T HE theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day, which fell on March 3, was “The future of wildlife is in our hands”. This theme is timely.
A local English daily’s recent expose of how wildlife traders use social media to sell protected species illegally shows that it continues to thrive in Malaysia despite the strict laws and regulations under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 and Animal Welfare Act 2015.
Most are unaware of, or are indifferent to, the suffering of wildlife that are traded as pets. Local celebrities and political personalities are among those who have purchased protected species as pets.
Comments from social media users are largely encouraging and full of envy, with many expressing the desire to purchase similar animals due to their beauty and the fact that they are seen as status symbols.
Reasons wildlife traders and owners give to justify keeping exotic pets include:
THE animals’ natural habitats have been destroyed, or their mothers have been killed, and the young have no way of surviving in the wild. Keeping them as pets is the humane thing to do.
ANIMALS bred in captivity are used to captivity and dependent on humans.
THEY genuinely love animals and regard them as family members.
THERE is no difference between keeping wildlife and dogs, cats and other domestic animals as pets.
KEEPING wildlife in captivity and as pets can prevent a species from becoming extinct.
However, there are scientifically-proven reasons why wildlife should not be in captivity and why the trade is a threat to bio-diversity, ecosystems and, human health and safety.
The Wildlife Conservation Society reports that the threat of extinction of wildlife species due to illegal trade is very real and an immediate problem.
Wildlife trade is valued at about US$8 billion (RM33 billion) annually, surpassed in scale only by the illegal trade in drugs and arms.
Many exotic species advertised as “captive bred” are actually poached from the wild. Captive breeding of wildlife is expensive and frequently unsuccessful. Traders and poachers find it easier and cheaper to capture animals from their native habitats and pass them off as captive-bred to assuage the guilt of customers.
Wild animals, especially wild cat hybrids such as Bengal cats (i.e. Asian leopard cat and domestic cat hybrids) and serval and caracal hybrids, are unsuited to indoor life and have been known to attack and seriously injure their human handlers and other pets. Captive-bred hybrid cats that escape become prolific hunters, killing native wildlife such as birds and small mammals such as pet dogs, cats and rabbits.
Pet snakes, which are frequently abandoned once their owners tire of them, also end up killing birds and other wildlife. Released or abandoned turtles, including the red-eared slider turtle, may carry the salmonella virus and threaten the health of humans and other species. Any released or escaped introduced species will compete with native species for food and territory and cause an imbalance in the local ecology.
Many animals die of shock, stress, illness and injury during capture, transport, transit and captivity. For example, baby turtles are sealed shut in their shells for transport and the slow loris have their teeth and claws clipped without anaesthesia. Many die due to lack of treatment. Slow loris populations in the wild are rapidly declining due to high demand in the pet trade after YouTube videos showed them being kept as amusing companions. All eight species of slow loris are now threatened.
Birds, especially parrots, are sedated and have their beaks cut or taped up, legs bound and wings clipped or tied. Most are sedated and stuffed into bags or cardboard mailer tubes. The Animal Law Coalition reports that 60 per cent of wild-caught birds do not survive.
Contrary to claims that people who acquire exotic pets do so because they love animals, in reality the pets often end up being surrendered to zoos or animal shelters, abandoned or killed due to ignorance and neglect. Animal welfare organisations and veterinarians have also attested that small animals such as hedgehogs, chinchillas and chipmunks die from being roughly handled.
The only true way to show love and admiration for a particular species is to protect its habitat and wild population, and observe it in its natural environment. Report wildlife crime through the Wildlife and National Parks Department’s website or the Careline at 1300-80-10-10 or the 24-hour NGO-run Wildlife Crime Hotline at 019-356 4194.
Wong Ee Lynn,
Coordinator, Green Living Special
Interest Group, Malaysian Nature
Society