ACRES
Animal Concerns Research and Education Society

www.acres.org.sg
Wildlife Crime Hotline: 9783 7782 (for reporting illegal trading/ ownership of wild animal)
Email: info@acres.org.sg
Session: Dec 21, 1730-1930h

The Exotic Pet Trade

This session will explore why wild animals make unsuitable pets, the illegal exotic pet trade and its implications and will outline which animals are prohibited to be kept as pets in Singapore.

Wild animals are unsuitable to be kept as pets for a number of welfare-related and conservation/environmental reasons.

Many of the animals supplying the exotic pet trade are caught from the wild, threatening the existence of countless species. Capture methods are cruel (e.g. snares, traps, dogs, nets) and the animals endure horrific transport methods before arriving at their destination. Animals may be stuffed into pipes or socks before being packed into crates or suitcases, have their legs and/or wings bound and be injected with drugs to prevent them moving around or making a noise. Many do not survive their ordeal.

The ones who do survive face a lifetime of frustration and confinement as somebody’s ‘pet’, not being able to act on their natural instincts. It is impossible to provide for the needs of wild animals in captivity.

Many people will abandon their ‘pet’ once they have grown bored of him/her. Animals released into unfamiliar surroundings will usually not be able to survive and often die slowly of starvation. Some may survive and will most likely compete with local species, unbalancing the ecosystem.

In Singapore, most wild animals are prohibited to be kept as pets. However, there is still a demand for prohibited animals and ACRES has found many pet shops illegally selling wild animals. Many Singaporeans are still keeping prohibited wild animals as pets, many of them unaware that it is illegal.

Since 2004, ACRES has been working with the authorities to help crack down on the illegal exotic pet trade in Singapore.

In 2008, ACRES will be opening Singapore’s first wildlife rescue centre- the ACRES Wildlife Rescue Centre (AWRC), to provide a safe haven for wild animals rescued from the illegal pet trade on either a temporary or permanent basis.