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Brennan Wansley

Mrs.Godwin

11th Lit Comp

30 Jan 202

B2 Exotic

Many people ask the question; should exotic animals be kept as pets? Some feel as if they’re fit

to keep them while others may feel opposed to the idea. The matter of it is though while as a U.S

citizen that right is technically granted to own any animal you want as a “pet”, it is not

suggested, cost efficient, or smart.

To start, owning a pet could be considered pretty normal and in today’s day and age it

could even be known as the “norm”. Those are for common household pets though such as a

dog, a house cat, or even maybe a rabbit. But once it gets to pets such as a lion, a tiger, or a bear;

that’s where it just starts to get a little excessive and unnecessary. For one, owning an animal

such as a bear is not suggested for many reasons. One, it is a wild animal (even if domesticated),

it can and inevitably will turn on their owner. And unfortunately for most owners of pets as such,

that age when they do turn is later on in their life when there’s simply nothing that can be done

about it.

Secondly, it would be very expensive to maintain the basic needs of an animal such as a

Bengal tiger. Imagine, a family of 3 or 4 and having to put food on the table for the entire family

and then providing for a 600 lb tiger. Providing for a family of 2 alone with inflation and things

of that sort in today’s society is hard enough then you add the food and basic necessities of

something that is maybe 3-4 times the size of the both of them in the house. It’d be near

impossible. That’s not even talking about space for the animal. If you are fortunate to have a
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house big enough to accommodate an animal of that size, great, but there will be a time when

that animal needs to go outside and be free and most don’t have the yard size to let a tiger roam

there as well as in the house.

On the other side of things there’s the very fortunate. That’s talking about the people who

have enough money to feed the animal and take care of its basic needs, enough time to tend for

it, enough space to house it and to let it roam when needed. In a case like that, if a person checks

all of those boxes, then they’re probably set enough in life already enough to be able to own one

of these exotic animals.

In closing, every person has the right to own one of these exotic animals as a a

pet, but unless they are pretty much set for life and more than fit to own one it is not suggested or

recommended.