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Wild Cats
Tigers are by far the most common large cats in captivity, despite their dwindling number in the wild. A male Siberian tiger may exceed 700 pounds and require over 100 pounds of raw meat a week; the captive care of the average tiger runs close to $10,000 a year. Lions pose a similar problem to misguided animal owners. The mid-size cats, like leopards and mountain lions, cost less to feed, but are more difficult to house, due to their better ability to climb and leap great distances. Tigers, lions, leopards, and mountain lions are all confirmed predators of human beings in their native ranges, and they are all the more dangerous when they are caged. In addition to the wild 'pet' trade, cats are also raised for their fur and body parts; spotted pelts are especially valuable, and tiger and leopard bones and organs bring big money from traditional medicine practitioners.
Smaller cats like bobcats, ocelots, or servals might seem easier to deal with, and a good alternative to the large species, but those who would treat them like housecats had better think again -- they may be small, but these cats can destroy a house in no time, scratching furniture and drywall, and urinating on every three-dimensional feature in the home. They also do not hesitate to bite and scratch human beings, and they generally do not get along with domestic cats.
Most wild cat species are small, and several are smaller than the average housecat. Illegal owners of small, exotic cats can easily hide their activities by claiming the animals are housecats, and most people, even animal control agents, are unable to tell the difference. Perhaps the most popular of these is the Asian leopard cat, which is bred to housecats to produce the Bengal cat, a popular breed. Leopard cats are every bit as wild as their larger namesakes, but they can be more easily contained due to their size, and it is unknown how many thousands of them live in captivity in the US. The tiny sand cat of North Africa and the Middle East is also popular in the US wildlife trade since it was first imported here in large numbers in the 1960s.
Even highly endangered cats like snow leopards and cheetahs have found their way into the wildlife trade. The more rare the animal, the higher the demand, and wildlife dealers will go to great lengths to provide their customers with any animal they desire, legally or otherwise. The beautiful clouded leopard of Southeast Asia is somewhat distinct among cats in that it is difficult to breed in captivity; it's highly endangered status makes it hard for animal collectors to obtain, but it is still smuggled from its home range to western countries, where it commands an exceptionally high price. Expensive or not, the clouded leopard boasts the longest fangs in relation to its body size of any cat in the world, and it is not an animal to be taken lightly.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Bears
The most common bear in the North American wildlife trade is the black bear, the only species found solely in North America. In the United States, black bears are also raised for meat, trophies, and for their gall bladders, which are illegally sold to traditional eastern medicine practitioners at home and abroad. Cubs are cheap and easy to find, but a bear cub is hard to handle, even moreso than tiger or lion cubs, and their needs for diverse nutrition can be difficult to meet. Exceedingly few veterinarians understand the medical needs of captive bears, and as a result, they tend to either live for quite a long time, or to die fairly quickly. Black bears are powerful, agile, and exceptionally quick; anyone without a solid understanding of bear behavior will find him/herself in frequent, often bloody, exchanges. The result is usually a bear that spends its days in confinement, with little stimulation or attention to its needs. Captive bears frequently need placement in sanctuaries, but few are equipped to accept them. In addition to captive black bears, wild bears sometimes get into trouble with their human neighbors, and government wildlife agencies may attempt to place them into sanctuaries as a humane alternative to euthanasia. Black bears are not always black; cinnamon phase bears are common, and brown, blond, and rust colored bears are seen fairly often. Blue phase bears, or glacier bears, and white phase bears, also called Kermode or spirit bears, can be found in parts of the Pacific Northwest.
Brown bears are among the most widespread terrestrial mammals in the world, and were once found throughout North America, Northern Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Today they survive primarily in remote areas. Subspecies of the brown bear include the North American grizzly bear, the Alaskan Kodiak bear (pictured), and various Asian and European varieties. Brown bears might weigh up to 1,200 pounds, and their size and temperament makes them more popular with trophy hunters than with misguided pet owners, however, they are still present in the animal trade in North America. Brown bears are also the dancing bears of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, where they are intentionally underfed in an effort to keep them smaller, and they spend most of their time on their hind feet, or undergoing brutal training sessions Their gall bladders are valuable in traditional medicine, but they are not as common in that market as the galls of other bear species.
Polar bears are found throughout the perimeter of the Arctic Ocean, in North America, Asia, and Europe. The bears rely in the formation of pack ice in the winter, allowing them to venture miles out to sea in search of their preferred food, seals. Pollution and global warming have severely impacted polar bear populations, and the discovery of a wild polar bear/grizzly bear hybrid in 2006 may be an ominous sign of things to come for the species. Prior to 1979, polar bears were common in zoos and private collections throughout the United States, but an amendment to the USDA Animal Welfare Act, calling for more expensive standards of care for polar bears as marine mammals, prompted many zoos and animal collectors to sell their animals or give them away to facilities abroad. As a result, captive polar bears are now quite common in Latin America and in Asian nations like Japan, where they receive horrific treatment and suffer in the hot weather. Few, if any, attempts have been made to compel the surrender of these animals to sanctuaries located in cooler climates, and as of 2007, no sanctuary in the United States is equipped for the long-term care of polar bears.
The Malayan sun bear is the smallest of the bears, about the size of a large dog. Its size has led many to believe that a sun bear would make a good pet, but the bears' long claws and moody disposition say otherwise. As with other captive bears, sun bears are sometimes de-clawed or even de-fanged in a futile effort to make them safer to handle. A truly tropical bear, sun bears need fresh fruit and prefer warmer temperatures, making them expensive to maintain. They are somewhat uncommon in the North American wildlife trade, but not unheard of, and they are quite common in the animal markets of Southeast Asia, where they are also killed for their gall bladders and their meat.
The Asiatic black bear is the most common bear in the bile trade; perhaps more than 10,000 bears are housed in compression cages in China, where their bile is extracted daily through plastic tubes permanently inserted into their gall bladders -- a surgery rarely performed by a qualified veterinarian or in sanitary conditions. Most of the bears die of infection within the first few years. This horrific practice goes on virtually unchecked, as animal welfare is generally not a priority in China. Wild populations of Asiatic black bears are also under tremendous strain from poaching and habitat loss. In some areas they are reputed as man-eaters, and are shot on sight. They are not common in captivity in the United States, but any animal that can be found in an American zoo can always be found in private hands; their captive numbers are sure to increase in the US.
The sloth bear is unique among bears in that its diet in the wild consists largely of insects. Sloth bears are frequently used as dancing bears in India, or sold as pets. As with most wild-caught animals, their mothers may be killed so that the cubs can be taken safely. Habitat loss and poaching have taken a toll on sloth bear numbers in the wild, and their populations continue to decline. Sloth bears are also victims of the bile trade, and they may be found for sale in North America, although not as often as other species. Little is known about the species' nutritional and veterinary requirements in captivity, making them a risky acquisition, even as bears go.
Spectacled bears are the only bear species found in South America; they live in the Andes mountains of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, in habitats ranging from cloud forest to grassland to desert. These small bears are vulnerable to habitat loss and to poachers, who may sell their body parts to traditional Asian medicine practitioners, or use them for local medicinal and religious rituals. The spectacled bear is uncommon in the wild animal trade in North America, but it can certainly be found in private collections. It is fairly common in captivity in its native range, where its legal export from one country to another can be difficult, making transporting them to bear sanctuaries a tricky undertaking.
The poster child of the conservation movement, the giant panda enjoys a great deal of protection only by virtue of how close it has come to extinction. Only 1,200-1,500 remain in the wild, and a few hundred are maintained in captive breeding programs. The Chinese government has strict regulations protecting pandas, and thus only about twenty live outside of China, most of them on loan to zoos like the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC and the San Diego Zoo in southern California. While it is not entirely impossible, it is highly unlikely that giant pandas are readily obtainable in the captive wildlife trade, even in China. Their diets consist almost entirely of bamboo, making them extremely expensive to feed, and unlike other bear species, they do not readily breed in captivity. Thanks in part to a successful breeding program in Wolong, China, the panda's wild population is gaining ground, proof that China can overcome its environmental and animal welfare challenges.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Wolves, Wolf Hybrids, and other Wild Dogs
It is estimated that as many as 100,000 wolves and wolf-dog hybrids are born into captivity in the United States each year. Multiply that by an average lifespan of around ten years, and that's a lot of wolves and wolf-dogs. In spite of the troubles they've faced in the southern parts of their range, wolves are anything but rare in captivity. Even though it was the ancestor of the domestic dog, the wolf is fundamentally unsuited to life in captivity, perhaps more than any other terrestrial mammal. Confinement and lack of exercise usually lead to severe aggression; lack of normal socialization can result in psychosis. Captive wolves often suffer from health problems resulting from inappropriate nutrition, and veterinary issues may go undetected when animals cannot be handled by their caretakers. Countless wolves are euthanized every year when sanctuaries are unable to care for more animals.
Wolf hybrids face perhaps a worse fate, as they are generally subject to the same legislation as pure wolves, but their mixed lineage makes them less desirable to collectors, and their greater numbers make for a thoroughly flooded market. Hundreds of sanctuaries are needed to care for them all, but it seems that every year, wolf sanctuaries are closing due to lack of funding, or as a result of fraudulent business practices and animal welfare violations.
