased the animals or have allowed the breeding of their captives to increase their inventory, thus increasing their donated dollars. There are true sanctuaries all across these United States, but these are the people who are unknown and go about their business. Many of their animals are retired from the entertainment world or their owners have died tragically.

That said, I am hoping that people will listen to someone who, currently, is not an owner of a big cat, nor the proprietor of a sanctuary, but I am someone who has worked closely with private owners and their big cats and have volunteered at true sanctuaries. These sanctuaries operated for the sole purpose of saving and caring for exotic animals, not tearing down responsible exotic animal ownership.

Exotic animals have been kept as pets since the dawn of time. If exotics, especially the big cats, did not readily adjust to life in captivity, there would be no factual records recorded to reference this. There have been volumes of books written by exotic animal owners and their relationships with their pets, many books dating back to the 1920’s. How sad to know that there is a growing movement against such relationships. We certainly are living in a sad state of affairs when one no longer has the freedom to choose what type of animal he or she may own responsibly.

Let’s address the propaganda circulating about the risks of escape or bodily harm to the public. The domestic cat or dog will revert back to its wild state when set free to fend for themselves. Packs of “wild” domesticated dogs have injured and/or killed humans more readily than an escaped exotic animal. I do not believe there has been any instance of an escaped exotic pet injuring or killing a member of the public. On the rare occasion that one of these animals get loose, they stay within the confines of their home territory.

Now, I am speaking of someone’s pet, not some animal that has been held captive at a sanctuary with no human interaction. I personally know owners of primates (various specie of monkey), some professional entertainers and some not, who never put the public or their primates at risk. Many states are adopting strict laws that ensure only caring, responsible individuals will be able to obtain an exotic animal as a pet.

An article from the Philadelphia Daily News dated April 4, 2008, described “another senseless subway attack”. Six boys and six girls beat a young woman of 24 almost to her death and robbed her—and people are afraid of well kept exotic animals???? When is the last time you heard about someone’s big cat roaming the subway system? Our tax dollars would be much better spent on addressing the increasing drug abuse among our youth and population on the whole. I would much rather live next to a law-abiding owner of exotic animals than live next to a family or adults who are drug abusers. Now really, what is the greater threat? Too bad the system doesn’t penalize the parents of drug abusing children or penalize the parents for their drug abuse. This to me sounds as ridiculous as trying to ban exotic animal ownership.

What is the real reason behind this statewide ban movement? The general public needs to think about that.

Copyright © 2008 REXANO & Cynthia Kosco

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