考研阅读精选：私人豢养外来野生动物--风险尚存
『豢养猩猩、老虎和熊等野生动物作为宠物的行为是否应该被管制或禁止？』Exotic Animals as Pets: An Unregulated Risk
私人豢养外来野生动物：风险尚存
Oct. 20th, 2011 | From The New York Times
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IMAGINE the panic and terror experienced by the monkeys, bears, lionsand leopards that ran loose in Ohio earlier this week as they werechased and then killed by the police. Imagine the heartbreak of thepolice officers who were obliged to destroy the rambling menagerie.Officers are not trained to stalk big game and bring them in alive withtranquilizer darts.
Why was there no law regulating theanimal collection of Terry Thompson, who freed his animals and thenapparently killed himself?
I’ve spent the last few yearsprowling America in search of people who share their lives with greatapes, big cats and long snakes. Mr. Thompson is not unique.
Monkeys seem particularly ubiquitous; a cursory online search canconnect you with a purveyor. Exotic animal auctions are crowded withbuyers, and the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition — which opposesthe practice — estimates the number of exotic fanciers in the millions.
Owners who bond with their pets as cubs or kittens,bottle-feed and cuddle them, often convince themselves that theirrelationship is special and their full-grown bear or cat will never turnon them. Yet it’s not just about cuteness and beauty; controlling ananimal that arouses fear in other people can be appealing. That’s whythose with egos that need feeding, from Kublai Khan to William RandolphHearst to Mexican drug traffickers, are connected by the desire to stocktheir personal zoos.
Most apes, cats, bears and otheranimals change when they reach adolescence. They become stronger, moreaggressive and less predictable. But is their potential to cause troubleenough reason to regulate or prohibit keeping them as household pets?If we allow ourselves to keep dogs (which can be out of control andvicious), why not other animals like chimpanzees, even if they alsomight exhibit violent behavior?
Champions of exotic petownership insist that their rights to enjoy the animals outweigh therisks. “This was not an animal getting out because of a failed cage,”Zuzana Kukol, an exotic-animal owner, told me when I checked in with herafter the Ohio massacre. “The cage was fine. This was a deliberate actof terror.”
I visited her and her partner, Scott Shoemaker,on their Nevada desert spread, far removed from their neighbors and hometo Bam-Bam, their 500-plus pound lion, and an assortment of other cats.The two lobby against laws restricting animal ownership. Their isolatedcompound seems a rare example: well fenced, with animals rescued orbred in captivity, apparently healthy. It’s hard to imagine a betteralternative for Bam-Bam and their other animals.
Yet thisweek’s events in Ohio and other tragic cases prove that exotic animalspresent challenges. Nationwide, the laws on keeping wildlife as pets area confusing patchwork. Enforcement of those that exist is haphazard,and penalties for violations are rarely severe.
“Exotic” is afluid term for pets, but we ought to be able to agree on a list ofanimals that historically do not cohabitate with humans and pose such athreat that they must be caged. Then it’s an easy step to come up withfederal laws to protect the animals and their neighbors. It’s past timeto regulate the wild beasts: us. (535 words)
文章地址：
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/exotic-animals-as-pets-an-unregulated-risk.html
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