tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410142.post-821204592002-09-25T17:28:00.000-07:002002-09-25T17:34:37.000-07:00Help Stop the Trade in Exotic Animals on the Web Exotic animals like monkeys, tigers, and dangerous reptiles are almost as easy to acquire on the Internet as a trinket off eBay or an appliance through a newspaper ad. One Web site, Wild Animal World, operated by Randy Davies, advertises animals ranging from capuchin monkeys to chimpanzees to lions to kinkajous. Because the Internet is virtually unregulated, it is a medium to which many animal dealers are flocking. As the court commission surely knows, the life that so-called “exotic pets” lead is far removed from that which they would experience in their natural habitat. Big cats, primates, and reptiles, for example, are not domestic animals, and their instincts remain very much intact in captivity. A life in a backyard, basement, or garage cage cannot even begin to meet these animals’ instinctual needs and desires, such as seeking a mate, raising young, hunting, basking in the sun, and resolving territorial disputes. Even simple but essential pleasures, like freedom of movement and the ability to socialize with others of their own kind, are often denied them altogether. Many exotic animals kept as pets develop psychotic behaviors resulting from a life of confinement, such as self-mutilation, head-bobbing, pacing, and coprophagia, or (playing with and eating excrement). For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.wildlifepimps.com/">www.wildlifepimps.com</a>. Most of these animals end up being shuffled from one facility or home to the next and often end up being sold to laboratories, where they undergo painful and invasive tests, or are forced to live in horrendous conditions in roadside zoos or curiosity displays. In fact, Davies aided in getting two squirrel monkeys, who were destined to live in a glass enclosure, to a bar in Hawaii. One of the monkeys, who was only 3 months old, died during shipment. Click here to learn how to help the monkey stuck in this bar. Please ask Qwest Communications, which hosts Wild Animal World at two different locations, to drop the sites and set a policy against hosting sites that are used to sell animals: Richard C. Notebaert, Chair and CEO Qwest Communications International, Inc. 1801 California St. Denver, CO 80202 Tel.: 800-899-7780 Fax: 303-992-1724knoreply@blogger.com