Where wolves have seen a decline in their wild populations, coyotes have enjoyed success. It seems that no matter what efforts are made to eliminate them, they continue to thrive; the only successful means of reducing coyote numbers appears to be the reintroduction of wolves, which kill coyotes as competitors for food. Coyotes have even moved into urban America, where they feed on garbage and domestic cats. The coyote is less common than the wolf in captivity, but not rare. Coyotes are also able to interbreed with dogs, resulting in a hybrid known as a coydog. Coydogs have become established in parts of the US, where their mixture of coyote cunning and dog boldness reputedly makes them a menace to ranchers.
The red fox is found throughout Europe, most of Asia and North America, and in parts of North Africa and the Middle East; it has also been introduced in Australia. Like coyotes, fox populations are fairly stable through most of their range. They are common in captivity thanks to the popularity of their pelts in the fur trade; like wolves, red foxes come in different color phases, with the silver phase animals commanding the highest price. Silver phase foxes are not to be confused with the grey fox, which is also unique in that it is one of the few dogs in the world with partially retractile claws, enabling it to climb trees. Because of their role in what some would call legitimate 'agriculture', the USDA classifies the red fox as a domestic species, despite the fact that there is no genetic, physical, or behavioral difference between captive foxes and wild ones. About 50,000 red foxes are killed on fur farms each year in the United States, in an industry that is largely unregulated, and tolerated by the many for the financial gain of the very, very few.
Many other wild dog species are found throughout the world, and most of them find their way into the exotic animal trade, either locally within their native ranges, or internationally, as is the case with the tiny fennec fox. These little foxes are growing in popularity in the US, where they are marketed as house pets. Their small size makes fennecs easy to hide from state and federal wildlife authorities, but it does not make them appropriate pets. Fennec foxes are best suited to life in the Sahara; there are many small dogs available for adoption at humane societies throughout the US, leaving no viable need for the trade in fennec foxes or any other wild dog species.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Small Carnivores
The mustelids are the largest family in this group, consisting of weasels, otters, and badgers, with the badgers falling into three different subfamilies. A few species are extremely common in captivity due to the fur and exotic pet trades, and others are gaining popularity. The American mink, a type of weasel, is farmed for its fur throughout the United States, with the majority of farmed mink living in Wisconsin, the industry's stronghold. Millions of mink are killed every year for fur coats, before they reach their first birthdays. Wild mink are active hunters, spending a great deal of time in the water; they also climb trees quite adeptly. At fur farms, mink live their short lives in tiny cages, where they receive no enrichment, a toxic diet, and a certain death. Mink farmers claim that they raise "domestic mink," a distinct species from the wild mink found throughout North America, however there is no scientific evidence supporting this claim, and when pressed, proponents of fur farming have been forced to admit the truth. A second mink species does exist, the European mink, but it is used less in the fur trade due to its smaller size. Other mustelid species persecuted by the fur trade include the sable, ermine, pine marten, fisher, the river otter, and the European polecat. (Click here to read more about fur farming.)
Mustelid species that are not farmed for their fur are often trapped or hunted. The sea otter was wiped out across much of its range for its dense, soft fur; it is now legally protected throughout its range, but it remains under threat from poaching and oil spills. Unlike hunting, trapping is not species-specific, and claims the lives of more non-target animals, including endangered species and family pets, than it does those animals being deliberately sought. Larger mustelids, like the wolverine and the American badger, are known for raiding traps and eating the animals they contain; for this reason, they are villainized by fur trappers and frequently shot on sight. These animals occasionally find their way into the wildlife trade as well, but their mean reputations afford them a certain degree of protection from 'alternative pet' owners. The honey badger, found in Africa, the Middle East, and India, is considered by some to be the 'meanest' animal in the world, but like so many other species, if it can be found in a zoo, it's a safe bet that someone, somewhere in the US, is trying to make it into a pet.
The European polecat is the predecessor of the domestic ferret; pet trade proponents are quick to cite the differences between domestic ferrets and their wild descendants, stating that ferrets have smaller brains and more 'tame' behavior. Some authors go so far as to say that the domestic ferret is so distinct from its wild ancestors that it is in fact more 'domesticated' than domestic dogs and cats. Exotic pet breeders, dealers, and fur farmers continually try to establish the animals they exploit as domestic species in an attempt to disguise the true nature of their businesses. While it is true that the ferrets found in the pet trade exhibit certain morphological differences from the European polecat, the two animals readily interbreed, and so-called domestic ferrets are quite capable of naturalizing and forming feral populations. Unlike domestic dogs and cats, the ferret's path to domestication has not been linear; in various locations and at different points throughout human history, wild ferrets have been captured and propagated in captivity, usually for rodent control, and in most cases, those captive bloodlines were not perpetuated over the long term. Another distinction between ferrets and more traditional companion carnivores is that dogs and cats have voluntarily associated with human beings in a symbiotic relationship, whereas ferrets have not. The various color morphs seen in pet trade ferrets are merely another smokescreen; physical traits that would be liabilities to wild animals are often perpetuated in captivity for their aesthetics, but they are not evidence of a distinct, domestic species. Perhaps the greatest testament to the ferret's inherent wildness is the presence of scent glands, prompting many owners to opt for 'de-scenting' (the surgical removal of the glands), or to invest in numerous odor eliminating products.
While not as popular as ferrets, the number of striped skunks in captivity is growing. Like ferrets, captive skunks come in different color morphs, and like ferrets, skunks have scent glands, but the skunks' odor is for more offensive, so 'pet' skunks must always have their glands removed. Throughout the country, skunk owners show off their animals at skunk shows, where they parade them in front of judges and dress them in elaborate costumes. Between the surgeries and the dress-up, it is clear that pet skunk proponents are determined to make the animals something other than what they truly are. It comes as no surprise that, like mink farmers and ferret breeders, skunk owners are eager to call their animals 'domestic', clearly a false distinction. Other members of the family Mephitidae are sometimes found in captivity, but not with the frequency of the striped skunk.
The Procyonidae include the familiar raccoon, and a number of species less known to North Americans. Raccoons are common in both rural and urban areas, and many people make the mistake of trying to keep them as pets. Curious, strong-willed, intelligent, and armed with opposable thumbs, raccoons can create chaos in the home, stealing jewelry and silverware, ransacking kitchens, and biting people and pets. Raccoon bites left untreated can produce fatal infections, and despite their size, they have been known to sever human fingers. In some states, even the treatment of injured raccoons by licensed rehabilitators is illegal, as they are considered the harborers of rabies and other diseases. Fortunately, this is not the case in the state of Washington.
Similar to the raccoon, the coatimundi, or coati for short, exhibits behavior similar to that of many primates. Wild coatis are found from the southern United States through Central and South America, where they usually forage in family groups, and like monkeys, they engage in social grooming. They are popular in captivity, but captive coatis rarely receive the socialization they need for appropriate mental health, and their diverse nutritional needs frequently go unmet. Commercial pet foods are not sufficient for the dietary needs of coatis or other members of the raccoon family, but many exotic animal owners use such products as the staple of their animals' diets, resulting in poor health and a shortened lifespan.
The kinkajou has been made famous in recent history as the animal that bit wealthy heiress, professional snob, and poor role model, Paris Hilton. The bite from her pet kinkajou made news headlines and continues to spawn commentary on the internet. It seems that even the wealthy are not exempt from the laws of nature. Experienced animal caretakers know that being bitten on occasion is part of the job, and is certainly not newsworthy, but this high profile incident is yet another demonstration of the unsuitability of wild animals as pets. Kinkajous are still fairly expensive in the exotic animal trade, but their prices are coming down as they become more commonly available. Similar procyonids, the olingos, are also captured in the wild for the animal trade, and find their way into the United States by both legal and illegal means.
The red panda is considered by some to be a member of Procyonidae, while others place it in its own family, Ailuridae. It was once thought to be a close relative of the giant panda, but this view has not persisted in most scientific circles. Red pandas are highly endangered, found in the Himalayan nations of Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan, and in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. Like giant pandas, their diet consists largely of bamboo, but red pandas also eat fruit, bird eggs, and small vertebrates. They are not commonly found in the wild pet trade, but they are increasingly common in zoos, perhaps a sign of things to come.
The civets, family Viverridae, are not as well-known in North America as they are in their native ranges across Asia and Africa. The largest member of the family, the binturong (sometimes called a bearcat), has become a somewhat common target of the wildlife trade; at least one website promotes this Southeast Asian animal as a pet, but encourages binturong owners to have their animals de-clawed. Like all civets, the binturong has scent glands that produce a distinct odor, in this case, one often compared to the smell of corn tortillas. Some owners like the smell, but others opt for surgical de-scenting.
The common palm civet is found throughout much of Southern Asia; it is frequently eaten in China, where it has been implicated in the spread of SARS. In Indonesia, coffee beans passed through the digestive tract of palm civets are used to make Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee. Several species of civets and linsangs are found throughout Asia, and many are threatened by hunting, habitat loss, and the exotic animal trade. The name 'civet cat' is a misnomer; these animals are not closely related to cats. The ringtail, a North American species, is also sometimes called a civet cat, however it is neither a civet nor a cat, but a member of Procyonidae.
