Wildlife as pets

National Consultative Committee on Animal Welfare (NCCAW) Draft Position Statement - October 1997

NCCAW recognises that native animals including birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians are kept as pets or in private collections. Interest has been shown in expanding the range of species that may be kept in captivity, especially where native animals are an alternative to more traditional, exotic pets.

NCCAW notes that serious animal welfare problems can arise from:

• lack of information on the husbandry and care required for native animals
  
  
• keeping these animals in unsuitable conditions, and
  
  
• the inability of many prospective owners to recognise and meet the financial and special requirements for keeping these animals.

NCCAW also has concerns about potential problems in complying with legislation where the states and territories differ significantly over species which may be kept in private ownership, and the conditions which apply to keeping them.

Recommendations

NCCAW recommends that:

• state and territory governments develop nationally agreed legislation to protect the welfare of native animals in private ownership.
  
  
• native animals commercially traded as pets must be derived from captive-bred stock.
  
  
• use of the following criteria to determine which species are suitable to be kept as pets by the general public.
  
  
  • easily adapted to captive state
  • ease of breeding in captivity
  • non demanding husbandry (eg seed eating birds)
  • ability to meet the behavioural requirements of the captive animal
  • public safety (control of animals that could be a threat to humans eg poisonous snakes)
  • health risks (both to other animals and humans), and
  • safety of the animal (protection from predators or injury by other animals).
    

Species which do not meet these criteria should be restricted to people with specialist skills, experience and the proper facilities.

States and territories should take a more systematic and coordinated approach to identify unsuitable species for keeping in captivity, except by specialist owners.

Commercial breeding and trading operations should be registered and their activities covered by codes of practice.

The level of regulation applied to keeping native animals should reflect the difficulty of maintaining them, and expertise required for the animals' care and wellbeing.