More unnecessary exotic pet bans arise every year. This newly enacted law, H. 3531, is not that bad by itself. I am unaware of what other animals South Carolina prohibits the private possession of, but I am, for once, pleased to see that this law only regulates big cats, which does not include servals, caracals, Asian leopard cats, ect., bears, and great apes. Particularly interesting is that only great apes, not monkeys, are addressed when I often see them lumped into the same category. The family canidae is surprisingly not present as well.
All of these animals are large enough to cause significant injury or
death to adult humans. There are no exceptions. The ‘least dangerous’ of the
big cat group are cheetahs, snow and clouded leopards, but these are still
sizable felines that regularly take down large prey in the wild. Their temperament
and specialist hunting and prey preferences are the only factors that make
serious attacks uncommon with them, but they should not be owned by ‘just
anyone’.
All bears can be deadly and should be treated as such. As for great
apes, recent legislation probably makes owning one privately today near
impossible. Mostly chimps and less often orangutans have been owned as pets in
the past; as far as I know gorillas and bonobos haven’t. Chimps are one of the
most dangerous ‘exotic pets’ a person can own.
I’ll always maintain that anyone that can provide safe and secure care
for large, potentially dangerous carnivores and primates should be permitted
to, although they should be able to prove this. I don’t expect any state to
entertain the idea that animal care ability, not a USDA license, should be the
deciding factor. As is typical, such minimally licensed facilities are exempt.
There are, unfortunately, many smaller zoos that shouldn’t have these
animals and wonderful private owners that should be allowed. A license, one
that a private owner can’t get because the USDA doesn’t regulate pets, does not
make these animals less dangerous to the public or the owner or protect their
welfare, as the Animal Welfare Act enforces only the bare minimum standard of
care. Many facilities have several violations but continue to operate.
Unfortunately,
these laws do not get things exactly right, but the lack of absurdly listed species
in this ban make me cautiously optimistic; if there has to be a ban that reaches North
Carolina I hope it follows suit.
“Prior to passage of the bill, South Carolina was one of
only five states with virtually no laws regarding private possession of
dangerous wild animals, which has resulted in situations such as a woman who
was mauled by a relative’s pet black bear, an 8-year-old boy who was bitten by
his family’s pet tiger, and the discovery of a tiger in a filthy, cramped cage
in a citizen’s front yard – all of which happened in the state of South
Carolina.”
The Humane Society’s dumbness knows no bounds as they list a
bite and filthy cage as a reason to ban something, as though the exact same
circumstances haven’t occurred with the accepted traditional pets.
Sometimes exotic pet owners are their own worst enemy.
Alex Komechak is the owner of the
popular Youtube channel Camelsandfriends.
She regularly uploads videos about her
animal collection, as well as videos of her wolfdog with click baity titles
such as “My Wolf Intends To KILL: A Patience & Intensity UNRIVALED (by all
others?)” and “Wolf wants INSIDE my house during a storm SO... WOULD YOU LET
HIM IN?” and “DOBERMAN OR WOLF -- Which one will back down first?”…among many
others.
The first thing that needs to be said
is that Lorne, the animal in question, is not
a wolf, he is an upper-mid content wolfdog, as confirmed by many people in the
wolfdog community who are familiar with his breeders. Their Facebook page can be found here.
Yet her videos constantly are titled
‘Wolf vs.’ ‘Wolf this’ and ‘Wolves that’. She claims her wolfdog is ‘as pure as
a wolf can get without taking one from the wild’, which is a falsehood.
Komechak makes money from her videos
and has asked for and received bountiful donations several times with GoFundMe,
despite being a private pet owner, not a charity or animal rescue. She only 'rescues' animals in the same vein as any person who has ever adopted a dog.
She also regularly receives
donations from an Amazon Wishlist, which even included a large cage that cost
hundreds sent to her.
Continuing the traffic-baiting trend,
one of Komechak’s latest videos is entitled “Girl Survives Wolf Attack - Could YOU remain this
calm? (CAUGHT ON CAMERA)”.
While there is some aggressive behavior present, the
camera has only ‘caught’ the audio; the ‘attack’ is otherwise completely
absent. The audio of the ‘attack’ however, does sound pretty severe.
The
Video
Komechak is shown sauntering around her pet while he
is gnawing on a meaty bone giving clear signals he does not appreciate her
presence. She tosses a small rock toward him. She approaches him and a large jug can
be heard possibly being kicked before Lorne is shown for a quick second
approaching her. The camera is then shaken and falls as we hear intense
growling and Komechak calmly speaking to the animal while he snarls. As the
growling continues the video ends abruptly.
