Should the trade in birds, fish, mice, hamsters, ducklings, silkworms and other living beings available at a pet shop be curtailed or even outlawed? Do humans really have the staying power and wherewithal to offer these creatures good and lasting homes? Or, once the novelty has worn off, do most of them become a burden? Many a wonderful and lasting relationship has begun in a pet shop, but we believe this is not so for the vast majority of pet shop animals. Marmoset monkeys can command a price of R4000 each and the recent birth of two Marmoset monkeys in a Port Elizabeth pet shop has brought the trade and breeding of animals in pet shops under the spotlight once again. |
A pair of marmoset monkeys produced babies in a Port Elizabeth pet shop recently, much to the delight
of the pet shop owners whose exuberance was expressed in a letter published in an animal welfare
newsletter recently. However, two Port Elizabeth women, Mavis Smith and Pam Niemann are
questioning whether the pet shop's delight has much to do with a love for animals at all.
Says Mavis: "After telling us about the great bonding between the parents and babies, the pet shop then, at the first opportunity, takes the babies away from their very loving parents and sells them. The pet shop makes light of this considerable trauma, saying that the parents 'are very well although for a few days they were hardly speaking to us and took their food with extremely ill grace,' and then they go on to tell us that the female is pregnant again! So this sad saga is set to repeat itself again and again, pregnancy and heartache for the little pair unless someone or nature intervenes." Mavis says her concern lies not only with the marmosets. "The exotic birds too," she says, "have a very thin time of it and we are convinced that many do not survive, as people generally are woefully ignorant of the correct care and feeding of these creatures. Domestic animals too often arrive at pet shops far too young to survive away from their mothers. Sold to unsuitable homes, they stand little chance of survival. One can go on and on." Barbara de Waal of Wilderness says that her evening out to a restaurant at a Gauteng shopping complex was ruined by the pitiful crying of a puppy which had been left in the petshop for the weekend. A guard on duty was unable to help her get to the puppy. On the Monday, she went to the pet shop to complain to the owner about the plight of the puppy. He grabbed her by her jersey and pushed her out of the shop. She fell and broke her glasses. Asked for comment, Marie Eekhout, chairperson of the NSPCA, said she would like to see pet shops "governed much more strictly if they have to be in existence at all." "I personally hate the indiscriminate trade in pets. Many members of the public are guilty of buying on the crest of an emotional wave or because of a fashion fad, without considering the particular needs of the animal or their moral responsibilities to it. "I think that potential owners of animals should be required to prove their competence." "It is quite impossible to have responsible pet ownership as long as people are able to breed animals with as few legal restrictions as buying and selling cabbages. There needs to be control." - Rev Prof Andrew Linzey, speaking from England on Radio 702. Biological Justice
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