Yikes! nasty Komodo attack

[Moltar]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29848167/

I've heard of people trying to keep komodo's as pets. Not a very good idea IMO.

 

[UrbanJungles]

You can't legally keep Komodos as pets anyhow...they are highly protected and not really in the private sector.

 

[Moltar]

You can't legally keep Komodos as pets anyhow...they are highly protected and not really in the private sector.

Maybe I was thinking that because they're specifically mentioned in that new legislation for... Massachusets was it?

 

[burmish101]

As long as you get the proper permit and shell out enough money to a zoo it might be possible to get some babys. I'm sure hobbyists keep much rarer species of different animals than komodos, i'm suprised nobody has gotten
any in the pet trade yet.

 

[UrbanJungles]

As long as you get the proper permit and shell out enough money to a zoo it might be possible to get some babys. I'm sure hobbyists keep much rarer species of different animals than komodos, i'm suprised nobody has gotten
any in the pet trade yet.

That's BS. Zoos do not sell animals to the public...at least not any US AZA accredited zoos. It's strictly against the very permitting policies that allow them to keep rare and endangered animals.

Komodo dragons require some very specific CITES and Endangered Species permits which aren't given out to the average hobbyist, aside from the fact that no one should really be keeping one in their home for obvious reasons.

 

[Moltar]

yeah, geez. I think you'd be safer keeping jaguars or (gasp) chimps than komodo's. At least mammals are intelligent enough to be trained and form bonds with their keepers. I'd doubt any amount of time and care would make a komodo look at their keeper as anything other than a potential meal. With their infectious saliva one bite has the potential to kill so... yeah. I'd call that "ill advised" at best.

Still wanna see some in a zoo though, they're pretty cool critters.

 

[Bird Man]

Wow that's crazy. Although I don't know if I buy the part about them waiting under the tree waiting for the guy to come down, He could have gotten cuts/scrapes on him from the fall and was bleeding and maybe they smelt the blood and attacked then, like he was a wounded animal.

It used to be legal to keep them as pets. I work part time for this lady who owns a farm and has llamas, and two camels. She told me that she knew a guy who had two of them in his basement. He converted the entire basement into a habitat for them. He used to walk all over the enclosure with them and didn't have any problems. He later needed to move and couldn't take them with him so he donated them to a zoo.

 

[Jmugleston]

yeah, geez. I think you'd be safer keeping jaguars or (gasp) chimps than komodo's. At least mammals are intelligent enough to be trained and form bonds with their keepers. I'd doubt any amount of time and care would make a komodo look at their keeper as anything other than a potential meal. With their infectious saliva one bite has the potential to kill so... yeah. I'd call that "ill advised" at best.

Still wanna see some in a zoo though, they're pretty cool critters.

Look back in the US papers just a few weeks ago and you'll see where chimps de-gloved a lady and if I remember correctly, this "tame" and "bonded" chimp also ripped most her face off. Primates are not the cuddly, diaper-wearing comedians you see in commercials. Once they mature they are unpredictable and not in any way a "better" exotic pet. Cats are the same way. A large cat "playing" is enough to end your life. Wild animals are just that......WILD. Domestic animals have been breed for thousands of years in many cases. They have been selected for their looks as well as their temperaments. Even so, occasionally you hear of a domestic animal killing a person. A few generations in captivity isn't going to change a wild animal to a domestic one. Even if it is a mammal. Keepers of exotic pets are supposed to be intelligent enough to know how to avoid dangerous situations whenever possible. This was not a pet. This guy was living among them. If Komodo monitors were the bloodthirsty beasts some are make them out to be, how would people live on the islands with them? Plus talk to the zoos that keep Komodo monitors. Many of them are tolerant enough to allow the keepers in the cages. If you keep exotic pets, mammal or not, risks are involved. You need to plan ahead and avoid these risks as much as possible.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/17/chimpanzee.attack/index.html

 

[UrbanJungles]

It used to be legal to keep them as pets. I work part time for this lady who owns a farm and has llamas, and two camels. She told me that she knew a guy who had two of them in his basement. He converted the entire basement into a habitat for them. He used to walk all over the enclosure with them and didn't have any problems. He later needed to move and couldn't take them with him so he donated them to a zoo.

It has never ever been legal to keep Komodos as pets...as the senior animal keeper in charge of a herp collection at a local zoo and a one time keeper at the Bronx Zoo I can tell you first hand that they have never been legal to keep by the public sector. Our zoo considered taking on one of the babies born at the National Zoo in DC and later decided against it so I followed the legalities of keeping Komodos in the US closely for many years.

Every single dragon ever born in the US is accounted for and only one person has ever brought them into the US who was not associated with a zoological facility and he was promptly arrested as part of a sting operation. You can't even import them legally into the US as they are CITES I animals and are strictly protected in their native land.

It had to have been another species.

 

[LeilaNami]

There are some smuggling operations for komodo eggs though it is not a very large business in the US. Even many primates are required to have USDA permits to keep and the USDA inspect the facilities and safety precautions taken where the animals are housed. I know a couple ladies that run sanctuaries for chimps and gibbons. One also has squirrel monkeys and capuchins. The only ones they breed are the marmosets, tamarins, kinkajous, and bush babies all of which unfortunately do not require permits to keep. (At least I don't think the bush babies do) The lady that runs the chimp sanctuary has even had a few close calls with her chimps and has lost a finger and a half due to it despite all safety measures taken. Chimps are very fast, very strong, and highly aggressive ESPECIALLY if they are kept intact. (hence the retarded lady keeping an intact (I believe it was anyway) male chimp without a tranq gun or a gun in general for safety measures. Many other exotics also require these permits and every legal sanctuary either has the USDA permit or is AZA accredited when needed.

 

[Moltar]

Hey Jmugleston, I've been following the chimp attack news and that was my point. Even mammals who bond and acclimate to their keepers are very dangerous so why would someone want to keep a large predatory reptile that isn't even capable of bonding in that manner?

I wish the people making laws governing exotic pets would seek the expertise of actual hobbyists before they start writing legislation. We have people out there trying to ban all boas and pythons because they think they ALL get big enough to eat people. They don't, many spp max out at like, 6-8 feet. There are people out there trying to ban keeping venomous arachnids who think tarantulas are deadly, obviously that isn't true either.

Here's an idea for legislation: No lawmaker may write a law on a subject they aren't thoroughly knowledgeable about, how's that? I guess then we'd never have any new laws because congressmen generally don't know sh!+ from shinola. (What the hell is shinola anyway?)