Industry
Australian native animals as pets
Australia is home to an abundance of native wildlife – but should they be kept as pets? Words Bob Croucher KEEPING AUSTRALIAN native animals,
A tree-dwelling Australian sugar glider
While in 2021, renowned biologist, Mike Archer,
including mammals, as pets has been a controversial
told Cosmos Magazine2: “I’ve had so many wonderful
population that believes we shouldn’t own any pets,
backyard. I think we’re nuts for just feeling we have to
subject for many years. There is a small part of the
that they are not chattels to be bought and sold but to have all the rights and benefits of humans.
This sounds all warm and fuzzy but, the reality
is that it is not something that would work in our society.
Published views in past years are varied. During
a 1999 Australian Veterinary Association (AVA)
Conference in Hobart, high profile vet, Dr George
native animals that have shared my house and my stick with the introduced alien species as pets.”
Over the years, we have been happy to import our
pets such as cats and dogs, now bred in Australia. While there is nothing wrong with that, there
are many animals that have been in Australia for
hundreds of years. They have evolved to our natural environment and climate.
In Australia, where most of our mammals are
Wilson, said that in his view, “It is far better to
endemic (found nowhere else), we’ve managed to
owned privately”.
Europeans – the highest mammalian extinction rate
kill young joeys and wombats than let them be
“What do we do if we want to have a native animal as a pet? What we don’t do is take one from the wild.” – Bob Croucher
Central netted dragon 52 Pet Industry News | May/Jun/Jul 2022
eliminate more than 30 species since the arrival of
