Keeping Native Animals as Pets to Prevent Extinction

[Snowman]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/14/3038560.htm?section=justin

Breeding quolls as pets could stop extinction

Posted 1 hour 32 minutes ago
New research has found breeding threatened native animals like quolls as pets could become a lucrative industry that would help prevent their extinction.
A team of biodiversity researchers has released the study examining the feasibility of a breeding industry for native mammals, focusing on the eastern quoll and mitchell's hopping mouse.
Like the northern quoll, which is threatened by the spread of cane toads, the eastern quoll has been all but eradicated on the mainland by predators such as foxes.
The study found that breeding native mammals as pets could lead to them replacing domestic cats, which threaten small native animals.
A pet breeding program could also help build a greater understanding of the animals' needs.
The study recognises that a breeding industry would have to be regulated but as long as keepers are well trained, there should not be any major welfare issues.

[pyrodarknessanny]

hey thats prity cool idea
i woulden't mind a quoll or any other native critter for that matter

[najanaja]

there are good points to this argument and bad points too....

this could get interesting, i might have to sit back and watch this thread for a while...

[Snowman]

Keeping Australian Native Animals as Pets

[Chris1]

oh man theyre cute!
i want i want i want!!

[Jay84]

About time! They should be available to private keepers, im not sure without looking at my license paperwork but i think we are allowed to keep these in Vic anyways?

I think there should be work done in ensuring native animals enter the pet industry.

[butters]

A friend has quolls and they are cute but they are not all that easy to keep and breed consistently. Given enough attention when young they can ge very friendly but if they don't feel like being sociable they have incredibly big teeth!

He also has wombats and while it is nice to wander around the yard with a wombat in tow, when they play, they play hard. Wombats are incredibly strong so care has to be taken when dealing with them. They often don't mean it but I have had numerous bruises from playing with wombats fun though it is.

In Queensland at least it will never happen as the parks people up here are totally against any native mammals being kept by the average person. In SA on the other hand you can keep many species but suprisingly few people keep them and many species that were in private hands have now been lost through lack of interest.

The down side with many native animals is that most have relatively short life spans particularly the Dasyurids. Quolls for example would be geriatric at 4 years of age. Few make it past 5.

I wish it would happen (I for one would love to keep some native mammals) and I agree with many of the statements in that article but it won't.

[cris]

This has been talked about for ages, its a shame nothing ever happens (well not in Qld anyway).

Other than idiots buying them not knowing anything(as happens with reptiles, dogs, birds, fish, cats and every other animal), i havnt heard any decent negative arguements. I would be very interested to hear them.

As for wombats causing bruises i always have an assortment of bruises from my rotti, he isnt trying to hurt me or it would be punture wounds torn flesh and broken bones

[adderboy]

Here we go. It's "cruel"....

From ABC news site:

Rescuers rubbish native pet push
Updated 2 hours 20 minutes ago


A study found that breeding native mammals as pets could lead to them replacing domestic cats. (ABC News: Fiona Blackwood)

Video: Pet quolls could stop extinction (7pm TV News NT) Related Story: Breeding quolls as pets could stop extinction Animal rescue organisation Wildcare has dismissed suggestions native animals could be kept as pets.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have published a report that says it could be feasible to keep quolls and the mitchell's hopping mouse as household pets to promote conservation.

The study found that breeding native mammals as pets could lead to them replacing domestic cats, which threaten small native animals.

But Wildcare NT president Mignon McHendrie says native animals are very specialised and keeping them as pets would be cruel.

She says conservation is not a good enough reason to attempt their domestication.

"Having an animal in a habitat, that's not right, it's just inhumane," she said.

"The parks and the zoos... have to have adequate size aviaries for them and I don't think people could actually do that properly."

Ms McHendrie says wild animals do not tame easily and would-be pet owners often end up dumping them.

"At the moment they sell sugar gliders and squirrel gliders as pets and they're just being dumped," she said.

"People just get sick of them and we'll end up with them all at the RSPCA and end up causing more problems."


Source: Rescuers rubbish native pet push - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Chimera]

This is exactly why nothing happens, god damn bleeding heart misguided greenies who refuse to see the bigger picture. They anthropomorphize all animals and in doing so inflict a blight that has affected modern society where the rights of the individual outweigh the good of the collective. This is usually combined with state authorities too callow to stand up to any ridiculous group bearing an animal rights banner.

How about we all sit in the dark (god forbid a campfire) eat tofu, sing kumbaya and do nothing while our national fauno goes to %$#@!!!!

[Snowman]

Well said Chimera.

I can't help but think that people like Mignon McHendrie are just protecting thier jobs. They want to be the only ones to work with native wildlife and have this ridiculous elitist mentality that they are the only ones capable of keeping them in captivity.
The fact of the matter is that there isn't enough funds to save our endangered wildlife. So what is the answer? Well the best one so far is tuning to the public to have them as pets. As reptile keepers we are well aware that our pets need certain conditions met. No doubt people keeping mammals would take on the needed requirements for the best interest of their animals....
No doubt that they also believe that only "zoo's have the adequate space" for a scrubby too!

[REPTILIAN-KMAN]

sign me up i am in NSW we cant keep possums as pets like in VIC they can have CROC's too i call VIC ( THE LUCKY STATE ) you can own anything at all down there

[wasgij]

far from it unfortunatly, VIC isn't that lucky. we're lucky in some ways but really not in others. there is heaps of species missing from the taxa that we can hold

[Sdaji]

Goodness! People might put native animals into the Australian wild when they're sick of them! That would be so much worse than putting exotic animals into the Australian wild!

Goodness! People might end up handing them in to pounds! It's a good thing that never happens with traditional pets like cats and dogs!

[Slickturtle]

Hi Guys

In case no one else has posted it, here is the link to the report written by Rosie Cooney and Rosalie Chapple amongst others. It is a good thing that the Federal Government is funding research into this topic. The report is mainly about quolls and Hopping Mice but there is a lot of useful info within which would encompass birds, reptiles, amphibs and fishes too.

Cheers

Slickturtle