Why Commercial Animal Breeding and Wildlife Trading are Detrimental to Both Animals and People

By Jessica Wojnicki

Introduction

Imagine living in a cage only a few times your body length, with many others cramped in with you. Only given the minimum amount of food and water to survive, you go many days starving and thirsty (“Stopping”). Now imagine this happening to over 500,000 dogs around the world (“Stopping”). These are just the dogs held in puppy mills for breeding. 2.6 million puppies are sold originating from a puppy mill, many with a variety of health issues that affect the puppy and their family for the rest of the pet’s life, which is oftentimes shortened due to these preventable health problems (“Stopping”). Exotic animals go through similar situations, with many facing even worse conditions, and the methods used by trappers to get them to buyers are not only cruel, but they have no purpose other than to feed the trappers’ neverending greed. Even though these operations often go overlooked and are allowed to operate illegally, these animals do not deserve to live in these conditions, nor do they have to. Wildlife trading and commercial animal breeding are detrimental to both animals and people.

Exotic Animals

In order to fuel the exotic animal trade, many animals are illegally caught from the wild (“Inside”). In order to send them over state or country borders without getting caught and shut down, trappers put these animals in horrible conditions to hide them (“Inside”). Many times, birds are stuffed in plastic tubes, and turtles are taped in a way to be stuck inside their shells (“Inside”). The ones that do survive have more to suffer, as many people buy or adopt animals with little or no prior knowledge of the species, believing that given the basic necessities, food and water, the animal can survive in any environment, even a small cage (“Inside”). Due to this, many owners are naive about the care that their new pets require, and either stay naive until the pet dies for “no reason” or are overwhelmed by the care and try to get rid of the animal (“Inside”). While this process might be easier for some animals then others, exotic animals suffer the most due to these types of owners. Well meaning, though overwhelmed, new owners sometimes falsely conclude that since the exotic animal can survive in and come from a wild environment, the newly acquired pet can be released into the surrounding environment and be free. This is often not the case. Many released animals, especially exotic animals not originating from the area, will die either from the inability to hunt the local animals, or from the unfamiliar climate (Gentes). The ones that do survive will have an arguably worst fate. Many released animals that do survive disrupt the local food chains by eating some organisms and causing others that prey on those organisms to starve (Gentes). In addition, many exotic animals lack domestication, leading to the so-called ”pets” that weren’t disposed of by naive owners to start to attack people as the animal grows older and instincts kick in (“Ownership”). These horrified owners turn to methods, some of which can be classified as animal abuse, to keep the animals scared and submissive (“Ownership”). While this might work in the short term, depending on the animal’s temperament, this can in no way be categorized as true domestication as domestication happens through selective breeding over thousands of years (“Ownership”).

Primates

One of the most dangerous exotic pets are primates such as macaque monkeys (Green; Herpes). They seem harmless, but around 90% of these monkeys are thought to have herpes B, which are deadly when left untreated (Green). And while it seems easy to get treatment, many don’t have the knowledge that their beloved pet has a viral infection that can kill, as many times the monkeys show little to no symptoms of being infected, and they only shed the virus at irregular intervals (Herpes; Green). In addition, transmission usually occurs through bites, so owners could go years without knowing that the primate has herpes (Herpes). When transmission does occur though, the results could be disastrous. Beginning symptoms like fatigue and headaches can progress to more serious symptoms such as difficulty swallowing, sensory loss and convulsions in a couple of weeks (Green). When left untreated, it can kill in as little as four weeks, and many survivors have permanent neurological damage (Green). Many bites are also unreported as these pets are often owned illegally, and owners fear punishment, leading to people not getting bites checked out, and then going to the doctor for severe symptoms which get treated incorrectly. These bites in addition to other unwanted behavior such as throwing poop, urinating everywhere and scratching will usually develop after puberty, meaning a sweet baby will not always lead to a sweet adult (Parker). These unwanted behaviors are often harmful and disruptive, but natural for the primate, meaning it can’t be stopped, no matter how much training is done (Parker). This leads to many owners wanting to get rid of the monkeys, but these primates can’t be rehomed easily (Parker; Green). As they were taken from their mother as a baby, pet monkeys can rarely be released back into the wild, as they lack the survival skills to survive (Parker; Green). This means many unwanted pets are sold back into the exotic pet trade or dumped at sanctuaries, which are often understaffed (Green). In addition, some sanctuaries have staff who weren’t trained to handle specific species, such as these pet monkeys, putting them at risk of safety concerns, including contracting zoonotic diseases and being injured by these primates.

Puppy Mills

While exotic animals suffer greatly at the hands of poachers and uneducated carers, some might argue that dogs stuck in commercial breeding systems endure worse conditions. The state of the conditions of these animals’ living areas vary between breeders, but in many of the locations, dogs are in horrible conditions, with the worst barely meeting the bare requirements for the animals to survive (Hall). Some even give the dogs water as little as twice a day while keeping them in cramped cages (Hall). Even though these conditions sound horrendous, they meet “the standards set by the Animal Welfare Act,” meaning that these breeders are actually licensed (Hall). In addition, out of the 10,000 US commercial breeders, 80% are unlicensed, a mass majority of these breeders either don’t bother to get licensed, or don’t even meet the low standards that are required by law (Hall). And even with multiple citations against these companies, many times they can remain licensed and allowed to continue breeding these pets (Hall). Even though it seems impossible to break the cycle of suffering for these animals, California has shown otherwise (Hall). They recently passed a state law that bans the selling of cats, dogs, and rabbits in pet stores from commercial breeders (Hall). While this prevents the selling of commercially bred companion animals, it doesn’t ban the adopting out of animals from shelters and rescue groups, hopefully promoting the transition from the unhealthy commercial breeding of companion animals to providing second chances for loving pets (Hall).

Conclusion

Imagine instead of the horrifying conditions commercial bred and wild caught animals go through, every animal is treated humanely, and all animals are given the care they deserve. Wild animals stay wild, and the animals waiting in the shelters have loving homes. These are the examples that legislators should take inspiration from, to make sure that all animals are safe, healthy and have the best life that they can. Laws should be passed as soon as possible to ensure that these animals’ lives are improved and protected, as well as to decrease the risks that these animals pose to people. Stronger punishments should also be made to discourage the breaking of these laws, as these animals deserve to be in the best environment that they can. There is hope for these animals, as long as people are willing to help them.