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Opinions: Don't walk on the wild side


When I taking a tour at the Phoenix Zoo recently, my tour guide went off on a tangent. Apparently, there is one subject that really gets his goat.

That happens to be when he is manning the phones and someone calls in asking what to feed a grown jaguar that is obviously upset and is starting to claw through the outdoor wall.

"Do you have a jaguar doing that, or is this just an interesting hypothetical question?" our zookeeper would ask. "Oh, I'm just curious," responds the mystery caller, of whom our zookeeper asks, "Well, why don't you give me your name and address so I can send you a packet about the fascinating dietary habits of a jaguar?" Then, of course, the caller quickly hangs up because the zookeeper is on to him — he's got an illegal exotic pet.

Besides those phone calls from these illegal exotic pet owners in need parenting guidance, there is another unorthodox challenge that zookeepers must face: when someone decides that the cute exotic baby animal that they loved has grown up into its natural, wild self and is just no longer suitable as a house pet. Lots of these people take the pet to the zoo and drop it off in the cover of the night. In the morning, it is not unusual for the employees to find monkeys in the trees, snakes in the coves, big lizards under rocks, etc. The worst one yet was when a little boy who was feeding ducks in the pond got the scare of his life as the large mouth of an alligator came from the dark water and swallowed the entire team of ducks right before his eyes.

After the zookeepers catch the loose animal (which usually takes a while), they then have to decide what to do with it. It is not so easy as to go throw it in with the other species of its kind. It could be diseased or have bad genetic lines that they don't want mixed in with the resident animals.

Then there are the people who want to take the animals out of the zoo to have at home or sell. Once a cunning man placed his backpack in the habitat of a very endangered tortoise, knowing that a private collector would pay a lot for that specimen. He waited for the tortoise to climb in and then zipped up the bag and hurried out of the park. Luckily, some vigilant employees noticed the man and the zookeepers were quickly on his trail. They raced out to the parking lot where the man got in his car and the zookeepers got in theirs. The man realized he was had, so, while driving, he launched the backpack housing the tortoise into the road. One zookeeper recovered the animal that luckily survived the episode but was shaken up (Side note: how can you tell that a tortoise is shaken up?).

Stories like these are frequent and never-ending. When a plant or animal is rare, people will pay good money for it. That is, of course, ironic because by loving these animals so much that people want to have one at home, they are taking them out of the breeding population, which, in turn, hurts the species. People just won't listen to reason, which is why the illegal animal and animal products trade is huge, just behind the illegal drug trade.

Why are people so greedy that they can't enjoy the zoo but they have to own a zoo? Moral of the story is this: Just because a cheetah is cute as a baby, it doesn't mean they will always be that way. There is an easy solution to this problem — buy a season pass to the zoo and a labrador. Both of your needs will be met.

Lindsay Wood is a conservation biology senior. Reach her at: lindsay.wood@asu.edu.


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