Exotic or wild

[lady_borg]

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When is ownership of wild turned domesticated ever okay?

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[lady_borg]

I dissagree with it unless its a rescue situation and the cub had to be hand reared. otherwise is fucking wrong.

[moustachios]

When the animals are actually domesticated (born and raised around humans, docile temperament, properly socialized), and when people and the animal are unlikely to get hurt if things go wrong. Adopting a wild frog is a hell of a lot different than adopting a freakin' bengal, let alone a cougar.

Large wild animals are beautiful and mysterious and not something people get to experience every day. I understand how awe-inspiring it could be to live with one, and how privileged it could make a person feel. But if you want a pet cougar/lion/lynx/tiger, go down to the SPCA and get a damn housecat. It can't eat you, but it sure thinks it's a noble and commanding beast, prowling its territory. Isn't that good enough?

[moustachios]

Also, the animal's needs have to be met. Even if a line of cougars were to go through several generations of domestication and eventually end up no more likely to maim their owners than, say, a cow... you can't keep it in a one-room city apartment, y'know?

[idemandjustice]

I do agree, but, um, there is a domestic cat breed called a bengal. :)

[moustachios]

Sorry, re-reading, I realized I put up kind of a muddled sentence. I was using them as an example of domesticated animals that still come with a lot of issues. They're cross-breeds between domestic cats and (wild) asian leopard cats. Thanks to genetics, they've got a host of behaviours that make them challenging housepets, and a lot of them end up put down or surrendered because their owners didn't anticipate the energy or the destruction that goes with them. The further a bengal is from a leopard, the more "typical" housecat behaviours it will have, and the fewer wild ones, but it's a process that takes several years and a lot of very selective breeding.

I probably should have said: there are some wild animals (like frogs) that are less trouble than thoroughly domesticated ones (like cats), and even less-thoroughly domesticated ones (like bengals). And then there are animals which should be born with big flashing "NO! TOUCH ME AND I EAT YOU!" signs on their foreheads.

[sixdemonhag]

Gorgeous cat. And I'd love to pet one. But I'd never have one for a "pet", nor do I think much of those who do. Safety issues aside, I don't think it would be fair to the cat.

[personasystem]

It depends on the type of wild animal, the location of the people raising it, their resources and knowledge about that kind of animal, etc.

Cougars are incredibly deadly. Also, they're solitary cats. Solitary cougars around where I'm from can 'own' areas of up to twenty miles before their territories overlap. All in all, they aren't 'pets' and shouldn't be domesticated.

Other big cats (and wild animals), like bobcats, can make fine indoor-outdoor pets if the owner is prepared to deal with that kind of animal. We have two on our family's ranch back home that wandered in one day and now have been trained to guard the chickens.

[personasystem]

Yeah, they sleep with the dogs in the barn, too. About twenty years ago there was a bobcat out there that worked as a cattle cat, but it died a long time ago.

[freakshownia]

Never. Temporary foster care is ok, but I detest the word ownership being applied to animals. I would love to share my life with a big cat. But would I? Heck no. Though I would be quite happy to raise an orphaned baby for a rescue organisation.