Civets are also common through much of Africa; the African civet, a predominantly terrestrial species, is kept in captivity in Ethiopia and other African nations for its musk, which is used to make perfumes. Civets are housed in tiny cages to facilitate easy capture for musk extraction; the cages are kept in dark rooms, and the rooms are heated to high temperatures using fire, which fills the air with smoke. Civet farmers believe that the animals produce more musk when they are kept warm. Injuries to the animals and their keepers are common, as the musk is extracted by hand, by squeezing the civets' perineal glands. Because they do not breed readily in captivity, the animals used for musk production are typically wild caught; the practice requires a permit in Ethiopia, but the law is seldom enforced. Wildlife dealers can purchase civets in Ethiopia and export them through various means to the United States and other western nations.
The fossa is a member of the Eupluridae family, also called the Malagasy carnivores. In the wild, fossas hunt lemurs and other Madagascar species; they bear some resemblance to mountain lions, however they are smaller, and are more closely related to civets and mongooses. They are not common in captivity, but there is a great deal of interest in this species in zoos, as their wild numbers are low and captive breeding programs are under development.
Finally, the family Herpestidae is made up of the mongooses of Asia and Africa. The small Indian mongoose is well-known as the species introduced in Central and South America, and numerous islands in the Caribbean, the West Indies, the South Pacific, and the Mediterranean. Originally brought in by foolish European settlers to reduce rodent and snake populations, the mongooses now threaten hundreds of native species, thanks to their habit of eating any animal they can catch. The damage done by the small Indian mongoose shows another danger to the wildlife trade, as even small numbers of escaped animals can naturalize and throw the local ecosystem out of balance. In the case of the mongoose, where introduction was deliberate, the damage has been even more extensive.
Another member of the mongoose family, the meerkat, has gained tremendous popularity, thanks in part to its role in a few Disney animated films and cartoons. Recent nature documentaries about meerkats have added to their fame. Behaviorally, meerkats are similar to other grassland-dwelling mongooses, but their distinctive appearance has gained them a special place in the hearts of many animal lovers. Meerkat exhibits at western zoos have great appeal to the public; the animals are active and inquisitive by day, and offer zoo visitors a chance to observe their natural behaviors firsthand. Meerkats are available to exotic pet buyers, but they can be very destructive; their natural inclination to dig has led them to burrow through drywall and destroy gardens. They are also highly social animals, truly lost without their tightly knit family groups, making the keeping of any meerkat without others of its kind a truly cruel situation. As with all wild animals, meerkats are best left in their native habitat.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Small Herbivores and Insectivores
We begin with bats -- order Chiroptera. There are about 1,000 known bat species in the world, ranging in size from the .05-ounce, 1½-inch-long Philippine bamboo bat, to a few species of flying foxes with wingspans approaching six feet. Many of the world's bats are under threat from habitat loss, and breeding colonies are often deliberately wiped out thanks to human ignorance. Bats are thought to exhibit a high incidence of rabies, and many people believe that they all are akin to vampires, even though there are only three species of vampire bats. The remaining majority of bats eat insects or fruit, or drink nectar, while a few, like the false vampire bats of Africa, Asia, and Australia, are predators. The majority of bats in the United States are insect-eaters, providing a valuable service by eliminating many tons of mosquitoes each year, and converting them into valuable fertilizer. In captivity, bats are not as uncommon as one might assume. Many people attempt to keep native bats as pets in the United States, usually resulting in the death of the bat from nutritional deficiencies. Smaller animals require larger amounts of food in relation to body size, and for tiny bats, a day of improper nutrition can be fatal. The more popular bats in the exotic pet trade are the larger fruit bats and flying foxes, but similarly to exotic birds in captivity, they are seldom given the exercise or enrichment they need. In most cases, the keeping of bats by individuals is against the law, due to their undeserved reputation for carrying rabies, but a caged bat is easy to hide, making the law difficult to enforce. Another side to the bat trade is the market for specimens; dead bats in jars of formaldehyde or mounted in framed wall hangings are available to virtually anyone, often from businesses claiming to be scientific supply companies. Many of these companies cannot or simply refuse to provide information concerning where the bats were obtained, and it is believed that many of the animals are trapped and killed for the sole purpose of being sold as specimens, including endangered bat species.
The oder Insectivora consists of moles, shrews, and similar animals, but it also includes the hedgehogs, which have become very popular in the pet trade. The hedgehogs most commonly kept as pets are the result of many generations of cross-breeding of two African species, the white-bellied hedgehog and the Algerian hedgehog. Like so many captive carnivores, these exotic hedgehogs have been selectively bred to produce various color varieties of aesthetic appeal to consumers. Even though they have only been imported into the United States since 1990, proponents of pet hedgehogs are quick to label the animals as domestic. It is important to understand that breeding two species together to produce a hybrid does not constitute a new species, nor does it produce a domestic animal; so-called domestic hedgehogs are still wild animals, with the distinction of being hybrids that would never occur naturally, as the two species' ranges do not overlap. (Read more.) Being so new to the marketplace, relatively little is known about hedgehogs with regard to their proper husbandry or veterinary care, or even what their lifespan should be. Even hedgehog breeders and dealers admit that they know little of the animals' nutritional requirements, and that insufficient research is being conducted in this area. Captive diets tend to be based more on commercial pet foods and vegetables, whereas wild hedgehogs typically eat large amounts of insects, spiders, and even small mammals, birds, and reptiles. This disparity between their natural diet and their diets in captivity may effectively shorten the animals' lives and lead to a host of unknown health issues.
The lagomorphs are rabbits and their relatives; many people believe them to be rodents, and they are quite similar, but scientists place them into their own order. Rabbits have been bred in captivity since the Roman Empire, and the domestic breeds derived from the European rabbit will be discussed in the Companion Animals section. In this section, we will focus primarily on rabbits used in fur farming. As with mink and foxes (read more), rabbits are frequent victims of the fur trade; an estimated 70 million rabbits are killed for their fur each year in France alone. Some industry defenders claim that the fur is a byproduct of the meat industry, but the rabbits raised for meat must be slaughtered at a young age, while rabbits killed for fur need to be older animals with thicker pelts. Rabbit meat and rabbit fur come from two, separate industries. In a sickening twist, a fair amount of the pelts marketed as rabbit fur are actually domestic dog and cat pelts from parts of Asia, and without DNA tests, it is virtually impossible to tell the difference. Another manifestation of the rabbit fur business is the shearing of angora rabbits; like other fur farm rabbits, they live their lives in tiny, wire-frame cages, but angoras have particularly delicate feet, making their living circumstances especially painful, and leading to frequent infections. The shearing process results in inevitable cuts and scrapes, which can also become infected when the rabbits are returned to their filthy cages. Because male angoras produce far less wool than females, they are often killed at birth. The simplest, most direct way to put an end to these horrific practices is to boycott all fur products, and to educate consumers; public education campaigns have led to a decline in the fur market in North America and Europe, but continued work is needed to eliminate this cruel industry altogether.
The pangolins of Asia and Africa, sometimes called scaly anteaters, would seem a strange choice for the wildlife trade, but they are under immense pressure both from the exotic pet trade and for their use in traditional medicine. Their meat is considered a tonic and a delicacy, and their scales, which are actually modified bundles of hair, are used to supposedly cure a variety of ailments. Once stripped of its scales, the animal's skin is also used to produce a uniquely patterned leather. In captivity, the care of pangolins can prove quite problematic, as their natural diet consists largely of ants. Pangolin scales are also quite sharp, and a defensive animal can use them to slice its caretaker.
Rodents are familiar to people the world over, in many cases as unwanted pests in the home, and as carriers of disease. Several of the larger species seem to have little in common with mice, and as always, the more bizarre animals are sought by wildlife traders and collectors. The largest of the rodents, the capybara, can weigh well over 100 pounds, with some sources claiming they reach 200. These semi-aquatic rodents from Brazil and Argentina are sometimes herded for their meat, but their massive proportions have made them a novelty for the exotic pet market. Some websites suggest that capybaras can be trained to perform tricks, while others recommend them for exotic animal ranches for meat production. Many an American rancher has been burned by the exotic meat market; over the years, a number of species have been successfully marketed as 'the next big thing,' and demands have been initially high, but in about the time it takes to build a sustainable enterprise, the demand inevitably fizzles out, as American consumers return to their traditional red meats and poultry. The result is a major surplus of exotic animals that no one wants, and many thousands may be euthanized, or worse, turned loose to either die of starvation or wreak havoc on the local ecosystem. If capybara ranching becomes the 'next big thing' in the States, the disaster that follows will be more than the current handful of accredited sanctuaries can handle.
Cavies bear similarities to the capybara in appearance, but are of course quite a bit smaller. The familiar Guinea pig is a type of cavy, and its popularity as a pet has led some to experiment with wild cavy species. As 'jumpy' as Guinea pigs tend to be, wild cavies are moreso. The mara, or Patagonian cavy, looks less like a Guinea pig and more like a hare, and weighs up to 35 pounds. As dictated by the 'bigger is better' paradign, some cavy enthusiasts see the mara as the ultimate prize, and they have become fairly common in captivity. One breeder's website recommends an enclosure size of 100 square feet for these large, active animals. As an alternative he recommends keeping them inside and paper training them. In contrast, Animal Centers of Excellence recommends a minimum enclosure size of 400 square feet for animal species one tenth the size of a mara. It quickly becomes apparent that the best interests of the animals are not the primary concern of exotic animal breeders; the bottom line -- profit, will always come first, which means maximized space and volume sales. When animals and profits mix, the animals usually lose.