It’s
Was An Ant’s Fault
Who’s to blame for Lorne’s outburst? Carnivores can
be food aggressive, and we know Lorne does resource-guard as has been shown in
another one of Komechak’s videos where she is attempting to train him to
‘release’ a desired object on command.
She claims she must do this to get
respect from the animal. Did she provoke this attack which would be in line
with not only wolf, but canine behavior in general? No, according to Komechak.
She did nothing wrong. She blames an ant for the whole thing. Below is part of the video's description:
Lorne was stung by a fire ant and
re-directed his aggression at me. He grabbed me by my skull, sunk his teeth
into me and dragged me into a corner. He had a good grip on me and I was
bleeding profusely and of course in pain. He would have certainly ended my life
in a quick second had I not remained calm.
It would not have been his fault. It would not have been my fault. It was
miscommunication.
How cold Komechak even see an ant bite (not sting) the wolfdog? Why would she
conclude that this was the cause despite clear evidence that it was her
decision to bother the animal while it was eating, a dangerous mistake as
confirmed by multiple experienced wolfdog and wolf owners that I’ve consulted
with, seen in the video’s comments and in a wolfdog Facebook group?
Not only does Komechak say it’s not her
fault, not only does she have the audacity to claim this video that depicts bad
pet keeping is “educational”, and not only does she clearly and shamelessly
fish for views to make money…she also uses it as an opportunity to ego trip.
Could you remain this calm? If not - DO
NOT GET A WOLF OR WOLFDOG OR INVOLVE YOURSELVES WITH THEM IN ANY WAY.
Wolves and wolfdogs will challenge you. Unless you can remain as calm as I do
in this video you will be killed or seriously injured. Ask yourself honestly if
you can show no fear and stay calm through this attack. If the answer is no---
then wolves and wolfdogs are not for you.
This is reality. This is an educational video. This is not meant to demonize
wolves. I have no fear of Lorne and we were playing again by the end of the
night-- no hard feelings. This is a wild animal. An apex predator.
Komechak wants to direct the viewers’
attention to the fact that she was calm during the attack so she can present
herself as a fearless wolf owner with a special ability. In doing this, she
suggests that an attack like this is a normal
occurrence for an owner of a wolf or wolfdog and that you should be able to
handle a situation like this instead of prevent it in the first place.
She claims the wolfdog ‘grabbed her by
the skull’, a claim I find suspect given that food aggression should not result
in such a severe attack, rather an animal would carry out what is called
‘posturing’, which is a scary-looking bluff (this is information from wolf and
wolfdog experienced owners).
If Komechak is being truthful about the
encounter, it reveals the dangerous consequences of misunderstanding animals
and trusting your own ego over the advice of professionals.
This
Video Is Anything But Educational
Komechak has many followers who hang on
her words and respect her. They view her as a professional, educated, and
experienced animal handler. I’ve dealt with many people in the comments who
think she is running a legit rescue or owns Lorne as an ‘educational
ambassador’. She has zero credentials
and does no formal presentations. She’s just a well-liked Youtuber with a large
pet collection.
Komechak actually has ‘canine
behaviorist’ listed on her Facebook page as an occupation.
She is not a professional behaviorist,
or even a skilled amateur. When an experienced wolfdog owner commented
complaining of her conduct and alleged deleting of their comments, Komechak had
this to say: “I do not have the time to read this other than to say: I do not
normally delete comments-- rarely ever.”
She went on to explain how she does not
delete comments even though she apparently does not have time to read criticism
of her animal handling. All ironic considering she uploaded a video
entitled“Think You Want a Wolfdog?
Abuse & Vanity of the Human Ego”. She is obviously not alluding to herself
when speaking of egos.
Komechak believes her wolfdog is not a
pet.
If you think this doesn’t make sense it’s because it doesn’t. Komechak
owns Lorne and cares for him, but she has multiple videos stating that you
CAN’T own a wolfdog and that they are not pets. She hammers in that only her
and perhaps a few special people cannot own, but ‘be the companion of’ a wolf
or wolfdog. It’s an example of animal mysticism and romanticization.
Human-reared wolves and certainly
wolfdogs which are essentially a ‘breed in progress’ are not wild animals, all
they need is a caretaker that can take on the challenge of doing research and
providing proper care. They need to place their ego aside and take advice from
people who’ve owned the animals before.
Komechak has owned ostriches, maras,
emus, and various livestock, but not wolfdogs.
Her ego is dangerous for both herself
and people who own or wish to own wolfdogs.
Unfair legislation is always
lurking around the corner and her ridiculous video serves to provide evidence
that wolfdogs are inherently dangerous instead of misunderstood. Komechak needs
to admit she made a mistake (as she seems to have done in the comments but the
video's description remains unchanged) and retract the BS about the ant bite
before it’s too late.
