Just one winky-tinky, wee little problem with that “pocket pet” article - aside from the fact that they quoted an H$U$ flack as an “expert” about anything… The vast majority of the “pocket pets” mentioned are not imported. They are raised domestically, and have been for years, if not decades (in the case of ferrets).

That article on pocket pets was ridiculous.  Ferrets, chinchillas and sugar gliders are being taken from the wild?  That makes no sense considering how readily they breed in captivity.  I don’t think the ferrets you buy as pets even exist in the wild, as they are domesticated animals.

As for someone being hospitalized after their kinkajou bit them, I’ve read approximately 675,000 people seek medical treatment every year from cat bites.  Half of those bites become infected.  Infections from cat bites are nasty and require immediate medical attention.  Then there are the 4 million people who are bitten by dogs a year.  I’m sure many of those bites become infected too.

Animal rights activists make it seem like you have to have a team of zoo keepers to care for a bearded dragon or chinchilla.  I believe the problem is laziness/unwillingness, not capability.  Same with dogs and cats.  It is not hard to take a dog for a walk, play with it, feed it, shovel it’s poop, etc., but million of people don’t want to do it so they dump their dog at a shelter.  It’s even easier to care for a cat, but people still get bored of them/don’t want to care for them and dump them.

I’ve watched my relative’s dog while they were on vacation, and he took much more effort to care for than all of the exotic pets (reptiles, tarantulas, shrimp, dart frogs) I have combined.

I’ve noticed that almost every single reason these animal rights groups use to make exotic/non-traditional pets seem bad bad/dangerous/unethical to own also apply to dogs and cats.  Yet many won’t outright say no one should keep dogs and cats as pets because then they would lose donation money from the dog and cat lovers that they depend upon.

Hopefully more pet owners will realize these groups don’t just want to end private ownership of tigers, lions and chimpanzees, but the ownership of all animals, even their precious dogs and cats.

Not only are the “pocket pets” bred in captivity locally (which is becoming harder to do, with the trend among pet stores to sell hamsters, etc.. of only one gender) but in the case of chinchillas, from what I’m given to understand, the ones you see in the pet shop are those who didn’t quite make the cut as fur sources. The pet chinchillas, basically, are rescues which would have been killed and tossed if there weren’t a pet market for them.

Kinkajou really aren’t pocket pets, but more of an “exotic”, like ocelots. (HSUS twist the facts to fit their agenda?!!)

~Bruce

This isn’t a surprise to anyone in the reptile industry.  They said exactly the same thing about OUR pets, and a lot more.  It is no more true about reptiles than it is about ‘pocket pets’.

Gosh, I can’t remember the last time I heard of someone shooting female hamsters to steal their babies for export, can you?  lol…..

Ferrets, by the way, aren’t just raised domestically—they are domesticated animals, just like dogs and cats. 

Who ever heard of people killing mother sugar gliders for their joeys, and how would that even be possible, much less practical?  While that has been known to occur in regards to larger animals like primates, it’s a little absurd to claim it’s done with small species.
Sugar gliders are an Australian species, and what we have outside of Australia is all we get…Australia doesn’t allow any of its wildlife to be exported any longer, and hasn’t for quite some time.  All sugar gliders in the US are captive bred.