Another farm-raised rodent, the chinchilla, is also another casualty of the fur trade. Chinchilla pelts command some of the highest prices of any furbearer, and while the wholesale slaughter of these animals goes on unchecked in the United States and abroad, fewer than 10,000 chinchillas remain in the wild in the Andes mountains. As with all fur farm animals, chinchillas receive insufficient nutrition, live in tiny, filthy cages, and suffer brutal deaths at the hands of their captors. Neck snapping and genital electrocution are two methods commonly used to kill fur farm chinchillas. The large numbers of chinchillas on factory fur farms has led to a surplus overflow into the pet trade; the fur lobby has successfully kept the animals classified as domestic by the USDA, and as such they are legally obtainable by virtually anyone, in spite of the fact that they are identical to the wild chinchillas that were first imported into the US for the fur trade in the 1920s. Their special dietary needs, nocturnal habits, and flighty dispositions make them a poor choice for a pet, and pet chinchilla owners should be aware that by purchasing a chinchilla, they are supporting fur farming.
Who would want a porcupine for a pet? While both New and Old World porcupines are covered in quills, they are used only for defense, and are not generally a problem with individuals that are used to being handled. This does not mean, however, that these wild animals should be considered pets, as they have special behavioral and dietary needs, and like all wild animals, they are best kept wild. Porcupine species from North and South America, Africa, and Asia, and the Mediterraneans are not uncommon in the wild animal trade, and collectors pay top dollar for them. The North African crested porcupine is the largest porcupine in the world, and as with the largest or smallest of anything, this puts it in demand. Similar porcupines are found throughout Africa and Asia, and in parts of Europe. The smaller brush-tailed porcupines, more rat-like in appearance, are also found in Africa and Asia. The North American porcupine is fairly similar in appearance to the crested porcupines, but its quills are barbed, making them more difficult to remove once they have punctured the skin of the porcupine's attacker. Few people in the United States ever see a wild porcupine, even though they are found throughout most of the western states and in New England. The prehensile-tailed porcupines of South America, like the Brazilian porcupine, are more elongate and their quills are more obvious than those of other species. The rarely seen hairy dwarf porcupines of Mexico, Central and South America are just the opposite, with few of their quills immediately visible. Besides being the occasional victims of an unethical animal trade, all porcupines are under threat from habitat loss, and many of them are pursued by hunters for their meat, which some consider a delicacy.
By the year 1600, the Eurasian beaver had been trapped to near extinction, and fur trappers turned to the American beaver as a source for the pelts used to make top hats in western Europe. Over the next few centuries, trappers nearly wiped out American beavers as well. Today, beaver populations have recovered in most areas, thanks to the successful efforts of conservationists. The smaller muskrat was also killed for its fur, but it was never considered as valuable as the beaver, which was considered at one point in US history to be the single most valuable commodity in existence. In the early 1900s, the fur industry committed a further assault on the environment with the introduction of the South American nutria, another large, aquatic rodent, to the bayous of Louisiana. Nutrias were later relocated to other areas along the Gulf coast as a means of controlling aquatic vegetation, but they have proven too much for temperate ecosystems, where they undermine stream banks and decimate wetland plants. In some areas, nightly patrols are dispatched to shoot nutrias on sight, with little lasting impact.
Squirrels are a common sight in most of the US, but they are also very common in the wild pet trade. Besides the North American species commonly available, exotic species like the beautiful Prevost's squirrel from Southeast Asia are also popular, however expensive. Squirrels are often docile when they are young, but become aggressive as they grow older, attacking their caretakers for seemingly no reason. As with other rodent bites, squirrel bites can become painfully infected, and squirrels may also be carriers of dangerous diseases like the bubonic plague. In addition to the tree squirrels, flying squirrels are highly sought after as pets. The northern and southern flying squirrels of North America are well represented in the wildlife trade, but the giant flying squirrel from Asia is also fairly common. Flying squirrels are nocturnal and require a good deal of space -- more than the average home can provide.
Marmots are very large ground squirrels, some of which exceed thirty inches in length. The best known of the marmots is the groundhog, or woodchuck, made popular by the holiday named after it. Apart from their role in a national holiday, groundhogs are difficult pets in that they hibernate in the winter and their burrowing and gnawing behaviors can cause mass destruction in the home, reducing furniture and drywall to dust. Wild species like the groundhog, that are not under threat of extinction, serve no legitimate purpose in captivity, and because they are not commonly raised by scientists for conservation purposes, their captive husbandry requirements are largely unknown.
Prairie dogs are also ground squirrels, living in large colonies across the Great Plains. Prairie dog towns are vital habitat for a number of other species, including the critically endangered black-footed ferret, which feeds on them and lives in their burrows. In spite of their ecological value, ranchers and developers view prairie dogs as a nuisance, and go to great lengths to eradicate them. Many ranchers believe that cattle and horses will accidentally step into prairie dog burrows and break their legs, although there is insufficient evidence to support this idea. In some areas, prairie dog shootouts are community events where families gather to indulge in bloodlust. Where prairie dog towns are hindering development, a new industry has emerged; the animals are sucked from their homes with a giant vacuum, and propelled into a holding tank. They are then exported to Japan, where they are sold as pets. Pet prairie dogs do not generally last very long, denied the opportunity to dig burrows or to socialize with others of their kind.
The sloths (order Xenarthra) of Central and South America are divided into two groups: two-toed and three-toed sloths. All are fairly similar in appearance and behavior; they spend the vast majority of their time high in the rain forest trees, where they eat leaves and twigs, climbing down to the forest floor about once a week to relieve themselves. They are slow-moving and have slow metabolisms; their body temperatures typically run around ten degrees cooler than other mammals of a similar size. They are adept at moving through the trees, and they swim fairly well, but they are very vulnerable on the ground, able to move only by dragging themselves along. Two-toed sloths have a somewhat more generalized diet, also consuming various fruits and berries; their ability to eat more readily available foods and their slightly more active lifestyle have made them the more popular sloths in the exotic animal trade. The problem with keeping sloths in captivity is that unlike most mammals, they thermoregulate, using the sun to warm themselves up; sloths need basking areas similar to those utilized by reptiles. Without the proper body temperature, their digestive systems do not function properly, and they can starve to death with full stomachs.
Armadillos are closely related to sloths, but bear few obvious similarities. Their various species can be found from the southern United States through Argentina. They range in size from the 70-pound giant armadillo to the four-ounce pink fairy armadillo. All armadillo species have some configuration of tough plating over the dorsal surface of their bodies and on the tops of their heads, and many are capable of curling into a tight ball, using the plates to protect their softer undersides. Armadillos have powerful claws for digging, and spend a good deal of time underground. They feed on insects and small invertebrates, with some species taking carrion and plant material. The native nine-banded armadillo is frequently kept in captivity, along with a few of the more exotic species; like so many wild species, there is still a great deal of information to be learned about their nutritional needs and veterinary care, and they are nocturnal, making them less than ideal housemates. Armadillos are also known to transmit diseases to humans, including tuburculosis, leprosy, and the plague.
Finally, we come to the last group we'll discuss in this section, the anteaters of Central and South America. The giant anteater is a ground-dwelling species that grows up to 80 pounds, and lives in a variety of habitats. The northern and southern tamanduas and the silky anteater are tree-dwelling species, the tamanduas general weighing in the twelve to fifteen pound range, and silky anteaters weighing in at a mere ten ounces. As their name implies, anteaters eat large quantities of ants, as well as termites and other insects. The silky anteater eats only insects, while the others sometimes consume fruit and possibly carrion. All anteaters are armed with large, hooked claws, which aid in the extraction of insects from their colonies in the trunks of trees. They also make handy weapons that can be used against misguided exotic animal collectors. In spite of the difficulty in feeding and caring for them properly, tamanduas are common in the exotic animal trade, and giant anteaters are fairly easy to obtain as well. Silky anteaters are likely to see growing popularity in the trade due to their small size, but their strictly insectivorous diet will make their proper husbandry problematic. As with all wild animals, captivity should be a last resort, not a hobby or a way to turn a profit.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Hoofed Mammals
The larger of the two orders, Artiodactyla, is a widely varied group, with species living in virtually every terrestrial biome on the planet, and ranging in size from the 18½-foot-tall giraffe to the 20-inch-long lesser mouse deer. The most common purpose for keeping these animals in captivity seems to be for their use in 'canned hunts'; a canned hunt is an activity in which so-called sportsmen pay a fee to shoot a captive animal, often while it is contained in a small enclosure or holding area. The mighty hunter can then brag to his friends about the animal he has killed and have a morbid trophy to hang on his wall. Big cats, bears, wolves, and other animals are slaughtered in this same fashion, but the hoofed animals tend to be seen more often, particularly in areas where the law allows them to be raised for their meat. In most states, canned hunts are illegal, but the law is difficult to enforce. Other hunting operations keep the animals in large, multi-acre enclosures to simulate an authentic exotic hunting trip, but the basic idea is the same -- pay for what you shoot, and with it comes the bragging rights. Unregulated exotic animal ranching has also led to the naturalization of certain species in parts of the US, disrupting the native ecosystem. Whether the motivation is sadism, insecurity, or greed, the welfare of the animals is not, and has never been, a consideration. Neither is conservation; a number of ranches list on their websites the animals they regularly provide, but they boast that they can procure any hoofed animal a customer wants to kill, even endangered species; recent research into the origin of these animals has demonstrated that they are oftentimes zoo surplus. One wonders how this is possible, but it is only a matter of having, or not having, the right paperwork; documents are often forged, and if there is no way to make it legal, it's simply done in secret.
