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If you ever found an abandoned, hurt or sick wild animal, would you be tempted to raise that critter as your pet?
Hopefully not.
Trying to raise a wild animal within your home is never a good decision. Here’s why!
Wild Animals Could Carry Diseases
Many wild animals can carry diseases without showing any symptoms. Here in Hamilton, we always have to be cautious around raccoons and skunks in particular since they could be carriers for rabies. Other diseases that have been known to be carried by wild animals are distemper, herpes, salmonella, polio and tuberculosis. They also may have parasites including intestinal worms.
If you brought a wild animal into your home, then you would be exposing your entire family (including your pets) to potentially life-threatening diseases.
Wild Animals Grow Up
It can be hard to resist baby wild animals, especially when you forget they will one day grow to be much bigger!
Like human babies, baby wildlife is entirely dependent upon others for their survival. Once they grow bigger, their natural instincts kick in, and they can inflict damage and pain. As its owner, you may be legally responsible for any damage, injuries or illnesses caused by the animal you’re raising.
When the animal grows bigger, most humans try to release the wild animal back into the wild. In many cases, it won’t survive since its critical skills were prevented from developing.
Wild Animals May Not Need Rescuing
Sometimes although baby animals in the wild may look abandoned, they aren’t.
For example, mother bunnies typically stay away from their babies during the day to avoid drawing predators close. During the night, the mother generally comes back to check and feed them. Although this may sound cold and much different from how we raise our own young, it is what has worked throughout history for bunny survival.
Wild Animals have Specific Needs
Wild animals are complex creatures when it comes to their behavioural, social, nutritional and psychological needs. They need to be with their own species who fully understand them – not humans who are more familiar with raising traditional pets.
Raising Wild Animals is Illegal
If the previous reasons weren’t enough for you, here’s one more: it’s illegal.
There are Ontario laws that exist that make it illegal to keep the province’s native wildlife as pets. However, several exceptions exist, including studying wild animals as part of a study or supporting authorized hunting opportunities. Even these exceptions are regulated under provincial laws and require applications.
If you’re really worried about a wild animal in Hamilton and the surrounding area, your best bet is to contact Habitat Wildlife Control. Our team has the knowledge necessary to know what to do in many wildlife situations – keeping you and your family safe.
This originally appeared at:
https://habitatwildlifecontrol.ca/dont-domesticate-wild-animals/