By Marita Bester
Like many others, I was outraged when I saw the recent article on the Hua Hin Today website about the Facebook post offering a lion cub for sale. Despite its legality in Thailand, owning an exotic pet like a lion remains controversial. As a person who was lucky enough to have witnessed these majestic creatures in their natural habitat, it is unthinkable that anyone would feel the need to own such animals as pets.
“Why do people keep exotic pets?” I asked. To answer this question, I felt compelled to delve into the origins of this peculiar desire.
The practice of keeping exotic animals as pets can be traced back to the Egyptians, who kept monkeys, birds, hippos, and big cats. In Ancient Rome and throughout the Middle Ages, exotic animals symbolised wealth and power. Kings and queens kept lions, tigers and other exotic animals in their menageries to showcase their power.
In 1223, when Roman Emperor Frederick II sought diplomatic ties with Henry III, he sent three lions in homage to the coat of arms established by the king’s uncle. These lions were kept at the menagerie in the Tower of London. Over the centuries, this menagerie hosted zebras, polar bears, tigers and even elephants. Knowledge of how to care for these fantastic beasts was scarce, leading to tragic outcomes. For instance, when King Haakon of Norway gifted a polar bear to the Tower in 1252, it was decided that the hungry animal be tethered to a rope and allowed to fish in the River Thames alongside its brave trainer.
The menagerie at the Tower of Londen was closed by the Duke of Wellington in the 1830s after one of the primates bit a nobleman and the idea of keeping wild animals as pets became increasingly unfashionable in Britain.
However, in the 20th century, the popularity of exotic pets continued to rise as air travel became more common, and the exotic pet trade became a lucrative industry. This practice, widely criticized by animal welfare advocates and wildlife conservationists, is considered dangerous and cruel. They argue that bringing captive-bred wildlife into homes and neighbourhoods should be criminalized. Yet, the issue is far from black and white.
Equally alarming is the ease with which these animals can be purchased online. With a simple click, zebras, camels, cougars, and lions can be found for sale, their striking images beckoning potential buyers. These creatures caught between the wild and domestication, exist in a netherworld that prompts significant ethical and moral questions.
In my quest to understand what motivates people to own these wild creatures, I turned to the same place where these animals are bought and sold: the internet. After scanning through numerous videos, social media posts, and various articles, I learned some interesting things.
Some people treat exotic animals as surrogate children, dressing them up – especially monkeys. Others believe that owning wild animals reconnects them to the natural world, making them feel unique. The relationship with the animal is often intense and thrilling due to the isolation that comes with having an unpredictable beast as a companion. Additionally, some people find these animals cute and cool. Purchasing them for these reasons until the animal matures and its behaviour changes.
One particularly bizarre and tragic story that serves as a cautionary tale is that of Terry Thompson from Ohio. Early in the evening on October 18, 2011, Thompson’s neighbour, Sam Kopchack, was on his way to put his horse in the barn for the night. He noticed the horse behaving skittishly and saw through the flimsy fence that his neighbour’s horses were acting strangely too, running in circles. When he looked over the fence, he saw a brown bear in Thompson’s yard, followed by the startling sight of a fully grown male African lion. Alarmed, he slowly walked his horse back to the barn, locked himself and the horse inside, and called his mother to alert the police about the alarming situation next door. What unfolded was nothing short of a horror story.
The official account of the story is that Thompson, a collector of exotic animals who had recently been released from jail, suffered from depression. On this late afternoon, he released all 50 of his wild animals, including lions and tigers, from their cages and enclosures before taking his own life. The local sheriff’s department had little choice but to shoot the animals as they dodged cars, loped across backyards, and posed a threat to public safety. Before this incident, no license or special permit was required to keep exotic animals in the state of Ohio. In the end, 18 tigers, 17 lions, 8 bears, 3 cougars, 2 wolves, 1 baboon, 1 macaque, and one man were dead.
According to an article in GQ Magazine published on February 6, 2012, people who knew Terry described him as a hoarder of animals – he did not know when to stop. He had to own everything. Sadly, Terry Thompson never understood that he didn’t own the animals – they belonged to the wild.
Making any claim about good owners and bad owners like Terry is a slippery moral slope. Something certainly went wrong with him on that day, but I suspect that he started out as an animal lover, as most collectors do. The truth is, it is impossible to know what animals are thinking or experiencing, and every person who claims that animals need them or says that they know what animals need is making a claim they nor anyone else can verify.
Seeing wild animals on the plains and grasslands of Africa- the giraffes’ long lope, the lions’ hypnotic canter, the elephants sucking water up their trunks is very special. Animals in harmony with the rhythm of the bush are how wild animals are supposed to live. They are creatures of the land and to give them anything less is simply wrong.
Marita Bester is a freelance writer. You can follow her on Instagram @marita_bester
