REUTERS UK 28 May 04 RSPCA Warning Over Exotic Pets

London: Pet owners should be legally obliged to care for their animals because growing numbers of exotic pets suffer through abuse and ignorance, says the country's largest animal welfare charity.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), which collected more than 2,500 neglected or abandoned exotic pets last year, said a survey showed pet shops, owners, and vets all lacked the knowledge to care for them.

"Under a duty of care, all animal owners would have a legal responsibility to ensure that animals have adequate food and water, appropriate shelter and environment and access to proper veterinary treatment," the charity said in a statement.

Around 60 percent of pet shops surveyed did not provide care advice to customers who said they had no experience of keeping exotic animals, and 16 percent wrongly claimed the animal would never get ill.

RSPCA Scientific Officer Sarah Kennell said one pet shop advised a caller to "baffle the local authority with words" to get a licence to keep a caiman alligator.

"When told there was a baby in the house where the caiman would be kept, they merely suggested that the baby wasn't allowed into the tank," she added.

Over half of vets surveyed could not treat exotic animals. One third referred cases to other vets, and a fifth neither treated them nor referred them on.

Green iguanas are the most commonly imported animals protected in commercial trade, with some 700,000 entering the country in the 1990s.

"One vet reported that he had treated a green iguana that had been fed on breakfast cereal and milk and kept loose in a bedroom with no source of ultraviolet light," the charity said.
RSPCA Warning Over Exotic Pets

[ Show Entire Thread ]