Care and Feeding of Exotic Pets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Care and Feeding of Exotic Pets - Essay Example As such, this analysis will concern itself with analyzing the argument against exotic pets based on the following areas: the practice is disrespectful to animals that are not predisposed to being pets, the practice encourages harm to the natural habitat and environment from whence the exotic pet is taken, the practice encourages the illegal trade and black market sale of such animals, the practice puts many already endangered species at risk of extinction, the practice creates a perception in the mind that ownership of such creatures is both normal and moral, and lastly, the practice encourages the transfer of animals for non educational purposes to live out the remainder of their lives in captivity. The first of these reasons hinges upon the fact that animals that are not predisposed by nature to being pets are kept in such a manner. As anyone with experience with animals that for generations have been kept and handled as pets can attest, the evolutionary nature of these animals has shifted to create normalized relations between pets and humans that are the result of many hundreds (even thousands) of years. With the dog or cat, for instance, the earliest known examples of civilization refer to the fact that these animals have been living side by side with humans, enjoying a symbiotic relationship that has developed over long lengths of evolutionary history (Hessler 43). However, the same cannot be said for the recent trend towards exotic pets.