Is it safe to keep wild animals as pets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Is it safe to keep wild animals as pets - Essay Example Definition of pets, broad and can include wild animals (Steiger, 2006). Difference between wild animals and domestic pets: wild animals not suitable for human companionship, domestic animals are (Caesar, 2009). Statistics of injuries and mauling and the spread of disease by wild animals indicate that keeping wild animals as pets is intrinsically dangerous (Animal Legal & Historical Center, 2004; Define pets and wild animals. Wild animals cannot be domesticated and turned in to human companions, pets can be domesticated and converted to human companions (Caesar, 2009). Capture stats from Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition and Euro Group for Animals. Extreme utilitarianism argue that it is ethical to keep wild animals as pets: animals are inferior to human beings, we already exploit them for food and for education. Moreover, keeping wild animals as pets improves the quality of their lives (Kreger & Hutchins, 2010). Rudy (2011) makes a compelling case for keeping wild animals as pets: the exploitation of the wild, animals are better off learning to live with human beings. Some wild animals have demonstrated adaptability (Rudy 2011). Perkins (2003) argues that keeping wild animals as pets can be a good thing: looks at the definition of pets and how keeping wild animals as pets can turn them into traditional concepts of pets as human companions. Mankind has a history of wanting to own and cultivate wild animals and this may be a trait inherited from our ancestors who were hunters (Bell, 2001). History informs that mankind has a tendency to rescue and rehabilitate wild animals. Amid much debate and controversy over the ethics and dangers of keeping wild animals as pets, people are known to keep wild animals in their homes as pets (Bell, 2001). The debate over the dangers and ethics of keeping wild animals as pets is represented by two philosophical perspectives. On the one hand, abolitionists take the position that cite