Pet shops
Most people obtain their exotic animals from pet shops, yet the standards of care and advice to customers is often highly inadequate.
An RSPCA study found:
68% did not ask whether the person had experience of this kind of animal;
60% did not provide care advice to people with no experience of keeping the animal before.
Another RSPCA survey in 2008 found that only about one-third of surveyed shops provided free information for new owners on how to care for the animals and this dropped to just 7% when sheets provided by a major pet chain are discounted.
The RSPCA report 'Shell Shock: the continuing illegal trade in tortoises' surveyed tortoises imported into pet shops and found that within the first year of purchase an average of 26.5% died and within 4 years 92% were dead. They died when owners were unable to provide the environmental conditions they need to survive.
According to the Animal Protection Agency 'animal traders and pet shop staff commonly lie about the origins of their animals and lead customers to believe, for example, that they are captive-bred when in fact they have been snatched from the wild. The capture and transportation process is so brutal that the majority of animals die before they reach the pet shop. The trade in wild animals for pets is driving many species towards extinction.'
Many thanks to The Captive Animals' Protection Society for the above information which is taken from their 'Exotic Animals are Not Pets' factsheet. We highly recommend you visit http://www.captiveanimals.org/images/Exotic%20pet%20factsheet.pdf and read this factsheet in full in its original format. Please support CAPS and their invaluable work by visiting their website at http://www.captiveanimals.org and seeing how you can help.
