When I dug deeper to find out more about "Little Ray's Reptile Zoo" it would seem that there are several franchises of this organization and there are zoo's in Ottawa, Hamilton, Nova Scotia, and there is a page for "United States" - but all it says on that page is that they are "expanding" and that if you want to book an exhibit to contact their Ottawa location. It also lists a Newfoundland location - but when you click on that page - it comes up as page not found.
For the Nova Scotia page - it lists Lisa and David Janes as being the owner of that franchise - who own "Blue Nose Reptiles".
I have no doubt that the Janes are committed reptile rescuer's and have a great love for the animals that they are committed to - but there are some species that do not belong to roving pet shows - and sloths and their type are one of them.
Looking at Little Ray's facebook page it appears that the sloth - and I can't see anywhere that they've said what this sloth's name is - has shared ownership between the different franchises - and I only went back to the beginning of October - and since that time has been part of TWENTY FIVE - educational days around Ontario, New Brunswick and PEI. That is a shit-load of public appearances I have to say.
This poor animal is a huge money maker for these franchises - so I can understand if pointing out this fact is going to get some blow back from this money making "educational group".
You may ask - why do I have a problem with this?
The problem I have with this is that sloths are very beautiful and when people see wild animals like this up close a lot of people are going to go "OH MY GOD - this animal is so cute - I WANT ONE."
And then what's going to happen? These captive bred organizations who are only breeding for these "educational facilitys" are going to start breeding for pet populations.
There is a huge demand down in the States for cute little monkey's - and guess what - people are able to buy them from people who breeding them in captive bred facility's - remember Darwin in Toronto who was found outside the Ikea in Toronto? I wonder where he came from?
If there is a need for something - someone is going to provide it.
NO ONE needs to see a live sloth - you can see all the ones you need on the internet. PERIOD.
Please do not give any money to Little Ray's Reptile Zoo with their live baby sloth.
Please. You are giving them blood money - what will they show you next if this is a success?
I can only guess.
I TOTALLY agree... Now these beautiful beings will become a craze, a "thing" people "must have". MORE animal exploitation. And this show has nothing to do with education. It is all about generating revenue. And now they have gone yet another step into using animals to benefit themselves. A shameful ruse...one the public will swallow hook, line, & sinker.
ReplyDeleteOk. Not to play devils advocate here. But. I have heard this story and I have also heard that this guy who does the traveling reptile thing actually rescues these animals. And is a great guy himself. And loves the animals and treats them very well. That these animals are from different zoos and for whatever reason had to be reduced. Like his crocodile had infected teeth and was going to be youthanized, and his falcon had a broken wing and was going to Ben youthanized, etc etc. And this sloth, same thing. So, if that's the case and this guy probably truly does love animals and what if he treats them very well and just genuinely loves making a living showing and educated people and children about that.. what's wrong with that? Seems like a good thing to me. These animals can't live in the wild.. because I'm sure he's not the one who went and caught them in the first place and held them in captivity... so he rescued them. And he's been doing this a long time. And I've never heard anything bad about it. And that would lead me to believe that some sort of hamane society must be aware of him and they must determine that he is all legal and following regulations etc or he wouldn't be in business... and maybe I'm wrong. But maybe this is being blown out of proportion. Just sayin.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the animals that Ray's has are indeed rescue animals - but that is not true of the sloth - it is an animal that was bred at a breeding facility down in the States that breeds animals for zoos and for facility's like Ray's - and he bought is solely for functions like what is going to happen here - to be displayed to the public. So no - this sloth is not a rescue animal - Ray's has it simply to make money off of - and I'm sure he is making a lot of money off of the animal - when I look at their facebook page they are using it for no less than 25 appearances between October and now - the sloth is being shared between the Ray's different franchises. Sloths do not like to be touched and trotted out like this.
DeleteSo Ray's may be good for a lot of things and for a lot of animals and they may have their heart in the right place for reptiles - but for this sloth - and for any other animals that they've purchased from captive bred facilities in order to make money off of them and to "educate the public" about the species - I do not think that is a good thing - especially when those animals are cute and people might get it into their head that they want one of these animals because they are cute and cuddly.