The ring-necked parakeet: pet or pest?
Detail:
There have been numerous sightings of mysterious black cats in the Peak District and elsewhere across the country, but can you picture the surprise on the faces of a group of walkers when they spot a red-necked wallaby hopping over a gorse bush? Yet it’s a distinct possibility for there are thought to be about 50 of the marsupials on the loose in the Peak District, Mid Sussex, Yorkshire and Oxfordshire.
Or how about the fact that the UK is home to about 13,000 European yellow-tailed scorpion. These creatures made their way from mainland Europe to the UK in the 1860s, courtesy of merchant ships carrying cargoes of Italian masonry.
In London and the south-east, the population of the ring-necked parakeet, originally from Asia, has reached such proportions that it is now considered a pest and the wildlife agency Natural England allows householders to trap or shoot it. Its population is estimated at about 50,000 and it takes the nesting sites of native birds such as woodpeckers and nuthatches.
There are apparently 1,000 Siberian chipmunks stretching from North Yorkshire to Wiltshire, the result of owners releasing their pets into the wild, and about 10,000 Chinese water deer wander the countryside, the result of a much smaller number originally escaping from Whipsnade and Woburn wildlife parks, according to the Eden Wildlife Report, specially commissioned to celebrate the Eden Channel’s “Great British Wildlife Season”.
That animals can – and do – escape from private collections and zoos is one thing, but for owners to release their pets into the wild is quite another. Yet no matter how much publicity about the threat to native species, if some irresponsible numpty decides to release their corn snake or Hermann’s tortoise into the wild, they will.
Fads cause the most problems: hundreds, if not thousands, of turtles and terrapins were apparently released into the wild when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze died.
Celebrities are in part to blame when they take on an exotic pet. One larger-than-life TV personality famously adopted ferrets from a rescue centre, then handed the sole survivor back (the others apparently escaped) in favour of mini pigs. However, by then loads more ferrets had been taken on by other people, who also thought it was a good idea.
Which is why I give the thumbs up to Kirstie Alley, of Cheers fame, who spends US$40,000 a year on her lemurs and has two full-time zookeepers to take care of her nine primates. She also repeatedly tells people that she does not recommend them as pets as they’re very expensive. Having had them for about 30 years (and recent twin arrivals!), she has written them into her will.
And which is why it is thumbs down to Iraq’s exotic animal market in north west Baghdad, chock-full with every conceivable animal for sale, from monkeys to wolves, porcupines to bear cubs and puppies. According to an AP newswire report, US$8 buys a rabbit and US$6,000 procures a lion cub. All thanks to rich Sheikhs and private zoos.
The lack of government regulation means many animals are illegally imported into the country, and Iraq’s Environment Ministry recognises that an immediate solution is unlikely.
The depressing thing is that what happens in Iraq is not an isolated incident and is repeated in many countries around the world. How many of these animals end up being killed or released into the wild?
There is obviously nothing we can do about this, but we can do is keep our backyard clean, as it were, and maintain awareness about the threat of non-native species establishing a foothold in our countryside. Hopefully this will at some point finally penetrate the thickened skulls of aforesaid numpties…
Or how about the fact that the UK is home to about 13,000 European yellow-tailed scorpion. These creatures made their way from mainland Europe to the UK in the 1860s, courtesy of merchant ships carrying cargoes of Italian masonry.
In London and the south-east, the population of the ring-necked parakeet, originally from Asia, has reached such proportions that it is now considered a pest and the wildlife agency Natural England allows householders to trap or shoot it. Its population is estimated at about 50,000 and it takes the nesting sites of native birds such as woodpeckers and nuthatches.
There are apparently 1,000 Siberian chipmunks stretching from North Yorkshire to Wiltshire, the result of owners releasing their pets into the wild, and about 10,000 Chinese water deer wander the countryside, the result of a much smaller number originally escaping from Whipsnade and Woburn wildlife parks, according to the Eden Wildlife Report, specially commissioned to celebrate the Eden Channel’s “Great British Wildlife Season”.
That animals can – and do – escape from private collections and zoos is one thing, but for owners to release their pets into the wild is quite another. Yet no matter how much publicity about the threat to native species, if some irresponsible numpty decides to release their corn snake or Hermann’s tortoise into the wild, they will.
Fads cause the most problems: hundreds, if not thousands, of turtles and terrapins were apparently released into the wild when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze died.
Celebrities are in part to blame when they take on an exotic pet. One larger-than-life TV personality famously adopted ferrets from a rescue centre, then handed the sole survivor back (the others apparently escaped) in favour of mini pigs. However, by then loads more ferrets had been taken on by other people, who also thought it was a good idea.
Which is why I give the thumbs up to Kirstie Alley, of Cheers fame, who spends US$40,000 a year on her lemurs and has two full-time zookeepers to take care of her nine primates. She also repeatedly tells people that she does not recommend them as pets as they’re very expensive. Having had them for about 30 years (and recent twin arrivals!), she has written them into her will.
And which is why it is thumbs down to Iraq’s exotic animal market in north west Baghdad, chock-full with every conceivable animal for sale, from monkeys to wolves, porcupines to bear cubs and puppies. According to an AP newswire report, US$8 buys a rabbit and US$6,000 procures a lion cub. All thanks to rich Sheikhs and private zoos.
The lack of government regulation means many animals are illegally imported into the country, and Iraq’s Environment Ministry recognises that an immediate solution is unlikely.
The depressing thing is that what happens in Iraq is not an isolated incident and is repeated in many countries around the world. How many of these animals end up being killed or released into the wild?
There is obviously nothing we can do about this, but we can do is keep our backyard clean, as it were, and maintain awareness about the threat of non-native species establishing a foothold in our countryside. Hopefully this will at some point finally penetrate the thickened skulls of aforesaid numpties…
By:
Sandra
Date/time :
29/06/2010
Replies to this topic...
By:
fleurtess
Date/time :
09/07/2010 13:23:33
Detail:
As long as there are the brainless who will follow the celebrities blindly there will be a trade in exotic animals that should not be pets. It is also disheartening to see these so called Celebrities use a small cross breed dog as part of a fashion accessory. This then leads to people cross breeding dogs and people will pay any price for them because some air head celebrity has one. These dogs then end up in rescue when their owners either tire of them or because another air head has got some different animal attached to their attire. Are people really that simple that they have to follow everything the air headed celebrities do?
As for the animal trade in China, Iraq or anywhere else it is a thing that makes me quite sick. My son lives in China and has spoken out about the animals that are sold there and tried to make a difference, but as he says he is talking to the wind. If there are people who will buy then there will always be people who will sell these poor creatures.
Loretta
As for the animal trade in China, Iraq or anywhere else it is a thing that makes me quite sick. My son lives in China and has spoken out about the animals that are sold there and tried to make a difference, but as he says he is talking to the wind. If there are people who will buy then there will always be people who will sell these poor creatures.
Loretta
