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Part of a series investigating the complex linkages between human, animal and environmental health: The Infection Loop.
Dr. Anthony Pilny had just finished neutering a baby chinchilla when we met under the watchful eyes of his Manhattan clinic's reptilian mascot: an Egyptian Uromastyx named Xama. A few feet away, nearly a dozen canaries and finches and two lop-eared house rabbits flanked the front door of The Center for Avian and Exotic Medicine.
Pets like these have been receiving increased attention from infectious disease experts. As cute and innocent as the animals may look, many are the namesakes of unfriendly things like bird flu, monkeypox and rat bite fever. And, as experts warn, it is common for reptiles to carry potentially deadly pathogens, including salmonella.
Xama's gaze followed Dr. Pilny and me as we walked through the lobby, past a series of offices, labs, an operating table, a pair of sleeping ferrets (used for blood transfusions) and then into a large room -- this one guarded by Monico, a blue-fronted Amazon parrot. Glass and metal cages surrounded us, each housing a scaly, feathered or furry creature.
I just saw a TV show where a cable installer in Florida was bitten by a green mamba form Africa. Fortunately Miami Dade had green mamba venom antidote. Not every town in America has green mamba venom. It’s illegal so the owner does not bother to report it. A needless and tragic death waiting to happen.
Because they are calling it the next pandemic. You do not toss words around like pandemic if the Government isn’t going to step in and do something about it. You don’t have groups like the CDC claiming nonsense if the Government isn’t going to act on it.
Just like the EPA claims 20,000 people will die prematurely by 2030 if we do not keep their regulations in place. So lets see 700 people might die prematurely a year out of a population of 309 million which isn’t a lot. But the EPA feels it is important for the Energy Companies to spend Billions to revamp their systems for this reason.
So yes when the Government Agencies produce nonsense like this legislation is sure to come down the pipe shortly after.
Allergies. Reptiles are great pets for people with allergies.
Sorry, but if you think having an exotic pet makes you cool you really need to grow up. There are many wonderful, loving cats and dogs in shelters who need homes. And if your cat or dog gets sick, it will be easy to find a vet who can provide the needed care – probably not the case for many other pets, other than maybe rabbits and ferrets. How would a typical American vet learn to address illnesses, or even provide wellness care for an animal or reptile from the rainforest?
It is well known in the reptile community that there is a chance of spreading salmonella to humans. It’s all about responsible care. Don’t let your kids get a chameleon because they liked the movie Rango. Be informed about your new pet, these animals are not like dogs and cats. Research websites, go to exotic pet stores and handle the animal you’re interested in to be sure it’s a fit for you. Reptiles are not pets for everyone. Do not trust the care sheets provided by Big Box Pet stores. 99% of the time they’re misinformed, and will lead to bad care and eventual death of your new pet.
You’re talking about working animals, not pets.
The exotic people from Mayflower gave small pox and venereal diseases to knock off the locals in America.. This is how this "Land that belong to you and me" was entitled.
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I don’t know what is worse, you getting hyped when hearing about someone else’s misfortune, or being ignorant of what other animals can or can’t do.
Gee, how sweeping of you to brush aside all the facts about exotic animals.
12 Monkeys!
And you are an expert on exotics…how? What do you know about how exotics interact with their keepers? Are you just talking through your hat?
Ferrets, like dogs, have long lived with humans. They worked with dogs to flush rabbits from dens, and with goshawks for the same reason.
White ferrets were used, because the goshawk would recognize it as a hunting partner rather than prey.
Giant pouched rats are used to detect land mines. Many of the creatures that work with man were chosen because of specific and useful attributes.
I’m surprised to see rabbits on the list. Ours is box trained and even cleaner than the cats.
Not to mention the smell…...sugar gliders, damn!
When you have 7 billion people encroaching on land where the human species shouldn’t be ,the end result is going too be infectious disease that jumps from animal to human,with stuff out there we don’t even know about and 7 billion to practice on and with more and more people easier to travel and spread because wherever you go there people,so it will happen and it won’t be pretty,just a matter of time,
Great theory, but I think it’s going to be all the mice in restaurants. You might think your favorite restaurant is pristine, but I can almost 100% guarantee that, unless it’s a big corporate chain, it’s got pests. It’s all going to start there.
Just ignore them. They always need something to rant about.
I just saw Contagion so this is hitting TO close to home right now, pandemics are horrible and historically speaking we are overdue for one, chances are that its going to begin in either India or China for obvious reasons. World populations have never been this ridiculously high so a modern day pandemic would almost certainly promise to be deadlier than anyone that preceded it, the Spanish flu that struck in 1908 wiped out 1% of the worlds population, if that happened today 70 million people would die, the logistics of that is insane, morgues would overflow in no time, several governments would collapse as well.
Bird Flu + Swine Flu = Superflu
What’s wrong with dogs and cats? and why do people that have nothing to say have to be making statements with other living things? as if ferrets, snakes and iguanas had any business cohabiting with humans
"Exotic Pets Could Spark The Next Pandemic."
No more of a concern then illegal immigrants, with open border’s.
That’s right. Obama is going to take away your ferret. Then, he’s coming for your brain…oh, wait, Fox news already took that.
For heaven’s sake. This is a well-written article about the spread of insects, bacteria, etc. that can occur when we move species around. How is that a danger to democracy?
You really are pathetic.
I sure hope so… watch "fatal attraction" on Animal Planet and you will see that most people should not have exotic pets.
And funny how conservatives are only worried about freedoms for stupid people. I would like freedom over my own religion and body, yet I am subject to repeated pathetic attempts from the right to take these basic human rights away…. not so intellectual are you?
I don’t get it. What’s so lame about having a dog as a pet. i really get enthused when I hear about a man (or woman) being killed by their venomous snake, or dying of some uncurable, painful, smelly infection caused by their pet lizard and I am repelled by some monkey chewing the face off an innocent bystander. I know, some dogs attack and even kill also, but they are also capable of interaction with their masters, something that exotics are not.
Too bad……I wanted a hedge hog for years…....Wanted to name him Spiney Norman….….
Dinsdale!!
Anyone see the new Planet of the Apes movie?
Man the Government in Democrat hands will never stop taking away freedoms. They claim exotic pets are spreading disease. Funny Democrats and their agencies love using Health Safety to try and outlaw and reign in industries. This is a pathetic attempt to claim exotics are dangerous to health so they can outlaw people from owning exotic pets.
…Brain eating amoebas, Kim Jong Il’s maladjusted son, Caligula, and now poisonous ferrets….Merry Christmas.….