A major issue with exotic pet ownership is safety. Exotic pets are not domesticated animals, no matter how well trained they may be. Owning an exotic pet poses a huge risk to the owner’s family, friends, and neighbors, the owner him/herself, and in fact the owner’s whole community.

Pet Hippo Kills Its Owner

If the pet is a predator there is the risk that they could at any time, for no apparent reason attack someone. Depending on the severity, one of these attacks could be fatal. By default the pet owners whole community is at risk of an attack as there is always a chance that the exotic animal could escape. Even if the exotic animal is a herbivore, there are still plenty of safety issues.  Just beacus an animal is a herbivore or omnivore, doesn’t mean it can’t be aggressive. There are always the famous cases of the chimp who ripped a woman’s face off, and hippo who mauled his owner. If the animal is large, shear size could be a dangerous factor. Exotic animals, particularly reptiles can carry bacteria and disease which could infect a human. Some animals may also be poisonous or venomous which can also be a danger.

There are plenty of horror stories out there of loving pets suddenly turning on their owners. It all comes down to the fact that these animals are not domesticated. Domestication is a process that took dozens generations of selecting for specific genes and cannot be duplicate simply by training an animal from birth. The reality is that no mater how tame the owner says their animal is, there is always a huge safety risk in owning or being near an exotic animal.