Is It Ethical To Feed Live Food To Exotic Pets?
Is it ethical to feed live food to exotic pets?
Abstract
Live food items are often fed to exotic pet species whether they be birds, amphibians, reptiles or mammals. This raises issues of welfare, both of the animals fed live prey items and the prey itself. Concerns over live food welfare are particularly marked in the feeding of vertebrate prey items and evidence presented here shows the prolonged time taken for rodents to die, this fuelling these concerns. And yet the welfare of all exotic pets relies both on providing optimal nutrition and ensuring, as much as possible, that their natural behaviours can be expressed. Does that mean that predatory species must be fed live prey? This paper discusses this problem and seeks potential solutions.
Introduction
Many of the “exotic” species that are kept as pets (companion animals) or for study, or which form part of a zoo or rescue centre, are wholly or partly carnivorous and therefore require food of animal origin. Many omnivores also feed in part on live or dead animals and some essentially herbivorous/graminivorous species, such as finches (Fringillidae), require invertebrate food when they are nestlings.
In this paper emphasis is on the provision of still living food, but brief mention will be …show more content…
In the 1980s an “animal rights” group based in Scotland lobbied for more awareness of the welfare needs of invertebrate animals and included in their concerns the use of crickets, mealworms and other species as food items for captive mammals, birds and reptiles. In the past two decades interest amongst veterinarians and others in the health and welfare of invertebrates has grown (6, 7). In its wake, discussion and studies on whether or not invertebrates “suffer” pain have become prevalent (7), including some limited analysis and discussions of the ethical considerations of using these animals as live
Abstract
Live food items are often fed to exotic pet species whether they be birds, amphibians, reptiles or mammals. This raises issues of welfare, both of the animals fed live prey items and the prey itself. Concerns over live food welfare are particularly marked in the feeding of vertebrate prey items and evidence presented here shows the prolonged time taken for rodents to die, this fuelling these concerns. And yet the welfare of all exotic pets relies both on providing optimal nutrition and ensuring, as much as possible, that their natural behaviours can be expressed. Does that mean that predatory species must be fed live prey? This paper discusses this problem and seeks potential solutions.
Introduction
Many of the “exotic” species that are kept as pets (companion animals) or for study, or which form part of a zoo or rescue centre, are wholly or partly carnivorous and therefore require food of animal origin. Many omnivores also feed in part on live or dead animals and some essentially herbivorous/graminivorous species, such as finches (Fringillidae), require invertebrate food when they are nestlings.
In this paper emphasis is on the provision of still living food, but brief mention will be …show more content…
In the 1980s an “animal rights” group based in Scotland lobbied for more awareness of the welfare needs of invertebrate animals and included in their concerns the use of crickets, mealworms and other species as food items for captive mammals, birds and reptiles. In the past two decades interest amongst veterinarians and others in the health and welfare of invertebrates has grown (6, 7). In its wake, discussion and studies on whether or not invertebrates “suffer” pain have become prevalent (7), including some limited analysis and discussions of the ethical considerations of using these animals as live