Citizens splurge on exotic pets

Citizens splurge on exotic pets
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Highlights

The clientele for exotic animals and birds is growing with each passing year. Citizens are willing to splurge to own these rare species as pets. Apart from dogs like Siberian husky and Chow Chow, there is a huge clientele for African grey parrot, Macaw, green iguana, hamsters and many other exotic species. However, veterinary doctors claim that it a challenge to treat these foreign wildlife creatu

Hyderabad: The clientele for exotic animals and birds is growing with each passing year. Citizens are willing to splurge to own these rare species as pets. Apart from dogs like Siberian husky and Chow Chow, there is a huge clientele for African grey parrot, Macaw, green iguana, hamsters and many other exotic species. However, veterinary doctors claim that it a challenge to treat these foreign wildlife creatures.

These animals and birds range between Rs 50,000 to Rs 4 lakh. The imported animals/ birds are bred in captivity in the city itself. Manager of Fur n Feathers (pet shop), Ayaan, said, “Of late people are willing to have pets and the demand for rare species is escalating. It is more like a status symbol for the people to own species that are unique and expensive. “

Speaking about the difficulties in treating exotic wild animals, Dr Lakshmi Srinivasan, owner of the Animal Care Clinic, said that it is a challenge to treat these animals as they are tiny and also their stress levels are high. Though they are bred in captivity they are ferocious in nature and are not completely domesticated.

She also mentioned that most of the wild animals tend to mask their disease as a part of their survival instinct and this causes a delay in diagnosing the disease. “People should be fully aware of the pet before they own it. Also they should have knowledge of what nutritious food they should be given and in what conditions they are supposed to live,” she added.

These foreign birds and animals do not come under the preview of the Wildlife Protection Act and hence, there are no proper guidelines as of how these species are supposed to be treated.

Shaikat Chakravarty, Chief Operation Officer of Wildlife Protection Society Telangana, said, “Rather than spending huge amounts on these exotic pets people can adopt a bird or animal in the zoo, which is taken care according to the guidelines given by the Central Zoo authorities.”

By Tera Sneha Reddy

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