Some quick internet research found the following species commonly available at hunting ranches in Texas: elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, fallow deer, red deer, axis deer, sika deer, mouflon, Dall's sheep, Barbary sheep, Iranian red sheep, American bison, water buffalo, wildebeest, blackbuck, nilgai, Thompson's gazelle, scimitar-horned oryx, springbok, gemsbok, and European wild boar; most also advertise turkeys and several species of domestic and hybrid sheep. Elk and wild boar seem to be the most popular species, however the interstate trade in elk may have wider implications than blatant animal cruelty and exploitation. In recent years, an alarming number of Rocky Mountain elk have become infected with chronic wasting disease, an affliction affecting not only elk, but also mule deer, white-tailed deer, and Wyoming moose. Research uncovered an elk ranching operation in South Dakota where the herds are infected with chronic wasting disease, on a property adjoining a national park and mere miles from a state park where the majority of South Dakota's wild elk live. That there is a connection between chronic wasting disease and human prion diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is unlikely, but research is still being conducted; there is a definite risk to humans coming into contact with elk and other animals infected with bovine tuberculosis, however -- the most common of the three forms of TB, capable of infecting most mammals. TB was rare in wild deer prior to the mid-1990s, but it has become more common, and is frequently seen in captive deer and elk.
Hunting is but one industry that slaughters wildlife; exotic meats wax and wane in their popularity, but they maintain a steady market presence in one form or another. Thousands of endangered American bison are ranched for meat production, with the majority of young bulls living out their short lives in manure-filled feed lots. Deer and elk meat, and meat from several African and Asian antelope species are also readily available, as is that of the reindeer, or caribou. These deer of the Arctic tundra have been raised for centuries for their meat and for use as beasts of burden.
Alan Green begins his book, Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Endangered Species, with the story of Amber and Aaron, giraffes born at the prestigious Smithsonian National Zoo. While the zoo told one story to the public, they began making arrangements for the sale of each animal mere days after its birth. At the time of Green's writing, Amber, the older of the two, had been sold to an Ohio drive-through zoo known to ship giraffes and other animals overseas, most notably to Japanese firms implicated in the illegal international shipment and butchering of gorillas. Shipping even young giraffes isn't easy, but it also isn't rare. Zoos have come under public scrutiny in the past for euthanizing their surplus animals; now they sell them or give them away to people who will turn them into steaks and trophy mounts. Green reports of a rare "blunder" in 1998, in which the AZA accidentally made publicly available their AZA Animal Exchange, a listing of animals for sale and trade within the accredited zoo system, which included at that time "...six hundred mammals, nearly four hundred reptiles, thousands of fish, hundreds of birds, and a variety of invertebrates."
Not all captive artiodactyls face such overtly sinister fates; like so many other wild species, many simply languish in captivity as a result of the exotic pet trade. Small deer, like the popular Reeve's muntjac, are not the only ones bought and sold to be pets; the mid-sized and multi-colored fallow deer are extremely popular, and larger species are not as uncommon as they ought to be. In November 2006, a captive white-tailed buck killed his 43-year-old owner in upstate New York; November is typically the breeding season (rut) for this species, making them particularly dangerous, especially when confined.
The camelids are a group of ungulates possessing soft pads in the place of hooves; llamas, alpacas, and old world camels are all members of this family. Llamas and alpacas are extremely common as pets throughout the country, and alpacas are even advertised on television for their wool production. The surefooted animals are frequently seen in farm animal rescues nationwide. Dromedary camels are also quite common in captivity in the United States, but they are most frequently seen as beasts of burden and meat producers in North Africa, the Middle East, and India. The camels were so easily domesticated that there are thought to be no wild dromedaries left in their native range. Only in Australia can wild herds be found, where the desert-dwellers were once imported and became feral. This is one case in which a feral animal has had little effect on the ecosystem; camels' soft feet are easy on the landscape, and they have done no noticeable damage to the native flora. The bactrian camel fills the same role in China and Mongolia as the dromedary does further west; it was once much more widespread in the wild, with a range extending into central Kazakhstan, but today wild populations are restricted to only a few, small areas. Bactrians are also less common and more expensive as captives in North America, as are the vicuñas and guanacos of South America.
A hippopotamus is a difficult animal to keep in captivity, due in part to its need for large quantities of water and the volume of waste it produces, but that didn't stop a doctor in Escondido, California from trying to keep a pygmy hippo in his back yard. He in fact kept the animal for about ten years, during which time she did not have adequate shade and could not fully submerse herself in water, resulting in cracked, discolored skin and bloody sores. How the doctor came to obtain a rare, 500-pound hippopotamus for which he had no permit remained unknown, but some speculate that it was the same animal that 'mysteriously disappeared' from the San Diego Zoo, an institution to which the doctor had made a sizable donation. The hippo now lives at an accredited sanctuary in San Diego county.
The Artiodactyla are even-toed ungulates, while the Perrisodactyla are odd-toed. The most familiar of these are the horses. Wild horses are found in many parts of the world, but perhaps the most striking of these are the three species of zebra. Zebras are common in the North American animal trade, and they are sometimes bred to domestic horses to produce a ridiculous hybrid called a 'zorse'. While they are essentially little, striped horses, zebras are wild creatures and have never been successfully domesticated as beasts of burden or riding mounts. Kicking and biting are common behaviors, and they have even been known to kill their own kind. Zebras can also be killed in canned hunts in Texas and other parts of the country.
Other wild horses and wild asses are in trouble; the Przewalski's horse is extinct in the wild, with only a few captive herds perpetuating the species. The African and Asiatic wild asses, and the kiang, a wild ass from Tibet, are losing ground. Feral horses like the North American mustang are considerably more common, but they are under pressure from groups bent on 'management'. When Spanish conquerors first landed in North America, they brought horses with them, and those that escaped became the the ancestors of modern-day mustangs. Today their herds are found in the dry scrublands of eastern Oregon, northern California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado. They are monitored by the Bureau of Land Management, along with feral burros in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. BLM officials feel they need to keep the herds in check, which they accomplish by rounding up the animals and auctioning them off to the highest bidder. Buyers are allowed to purchase the animals on a provisional basis, and a minimal system of checks is in place to keep the horses and burros from being made into dog food. The system is, of course, imperfect. About 28,000 mustangs and burros live in captivity as a result of BLM adoptions; some adapt well and can even be ridden, while others retain their wild temperament. The return of large predators like wolves and brown bears would certainly aid in the control of wild horse and burro populations, as would a castration and release program. Such a program might also alleviate concerns that BLM is not so much managing the herds as it is selling horses and burros. Of course, such idealism and government policy rarely mix.
While they look quite different, the rhinoceroses of Africa and Asia are actually relatives of horses. All rhino species are endangered, as their horns are used as ornaments and in traditional eastern medicine. The Indian, Javan, and Sumatran rhinos are in very real danger of extinction, and are quite difficult to raise in captivity thanks to the diversity of their diets. Similarly, the African black rhinoceros has been nearly wiped out, although captive husbandry efforts have been more successful. White rhinos have been bred so successfully in captivity that American zoos have generated a surplus, and now they can be found at filthy roadside wildlife parks like the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, Washington.
Tapirs are the final group within Perissodactyla, with three species found in Central and South America and a fourth in Southeast Asia. These rain forest animals are not unheard of in the exotic animal trade, but they are more common as wild pets within their native ranges. They are routinely shuffled through the animal markets of Managua and other Latin American centers of commerce, where they are valued for their meat as well as their appeal to animal collectors. All four species are considered endangered due to hunting and habitat loss.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Elephants
The world's elephants are in danger from habitat loss and poaching for their ivory, but that hasn't stopped their exploitation in captivity. The worst culprits are the circuses, enterprises built not on family entertainment, but on an alternating cycle of torture and neglect. These highly intelligent and social animals suffer some of the worst abuses imaginable in the name of financial gain.
Circuses have long come under fire for their abuse of elephants and other animals, with a list of complaints that reads like an account of the holocaust. The torture begins when the elephants are young; trainers use heavy chains to restrict movement, and a bull hook, or ankus, to beat the animals into submission. The bull hook is used throughout the animals' lives in the circus; terrified elephants are battered and bloodied during training sessions, and forced to perform unnatural 'tricks'; some trainers have even been seen using blowtorches to remove elephants' body hair. It seems the more pain they can inflict, the happier the trainers are, and when the time comes to perform in front of an audience, they have instilled enough fear into the animals that they generally go through their routines without the need for violent reinforcement. Still, when elephants simply can't take any more abuse, they rampage, sometimes trampling or goring humans. Several such rampages have ended with the shooting of the elephant by police, a sad end to a miserable life.
Where their training tells a story of torture, the elephants' captive care tells one of neglect. They are often fed diets of poor nutritional quality, and they spend hours, and even days or weeks standing chained in their own waste. Lying down is rarely an option, and the constant standing can lead to health problems. Foot infections are common, and in at least one instance, circus personnel treated an infection by dousing the elephant's feet and legs with formaldehyde, resulting in severe burns. African and Asian elephants are often kept together, resulting in the transmission of diseases for which one or the other species does not have immunity. Perhaps worst of all is the complete lack of consideration given to the animals' social requirements; female elephants live in matriarchal herds in which they form lifelong bonds, but in the circus, elephants are sold and traded away regularly, further adding to their psychological instability.
