Wild Animals As Pets

- Mientjie Kleinhans

It doesn’t matter how big the temptation is, how cute the animals are, or whether an abandoned baby was found somewhere – there are no excuses – taming wild animals as pets is impermissible. There are various reasons why wild animals cannot be kept as pets. Animaltalk spoke to Bradley Oosthuizen, Public Relations Officer at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC), to find out what the possible dangers are and why wild animals should not be kept as pets.

Why is it important not to try and tame wild animals? What are the dangers?

There are several reasons why this is a bad idea.

Firstly, it is against the law. Without proper permits and permission, it is against the law to capture and raise any type of wild animal in captivity.

You can’t domesticate a wild animal. Domestication is a process that takes centuries within an animal species. Dogs and cats have been bred as pets for thousands of years. You can’t simply love the wild out of an animal.

Wild animals carry diseases. Did you know that many wild animals could be carriers of rabies without showing any symptoms? Bringing a wild animal into your home exposes your whole family — you, your kids and your pets — to a slew of potentially fatal diseases.