- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,323
I am sorry if I sound rude or anything, but sometimes, I really feel that some people overeact to things that are obvious to me.
This doesn't only regard people on this board or inverts keepers in general.
Just an unrelated event to start : a baby penguin is missing, cannot be fed by humans...people worry a lot, money is spent to save that little cute penguin...while in the wild, they die by dozens and if the specie was endangered, what is spent to save it is a tiny fraction of what has been spent to save that individual bird. Seems illogic to me.
Back to T's : I am somehow irritated to read and hear people saying that it's wrong to feed them vertebrates, handle them, take a look at it beyond its burrow entrance..finaly feeling almost obliged to respect it as I would respect a human person.
1) What's the point of people pressuring others to feed it dead preys (unless the animal is impaired) ? The main reason I acquired a predator is because I want to witness predation. T display the best of their strenght, agility etc when confonted to a prey that is not that easy to catch. An easy prey is a boring sight, and since I own the animal, loosing it to a prey is my responsability. Perhaps I am the reincarnation of a roman Gladiator lover (almost to the point of building a small Coliseum for my critter to fight in) and that doesn't stop an owner to vary it's food, and go progressively starting with smaller prey to make sure his pet will remain safe . I doesn't want the mouse to suffer, I want my T to fight. Plain and simple. I am from a hunter family, and constantly have to remind people that a moose dying from a bullet suffers very little compared to one that ends shreded alive by wolves! To me, hunting is a legit pleasure, even if it's by procuration throug watching my T, and I have bigger concern than the life of an individual. We should rant about the loss of habitat, or people who inflict prolonged pain to an animal ( did anyone see these pictures of bears in China tied in cage for weeks with tubes stuck in their liver, being milked for bile? THAT is cruel!!!)
2) In the wild, T's are constantly bothered by other animals, rain, winds, and no one there achieve the level of quietness of the domestic ones. Ours are the most pampered in the world! So I feel a bit akward to be told to 'leave it alone' and just glance at it when it willfuly stand in the open. If wanted only to look at a still T, I'd get a picture on a frame. If wanted to get an animal to be cute and non violent, I'd get a Chinchilla or else. My cat doesn't even qualify as non violent!!!
Needless to say that I don't advocate silly acts (like handling high above a concrete floor, or feeding preys that obviously could defeat it) but the politicaly correct enveloppe has been pushed a bit too far for me! If the T doesn't need my contact , it doesn't need to be caged somewhere in a temperate country either.
*angry mode off*
This doesn't only regard people on this board or inverts keepers in general.
Just an unrelated event to start : a baby penguin is missing, cannot be fed by humans...people worry a lot, money is spent to save that little cute penguin...while in the wild, they die by dozens and if the specie was endangered, what is spent to save it is a tiny fraction of what has been spent to save that individual bird. Seems illogic to me.
Back to T's : I am somehow irritated to read and hear people saying that it's wrong to feed them vertebrates, handle them, take a look at it beyond its burrow entrance..finaly feeling almost obliged to respect it as I would respect a human person.
1) What's the point of people pressuring others to feed it dead preys (unless the animal is impaired) ? The main reason I acquired a predator is because I want to witness predation. T display the best of their strenght, agility etc when confonted to a prey that is not that easy to catch. An easy prey is a boring sight, and since I own the animal, loosing it to a prey is my responsability. Perhaps I am the reincarnation of a roman Gladiator lover (almost to the point of building a small Coliseum for my critter to fight in) and that doesn't stop an owner to vary it's food, and go progressively starting with smaller prey to make sure his pet will remain safe . I doesn't want the mouse to suffer, I want my T to fight. Plain and simple. I am from a hunter family, and constantly have to remind people that a moose dying from a bullet suffers very little compared to one that ends shreded alive by wolves! To me, hunting is a legit pleasure, even if it's by procuration throug watching my T, and I have bigger concern than the life of an individual. We should rant about the loss of habitat, or people who inflict prolonged pain to an animal ( did anyone see these pictures of bears in China tied in cage for weeks with tubes stuck in their liver, being milked for bile? THAT is cruel!!!)
2) In the wild, T's are constantly bothered by other animals, rain, winds, and no one there achieve the level of quietness of the domestic ones. Ours are the most pampered in the world! So I feel a bit akward to be told to 'leave it alone' and just glance at it when it willfuly stand in the open. If wanted only to look at a still T, I'd get a picture on a frame. If wanted to get an animal to be cute and non violent, I'd get a Chinchilla or else. My cat doesn't even qualify as non violent!!!
Needless to say that I don't advocate silly acts (like handling high above a concrete floor, or feeding preys that obviously could defeat it) but the politicaly correct enveloppe has been pushed a bit too far for me! If the T doesn't need my contact , it doesn't need to be caged somewhere in a temperate country either.
*angry mode off*
