Heads-up : Essex Jungle Ch5....

[Red Robin]

On Ch5 now....

Discuss (though obviously going to be strongly disapproved of by WABers).

[Kayleigh]

Why..

If people want exotic pets that's OK its when they get in the wrong inexperienced hands that problems occur..

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Why..

If people want exotic pets that's OK its when they get in the wrong inexperienced hands that problems occur..

....It's not whether they are exotic that concerns me but situations like that guy in the prog who puts a TV, and remote control, in a very sparse room to house his Monitor lizard. I found it difficult to understand people's reasons.

Most of the situations in the programme didn't sit very comfortably with me in that many of the animals were kept in a very confined space for their species.

I agree about the problems of wrong inexperienced hands.

[Kayleigh]

Yes I hadn't seen that bit before I made a comment that was totally wrong, the way it was housed was totally inadequate.
It showed the bloke treating it like a human friend "child" substitute..
Exotic pets should not be housed like that.

[Red Robin]

Yes, I may be far from 'normal' (normal people worry me!) but most of the people in that prog have got issues.

I'm the first to treat animals, pets or wild, as equals (even ants etc) and the bond which grows with a pet such as a dog is very close indeed and such that they are easily regarded as a member of the family. Or is it rather that they adopt you as a member of their family? But there are many species which I think should not be kept unless in an appropriate environment. And of course, there will always be debate about what's "appropriate".

A very good friend of mine, the actress Judy Geeson, had a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo which was rarely caged and used to particularly like me but not most other people for some reason only known to himself. Consequently as I was around her place a lot I got used to handling parrots. Whenever I visited Rode Bird Garden in Somerset (now closed) many of the free flight Macaws would approach me. Subsequently I ended up rescuing a Macaw from someone in East London and had him for 20 years, then rescuing another after about 5 years and later donated to a bird garden in Kent as free flight.

I can totally see how it's not good to keep such birds in captivity, but I know that what I did was a good thing for those particular birds. Mine were never ever caged except when travelling and even when I had just the one I sometimes drove with her on my shoulder (I had an automatic car then).

Parrots, and Macaws in particular, seem to adapt to human company extremely well. Having a pair taught me a huge amount about their relationships and of course body language. As a result, other Macaws I'd never met before recognise who I am and are calm with me.

It's similar with horses as you already know, Kayleigh. They know!