Unfortunately, it is not only circuses that deal in elephant abuse; elephants trained for film and television endure similar circumstances, and are rented out to anyone with enough money. In 2006, an Asian elephant was used as a living art exhibition in Los Angeles, in which the animal's entire body was painted pink and gold. The stunt drew criticism against the artist and the animal's owners, who have a questionable animal welfare record when it comes to elephants, including a connection to at least one rampaging incident.
Zoos hold a sizable market share of elephant abuse as well, and zoo personnel are guilty of many of the same practices as circus trainers, including the use of bull hooks, and the continual breaking apart of elephant families. A number of premature deaths have drawn public outrage, and exposed cases of inappropriate husbandry and severe neglect. In recent years, a few zoo directors have opted to shut down their elephant exhibits in the interest of animal welfare, but the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has been highly uncooperative when attempts have been made to place the elephants into sanctuaries, threatening to pull the zoos' accreditation, and engaging in smear tactics to discredit sanctuaries.
It is possible that elephants are the victims of canned hunts and other unscrupulous practices; at least one animal auction house sells elephant tusks and trash cans made from elephant feet, and given the animals' protected status, export of these items might be considerably more difficult than obtaining the animals inside the United States.
Very few accredited sanctuaries have the capability of caring for elephants, and in most cases only female animals can be rescued, due to the very different requirements posed by males. More facilities are certainly needed. We call for a total boycott of all businesses that use elephants to make a profit, including those in other countries.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Nonhuman Primates
Both genetically and behaviorally, chimpanzees are the species most like us; in the early days of the US space program, chimpanzees were trained as astronauts, and two were sent into space. When the Air Force no longer had any use for the animals, they were sold to laboratories for experimentation. Only recently have most of the surviving 'space chimps' been relocated to animal sanctuaries, after the lab where they were kept was shut down by the USDA for gross violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Chimpanzees were not unfamiliar sights in laboratories before the space program, however, and they have been used to research everything from HIV/AIDS and hepatitis to cosmetics. As a result of the experimentation they have undergone, a large number of HIV-positive chimps are in need of rescue. Chimpanzees are also fairly common in the pet trade, despite being rather expensive, and they are hunted for the African bushmeat trade as well. Many are used in the entertainment industry, usually for comedy bits in TV commercials; for chimpanzees, what looks like a smile is actually an expression of intense fear.
The bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee, is also heavily hunted, however not as common in captivity. Bonobos are known for their very active sex lives, making them inappropriate for family oriented institutions like zoos and theme parks. This is not to say that they cannot be found in laboratories and in the homes of a few, misinformed exotic animal hobbyists.
Gorillas are also common in captivity and in the bushmeat market, but they are used less in laboratories due to their large size and great strength. As with other apes like chimpanzees and orangutans, captive gorillas are seldom given an appropriate living environment or any significant form of enrichment; most of us are familiar with the very bored gorillas that can be seen in many American zoos. Outside of the zoo system, gorillas are far more often sold for their meat, which is popular among the wealthy in many countries, particularly Japan. Most of those eaten are lowland gorillas, but rare mountain gorillas are the targets of poachers as well.
Orangutans are under tremendous pressure due to habitat loss and the exotic pet trade. As with most primates, the common method for capturing the animals is to simply shoot a mother orangutan and take her young baby. The death rate is extremely high among captured orangutans, and it is even higher when the animals are smuggled out of their native ranges in Borneo and Sumatra. The young apes are typically given a strong sedative to keep them quiet when they are hidden in luggage; many never recover. Smugglers use insiders at the airports to help them get the animals onto commercial airliners. Once thought to be a single species, Bornean and Sumatran orangutans are now considered separate species after many generations of isolation from one another. These highly intelligent apes are remarkably adaptable; one female orangutan at a sanctuary in Borneo taught herself to fry an egg after watching her caretakers do so each morning, and a local male became notorious for stealing villagers' canoes to cross the river, after which he simply let them float away.
The gibbons are the smallest of the apes; several species are found throughout Southeast Asia, where they are extremely common in the wildlife trade. Like most primates, gibbons are highly social, and captive animals rarely receive the socialization they need for good mental health. In the wild, gibbons can be heard in the mornings and evening as they sing together in the treetops; with the help of thermal currents, their songs may travel several miles. Such noisy animals make terrible pets, and gibbons are constantly being abandoned at Buddhist monasteries or dumped at animal rescues in Thailand and neighboring countries. While most of the world's captive gibbons are probably found within their native ranges, they are not uncommon imports in North America and Europe, where they suffer no less than their counterparts back home.
The macaques are a well-known group of monkeys, found throughout much of Asia and the Mediterranean. They are common in laboratories and in the pet trade; the Japanese macaque, sometimes called a 'snow monkey', is a popular species with animal collectors, and the Rhesus macaque is especially common in captivity. Nearly all captive macaques carry the herpes B virus, which is easily transmitted to humans through any fluid-to-fluid contact. The virus only enters saliva and genital secretions during periodic shedding cycles, but these cycles are nearly impossible to predict or recognize, and with animals known for such behaviors as biting and urinating on their captors, the risk of human infection is undeniably high. Herpes B causes a fatal brain infection in approximately 70% of known human cases, and the remaining 30% usually suffer permanent neurological damage, prompting the question, why in the world would anyone want a macaque for a pet?
Langurs are another group of small monkeys found in India and Southeast Asia; they are popular in captivity, perhaps thanks to their appealing appearances, but as the saying goes, looks can be deceiving. In the wild, male langurs are known to engage in fights to the death for dominance; bands of bachelor males may attack and kill a dominant male and take control of his family, then kill any young monkeys he parented, prior to killing each other until only one male remains. Such aggression is easily transferred from monkey-on-monkey to monkey-on-human attacks, and as with so many monkeys, langurs carry zoonotic diseases, including Cryptosporidium, the protozoan responsible for giardiasis.
Baboons are also surprisingly common captives in the US, prompting at least one sanctuary to house them in a large, outdoor colony. Baboons are primarily herbivores, but like most primates, they eat their share of insects and other small animals as well. However, some wild baboons have been observed hunting and feeding on large birds, smaller monkeys, and even Thompson's gazelles, and their elongated incisors suggest that the animals are well adapted to a more carnivorous lifestyle. For keepers of captive baboons, this means more serious bites, and perhaps a more varied diet than the average urban animal collector is prepared to provide.
The mandrill and the drill are similar to baboons, but mandrills in particular are famous for the brightly colored faces and hindquarters exhibited by mature males. The mandrill is the largest monkey in the world, with males capable of exceeding 100 pounds. Like the baboons, mandrills sometimes hunt prey; wild males have been observed killing duikers - small, forest antelope, and in captivity, they have been known to capture and consume small birds that enter their enclosures. A mandrill is not an animal to be taken lightly, neither in terms of its size and strength nor the level of responsibility required for its proper captive care, as they have been known to live as long as 25 years in captivity. While they are not frequently seen in the exotic pet trade in North America, they are not uncommon in zoos, and they are therefore readily available to the general public.
Vervet monkeys are treated as vermin in South Africa, where they can legally be killed without any sort of permit or bag limit. In North America, they are common in laboratories and as pets, and like other monkeys they suffer terribly in captivity, and their social requirements are rarely met. Wild vervets live in large groups, and function as the alarm system for other animals on the African savannah; they are believed to possess rudimentary language, as alarm calls vary geographically and from one group to the next. For those who would ignore their basic needs and keep them in captivity regardless, vervets are also carriers of the herpes B virus, as well as African hemorrhagic fever, a few, little-known varieties of pox, and various other diseases transmissible to human beings.
Colobus monkeys are common victims of the bushmeat trade, and they are also hunted by troops of chimpanzees. They are sought by animal collectors who prize them for their long, flowing hair. The most common Colobus in captivity seems to be the guereza, which is similar in appearance to most of the other Colobus species, but other varieties are not unheard of in the wildlife trade. Colobus monkeys have been known to carry the bacteria that cause bovine tuberculosis, which can be transmitted to livestock and human beings.
Mangabeys are rare, African monkeys; the white-crowned mangabey is in fact so rare that as of 1999 only one accredited US zoo kept the species. However, a segment on the television program "20/20" uncovered how a laboratory was able to import the animals under a special research exemption, and dispose of them into the exotic pet trade. A primate dealer was then able to sell the monkeys to out-of-state buyers by taking payment in the form of a donation; he had incorporated his business as a nonprofit organization as a means to circumvent a number of legal hurdles, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service's prohibition of the interstate trade of endangered species. Other rare monkeys from West Africa, like the Diana monkey, are traded in the US in similar fashion; as is often the case, monkeys in danger of extinction in the wild are more common outside of zoos than inside, and to top it off, a number of West African species are frequent carriers of Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses (SIV), from which HIV is believed to have mutated.
The capuchins are extremely popular monkeys from Central and South America, used heavily in experimentation and very common in the exotic pet trade. They are the famous monkeys used by organ grinders for over a century. Some US zoos used to regularly sell surplus capuchin monkeys to the general public until they began to draw the scorn of animal welfare advocates; monkeys are still surplused, but it is done more quietly, and zoos have far more importers and breeders to compete with now. Capuchins are also used as helpers for disabled persons; the intelligent monkeys can be trained to perform a wide variety of tasks, like opening mail or cooking meals. Purchasing, training, and caring for a monkey is expensive, but still more affordable than a full-time attendant, and capuchins can live 40 years under proper conditions.