P.S. Komechak has also uploaded a video
that click baits, again, with a title that incorrectly states that she will
explain what happened with the attack. Instead, she rambles on about how humans
committed a sin for domesticating dogs and she sounds either under the
influence, or mentally unbalanced.
Imagine that you are conversing about illnesses with one of
your good friends and the subject of disease transmission from pets comes up.
Last week, you suffered from a debilitating fever that made you stay home from
work. Your friend informs you that it is possible to contact certain diseases
from your pet dog. You acknowledge this risk, but at the same time, it would
never enter your mind that you would discontinue keeping your best friend just because
it has the small potential to transmit disease. If such a conversation occurred
about your beloved pet, how would you feel?
For various reasons, people do not think pet owners are as
connected to their lifestyles as are cat and dog owners. In many cases, exotic pet
owners are more invested in providing
elaborate care for their animals. With
this fact, the bans, judgments, and disrespect that exotic animal owners
receive are a double blow. Being lectured by people who could hardly call
themselves ‘animal people’ about what pets we should not own, or are allegedly
incapable of caring for, will obviously not be welcomed.
I can at least vouch
for my perspective; the animals that I choose to care for (current and future)
are extremely important to me, and I design my schedules, vacations (or lack
thereof), and other common aspects of a person’s life that they do not need to
consider and take for granted. Of course, the rewards of such a life are the reasons
why many animal owners take on the challenge, and many cannot imagine being
denied the right to do so.
Attention keepers of animals of any kind.
From owners of farm
animals to dogs, iguanas, sugar gliders, ants, cats, wolf hybrids, pit bulls, eels,
wallabies, peacocks, brine shrimp, watusi, Siamese fighting fish, fireflies
that you caught at the park during a July 4th fireworks festival and
garter snakes. Do you support zoos, educational presentations involving animal
displays or class room pets?
The climate of today’s society is rapidly changing. There is
a strong disdain overall for the practice and lifestyle choice of captive
animal keeping. Even animals that flourish, mentally and physically, in top of
the line zoos and aquariums are not safe from the sentiment that animals long
to be free and are suffering.
The zoos of the past were certainly something to complain
about. It was common for animals to be kept in small, barren cages that were
unappealing to the visitors and denied the captive animals of their basic
freedoms and overall health. Animals often succumbed to death early, and basic
enrichment techniques were not developed. Today, scientific research has led to
literature addressing all aspects of proper animal husbandry, offering captive
animals a stimulating environment that meets all of their physical and psychological
needs. These principals apply to ALL animals, not just the ‘wild’ ones.
With that being said, animal ownership has devolved from a
choice, right, and way of living to an unstable privilege of a few outside of ‘traditional’
pets, being heavily prone to removal if even a single animal owner whom is not
representative of the whole, is negligent in their care or actions..
Most pet owners are hard workers, have families, and pay
taxes too. There are bad zoos, bad pet owners, bad drivers, bad teachers, bad
dog owners, bad doctors, and bad people.
But don’t ever let an incident involving an animal occur, because if it does,
that means something should be banned; whether it be an ‘exotic’ pet, or
‘bully’ breed type of dog, or reptile. The expectations of certain pet owners
are staggeringly high.
Even more important is the fact that as citizens, our choices
that make our lives meaningful are not even taken seriously. How else would you
describe such quick banning of non-lethal animals with insufficient evidence or
facts showing that this group of animals is more harmful than those which are
conventional? These animals that very small numbers of people keep are rarely
even given the chance to be regulated as they should have been in the first
place.
Banning pets is not
like banning fireworks. It’s akin to telling a gardener they can no longer
grow plants, or informing a dog owner they can only keep cats because some dogs
have killed people. Non-pet owners and domesticated pet owners seem to refuse
to abide by the philosophy that we should respect people’s differences. Respect
doesn’t mean you have to condone something. All pet owners should be able to
keep their pet of choice as long as they are not mistreating those them.
There
are many reasons why a person may want to keep a non-domesticated animal over a
domesticated one (or both). There is no place for judgment on the reason, and
only the welfare of the animal and the (possible) impact on the public remain
valid concerns. However, it is illogical and unfair to expect better results
from exotic pets over that of traditional pets. Nearly every animal can bite.
All pet owning situations may result in a negative occurrence. Respect us and let us live our lives.
Joé McKen (also known as Bumdark) is a young misanthropic atheist who spends his time composing music, blogging, entertaining a passion for science and technology, bitching against social and civil injustices, and most of all, jabbing idiots, trolls and assorted cretins with sharp pointy sticks.
• Joé's IMDb profile
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