Quote:
Originally posted by Doug & Deb
I have the same question that JD reptiles has. Instead of getting animal control involved why don't you negotiate the price and buy it. Don't be so cheap. By calling animal control you once again cause the reptile species more problems. It is because of this that they keep making harsher and harsher rules and banning reptiles in more and more areas. Why don't you try to educate the store that does not know how to take care of the animal I really don't think they intentionally abuse them.
Doug & Deb
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Actually, it is WAAAAAYYYYY more expensive adopting confiscated animals than buying them. Adoption fees start at $30 for animals that didn't require any medical treatment during the 72 hour holding period and go up quite a bit when they need veterinary care. Most of the animals I've adopted have cost me at least 3 times what the pet store was charging. By the time most animals are sick enough to meet the guidelines for confiscation, most of them are on death's door and have been in intensive care with very expensive veterinary treatment.
As a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, I can get the animals sent to a clinic that works with me to maximize the care given and minimize the costs. I work with a team of veterinary surgeons, an anesthesiologists, and 2 nutritionists who donate their time and medical supplies in order to do this. We rescue up to 4,000 animals a year.
Here's an example, I rescued a green iguana last spring who had fused vertebrae from being literally crammed into a small fishtank. He was paralyzed from the pelvis down and had a severely irregular heartbeat because of dehydration and malnutrition. My adoption fee for Amazon was $400, for an iguana being sold for $12.99. But this was a bargain because that $400 covered 3 days on IV fluids, an MRI, physical therapy, heart monitoring, and medications. The MRI alone should have cost over $1,000 but the University of Pennsylvania donated the time and a radiologist's services.
This has proven to be the best way to get reptile-protecting animal cruelty laws enacted. The US has 2 separate sets of laws. Domesticated mammals and farm animals are regulated through the Department of Agriculture, which has very good guidelines for husbandry and can step in to remedy store conditions before things get out of hand.
Reptiles, birds, and exotic mammals go through Fish and Wildlife Services. They have a minimal budget and almost no staff to speak of. The laws are strongly geared towards protecting animals in the wild and pet shop animals have very few protections. Fish and Wildlife Service rangers have no jurisdiction over pet stores and cannot regularly check in to make sure minimum care standards are maintained or exceeded under the current set of laws.
Going through Animal Control is the best way to document nationwide statistics on reptile abuse to get more proactive laws drafted. Vast steps have been made in helping to stop the abuse of birds smuggled up from Central and South America. The incidences of disease such as French molt and psitticosis have gone way down and mortality rates have plummeted. Captive breeding programs have been funded and that has significantly reduced the market for smuggled birds stolen from the wild.
We are still in the baby steps stages of giving reptiles the same protection. However, we've made some great progress that has helped to lessen the bans on reptiles in PA, NJ and DE cities. Our work has proved that there is minimal risk of zoonotic diseases transmitted by animals who have been properly housed while in the pet trade.
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