Spider monkey species are found from southern Mexico to the Amazon basin, and while they are not as common in the wild pet trade as capuchins, the Central American species is frequently available from US 'monkey farms'. Spider monkeys are particularly well adapted for life in the treetops, possessing strong, prehensile tails, and lacking the opposable thumbs that would only get in the way when swinging from branch to branch. Of course, few homes can provide a rainforest canopy for a spider monkey, nor can the average pet owner afford an appropriately sized social group of monkeys, as they cost thousands of dollars apiece to purchase and maintain. So for the monkeys, it's a life of wearing diapers and baby clothes, and frustration with inadequate opportunities to climb, followed by the usual biting, and a greatly increased chance of head lice for the pet owner.
Squirrel monkeys are another popular group of species. As their common name implies, they are relatively small; they also lack the prehensile tails possessed by spider monkeys and capuchins. Their small size is enough to convince people that they can be easily kept in an apartment, as opposed to an appropriate artificial habitat. In an internet article written by one squirrel monkey owner, she claims to be an excellent caretaker, then explains that the monkey is kept alone in a parrot cage, fed a diet that includes pasta, and that he has bitten her neighbor. In reality, a squirrel monkey's needs for space and environmental complexity are similar to those of larger New World monkeys, and likewise their need for socialization with others of their species is no less important. That squirrel monkeys are available at pet stores and easy to purchase does not make it ethical to hold one prisoner or to contribute to a highly unethical trade. So many monkeys are advertised as "hand-raised", but few consumers draw the obvious conclusion that these highly social mammals were therefore taken away from their mothers, either in captivity or by poachers in their native habitats.
Howler monkeys are the largest New World primates, with some species topping 20 pounds. They are found in the wild from southern Mexico to Argentina. Their size, strength, vocalizations, and dispositions make them poor pets, and even indigenous tribes in their native ranges rarely keep them. They are, however, popular pets in some areas of Argentina, and have of course entered the US exotic animal marketplace. Howlers are considered rare and therefore command high prices in the US, but like nearly all monkeys taken from the wild, they are obtained for next to nothing by poachers who shoot female monkeys and take their nursing offspring. Once in the US, howlers can be sold for thousands of dollars, whereas they may have been purchased in Latin America for pocket change.
Tamarins and marmosets are very popular in captivity as well, and like squirrel monkeys, their small size and endearing faces make them a temptation to many would-be exotic pet buyers. Breeders' price lists read like an inventory of the genus, with most of the known species readily available. The tiny pygmy marmoset is one candidate for the smallest primate on the world, weighing a mere 3 to 5 ounces at adulthood. The larger species round out the group at about 2 pounds, with the majority falling into the ¾ to 1½-pound range. Despite their small size, it is not uncommon for wild tamarins and marmosets to inhabit home ranges of well over 200 acres, foraging in small, family groups. As with most animals, territory is inversely proportional to the availability of food, and therefore captive primates require less room than those in the wild, but birdcages are still entirely unacceptable, despite being the standard enclosures used by exotic pet enthusiasts. It is also worth mentioning that imported marmosets have been documented to be infected with rabies.
The lemurs are primates, but not monkeys; the majority of species are found in the island nation of Madagascar, where habitat loss threatens to wipe out perhaps hundreds of species. Local superstitions and the bushmeat trade also put lemurs at risk, as does the export of live animals for scientific experimentation and the exotic pet trade. Ring-tailed lemurs, brown lemurs, and a few others are quite common in the US wildlife trade, while less common species are often bought and sold more secretively, and at much higher prices. Many lemurs live in social groups and cover large areas when foraging, a very different lifestyle from the leash training or laboratory testing so many experience in captivity. The tiny brown mouse lemur rivals the pygmy marmoset for the title of World's Smallest Primate, and as with all species labeled the biggest, smallest, fastest, etc., they are highly sought by animal collectors, if not especially common captives.
Bushbabies or galagos are another group of African primates that have become established in the pet trade, but like so many other fad pets, they are not well suited to life in captivity. Bushbabies are nocturnal and eat large quantities of insects and small vertebrates, fruits, and tree gums and saps in the wild. Their powerful hind legs enable them to leap long distances from tree to tree. Like most small mammals, they spend the vast majority of their waking hours in the pursuit of food, and bushbabies do so with the help of their finely tuned night vision and excellent hearing. Besides forming an important component of their diet, live insects are also important to captive bushbabies' behavioral enrichment, and should be provided in large quantities on a daily basis.
The lorises and pottos are somewhat similar in appearance to bushbabies, but very different in their activity levels; most of the lorises move slowly and deliberately, stalking insects rather than catching them with speed and agility. They rarely, if ever, leap from one branch to another, however they can pick up the pace when they feel threatened. Lorises also eat small vertebrates, sometimes capturing their prey as it sleeps. Bird eggs and fruit round out the diet. At least one species, the slow loris, produces a polypeptide toxin from glands in its arms, which is thought to repel predators when mixed with the animal's saliva. Indigenous people in Indonesia actually regard this mammal as venomous, and evidence suggests that it may use biting to deliver the toxin into the tissue of would-be predators. This species is also known to continually urinate on its hands, which it then wipes on trees to mark its territory - just what everyone wants in a household pet. Yet, despite their rather unappealing behavior, lorises are common pets in Southeast Asia and are exported to the US and other western destinations. As is the case with all other nonhuman primates, life in captivity tends to range from boring to brutal, and with any luck for the loris, it is also short.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Marsupials
The grey short-tailed opossum from South America has been used extensively in laboratory research, leading some to refer to it as the 'domestic opossum'. As is often the case with lab animals, surplus opossums have been disposed of into the exotic pet trade in large numbers, and they are commonly available in pet stores in several states. Their small size makes them more manageable than the larger Virginia opossum, but they are still wild animals and should be treated as such.
The remaining 70 or so species of New World marsupials are considerably less common in captivity in the US, which is not to say that they are never imported, but some are quite rare, and others are considered rather unattractive, like the big-eared opossum, whose lack of a thick coat gives the impression that it is infected with mange.
The majority of marsupial species are found in Australasia, and none are more familiar than the kangaroos. It has been claimed by many that Australia has a prohibition on all export of its native wildlife, but in reality, animals from "approved sources" can be legally exported without much difficulty, and smuggling is always an issue as well. Kangaroos are regular imports into the US, and breeders produce many more animals inside our borders. Few hobbyists are able to provide the large amount of space required by these animals, nor are they able to deal with their great strength or their powerful punches and kicks. Their ability to knock out a grown man made red kangaroos a popular Australian sideshow attraction in the early 1900s - a practice that for the most part has been discontinued, but has taken place in China as recently as 2006, and is sometimes featured in American cinema.
Wallaroos and wallabies are similar in appearance to kangaroos, but are smaller and less dangerous; as a result, Bennett's wallabies are popular exotic pets, and breeders are in business throughout the US. As with so many other exotic species, wallabies are often sold before they are weaned, and must be bottle-fed. The cruel practice of separating infants from their mothers is pervasive in the wild animal trade, but it can be an especially unnatural and traumatic severance for marsupials, as their mothers provide not only food and protection, but also a warm pouch in which to sleep.
At least two species of tree kangaroo are known to be present in the exotic pet trade, but it is likely that other species are represented as well. These animals from Australia and Papua New Guinea are primarily folivores, meaning that they eat leaves, but most species will also consume fruits and insects, and some eat tree bark as well. A diet of leaves has a fairly low nutritional value, and to conserve energy, tree kangaroos spend a good deal of time sleeping. These animals are large and powerful; captive individuals in New Guinea have been documented to quite handily defend themselves against groups of village dogs. In addition to the pet trade, tree kangaroos are hunted for meat and pelts, and most species are under strain from habitat loss; captive born individuals face the same identity crisis as other captive wildlife, unable to shed their fundamental unsuitability as pets, but lacking the survival skills to live in the wild.
Another well-known marsupial, and another folivore as well, is the koala. While they are heavily protected in their native home of Australia, many koalas are kept illegally in Australia, and intense interest among Americans in having one as a pet dictates that smuggling must take place on some scale. What may save them from ever becoming common in the pet trade is their specialized diet, which consists of around 50 varieties of eucalyptus leaves, with around a dozen, preferred species forming the bulk of their nutritional intake. To compound the difficulty in their care, the seemingly cuddly koalas are armed with powerful claws for climbing, which can also be used effectively in defense.
The spotted cuscus is another slow-moving, arboreal marsupial from Australia and Papua New Guinea, which has been exploited for its fur, and for the exotic pet trade. It is frequently seen as a pet in indigenous villages, but the animals are also exported to Europe and North America. Cuscuses eat mostly leaves and fruits, but their dentition suggests that they may also eat meat on a regular basis, and captive animals have demonstrated this as well. Even very young cuscuses can deliver serious bites, as one traveler discovered when he attempted to rescue a baby cuscus from tribal hunters; the animal slept soundly inside a sock, but later awoke, and in search of food, left the sock and delivered a painful bite to a very personal area.
Similar to the opossums in North and South America are the possums (no O) of Australasia, which fall into five separate families. This very diverse group of animals is found in the wild from Tasmania to Japan, with the majority residing in Australia. Many have been exploited for the pet trade within their native ranges and abroad. Perhaps the most striking of the possums is the striped possum, but it is another member of its family, the tiny sugar glider, which has the distinction of being one of the most popular exotic pets in the United States. Despite their popularity, little information is readily available for sugar glider care in comparison to the body of literature about more traditional companion animals, and the sugar glider's dietary needs can be difficult to meet. Like other small mammals, sugar gliders expend a great deal of energy in the production of body heat, and they need to eat more in relation to their body size than larger animals. In captivity, this means multiple feedings in the same day, and some kind of staple available at all times. Many pet owners quickly come to rely on the staple, often a commercial cat food, and without fresh fruits and proteins, the gliders quickly become ill from the unhealthy cat food. The provision of live insects, both for their nutritional value and as a behavioral enrichment tool, is something few pet owners are willing to provide with any degree of regularity. In addition, veterinarians with experience in diagnosing and treating marsupials can be very difficult to find; there may be only a handful, if any, in each state.
Other Australian marsupials are less common in the pet trade abroad, but may be seen more frequently as pets in their home range, where they also fall prey to automobiles, domestic dogs and cats, and introduced species like the poisonous cane toad, or rabbits, which compete for food. The wombats are a particularly popular family, somewhat resembling a terrestrial form of the koala. Others, like bilbies, bandicoots, and the numbat, certainly hold appeal for wild pet enthusiasts, and are kept illegally in many part of Australia.
Some marsupials have evolved to fill the predator niche typically occupied by wild cats and dogs in other parts of the world; the Tasmanian devil, made famous by Warner Brothers' cartoons, is primarily a scavenger, but will take live prey as well. The challenges of keeping one in captivity are similar to those of maintaining any medium-sized carnivore, however it is also reported that Tasmanian devils possess a strong, unpleasant odor. They are also difficult to house communally, as they tend to be very abusive of one another; mating is usually performed by force, and the resulting offspring often drive their mothers away after a few months of living outside of the pouch.
The thylacine, also called a Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, is almost certainly extinct; efforts to breed and raise the animal in captivity failed, and ranchers wiped out the species' wild population. Some scientists believe that a few thylacines remain in the wild, in the most remote forests of Tasmania, while others have begun research on cloning the animal from preserved specimens.
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Exotic Birds
In comparison to the mortality rate of captive birds, the threats they pose to human beings are quite low, but like so many other wild animals, birds offer up a variety of zoonotic diseases, and some are potentially deadly. Psittacosis, an infection caused by a species of Chlamydia bacteria, is considered fairly rare, but in some cases it has proven to be fatal in humans, as it may result in endocarditis, hepatitis (non-viral), pneumonia, and neurological damage. Despite its reputed rarity, large numbers of infected birds have been documented in pet stores, where perhaps thousands of members of the general public were exposed before any symptoms were detected, and around 30-50 cases of human infection are reported annually in the US. Bacterial infections from E. coli and Salmonella species can result from contact with birds, especially when they are kept in unsanitary conditions and fed poor diets. Avian tuberculosis, similar to human and bovine TB, can cause wound infections and swollen lymph nodes in humans. Eastern equine encephalitis is caused by a virus carried by some birds and transmitted by mosquitoes, and can result in coma if left untreated. Cryptosporidium is a protozoan that causes respiratory distress in birds, and can result in nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea when transmitted to humans. While not zoonotic diseases, some fungi thrive in bird waste, and can be transmitted to humans through inhalation or incidental ingestion; Cryptococcus and Histoplasma sometimes cause severe pulmonary infections, which may be fatal without treatment. Allergic alveolitis is a condition common to bird keepers, and typically results from exposure to fecal dust, dander, and feathers, especially in a confined area. Symptoms can include reduced lung capacity, inflammation of the lungs' gas exchange units (alveoli), and permanent lung lesions. Because most birds eat, and therefore defecate, throughout the day, keeping an enclosure clean and free of droppings at all times is virtually impossible; whereas natural processes break down bird waste rather quickly in the wild, artificial environments and confined spaces are ideal media for the buildup of waste and the proliferation of pathogens.
The parrots are possibly the most popular birds in captivity, with 17,000 imported into the US annually, and perhaps hundreds of thousands more are produced by breeders each year. The broad similarities between parrot species give them similar requirements in captivity, but it is a mistake to think that their care should be identical. Little research has been conducted on the individual nutritional, housing, or socialization requirements of any but the most common species, and such research is usually based on captive birds with little or no comparison made to the same species in its wild state. Most of the Amazons, a group of 27 known species from Central and South America, spend their days in small flocks or even pairs, coming together in slightly larger groups to roost at night. In contrast, some cockatoos in Australia gather in the hundreds or even the thousands. The sulfur-crested cockatoo and a few other species are at home in cool temperatures, and can survive outdoors in many parts of the US, but many tropical species can become fatally ill from exposure to temperatures in the 50s or even the low 60s. There is truly no such thing as 'just a parrot', but most pet dealers would have you believe that a wire cage, a bag of parrot food, a little fresh fruit, and some chew toys are all any parrot needs, regardless of its species. What starts as a novelty, a 'talking' bird, often ends as a tragedy, when poor diet, lack of socialization, and improper housing lead to physical and mental health problems.
Smaller parrots like parakeets, budgerigars, and lovebirds are no less diverse in their captive requirements, and like the cockatoos and some other parrot species, some of these smaller birds may gather in flocks of thousands in the wild. Budgerigars are known to form 'super flocks' of 20,000 or more birds, a spectacle that could most likely not be replicated in captivity (nor should anyone try). While their beaks are smaller and their bites less severe, a small bird should be considered no more manageable than the larger species in terms of its husbandry; some of these smaller species inhabit bigger home ranges in the wild than the larger birds, and the natural inclination to fly long distances is but one of many needs that are typically overlooked. With the constant availability of food in captivity, birds do not need to travel a thousand miles with the changing seasons, but they do have requirements better met by a large aviary than by a wire cage in someone's living room.
Consumers pay big money for 'hand-raised' birds. Hand-raised is another way of saying that parrot and parakeet chicks were hatched in an incubator or taken away from their parents shortly after hatching. The young birds are fed by hand and all of their early contact is with people, and thus they imprint on human beings instead of on other birds. Birds that imprint on people never truly learn to be birds, and spend their lives in confusion; many never learn to fly, and undergo major psychological trauma when they are weaned too soon and shipped off to pet stores, away from the human 'parents' they rely upon to meet all their needs. These tortured birds often scream in terror whenever they are left alone; some pull out their feathers or even rip at their own skin with their powerful beaks. Considering the fact that some parrot species can survive over 100 years in captivity, the ramifications of hand-raising the birds for the pet trade are significant; however few captive birds attain more than a small fraction of their potential age.
As with so many species of small mammals and reptiles, birds have been selectively bred to such an extent in captivity that there are numerous color morphs commonly seen in several species, but perhaps none are more varied than the canary. Canaries originally came from the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira, but they were made popular as caged birds in Europe as early as the 1600s. Because only the males sing, those who sold canaries in the early years were able to keep the birds in high demand by only selling males, and thus preventing the average person from breeding them. Eventually, canary hens become more readily obtainable, and the market was quickly flooded with birds. Unlike the parrots, canaries are not highly social, and males will fight if housed together. Thanks to centuries of selective breeding, the modern canary is physically distinct from its wild ancestor, and as such would likely have a low survival rate in the wild, however its psychological needs have probably changed very little, and the cruelty of caged life is no less severe.
Other finches, like society finches and zebra finches, are popular alternatives to parrots and parakeets because they tend to be fairly calm and quiet, and their seed-based dietary needs are easier to meet. Most of the more common finches in the pet trade also cost significantly less than most parrots. Like the canaries, selective breeding has given rise to a number of color and pattern morphs, but behaviorally, the birds remain much the same as their wild ancestors.
Less common in captivity than parrots or fiches, the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris are growing in popularity. These inquisitive birds can be difficult to care for, particularly with regard to nutrition, as insects and small vertebrates are often part of the mix in the wild. Some toucan hobbyists believe that the packaged softbill diets commonly available provide enough nutritional diversity that they need only be supplemented with fresh fruit, but as thorough studies of toucan nutrition are lacking, chances are that these diets are missing important components. Toucans and their relatives are distinct from most other birds in the pet trade in that their large bills make flight rather awkward, and toucans do not cover great distances in the wild, preferring to hop from branch to branch in the forest canopy. This might make their proper housing requirements in captivity easier to meet, but their territorial nature, along with their specialized diets, more than make up for that convenience.
Similar in appearance to toucans are the hornbills of Africa and Asia. Like toucans, some hornbills prefer hopping to flying, and one species, the ground hornbill, spends most of its time hunting and scavenging for carrion on foot in the African grasslands. Hornbills from wetter, forested areas tend to have diets more similar to those of toucans, consisting more of fruit than of carrion or small animals. Like toucans, toucanets, and aracaris, hornbills are growing in popularity as pets in the United States, and like toucans, toucanets, and aracaris, they require a degree of care that exceedingly few American households are capable of providing.
---Under construction; more bird info coming soon---
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Native Birds
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Reptiles and Amphibians
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
Farm Animals
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Companion Animals
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Other Animals
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Link
