An exotic cat worth close to $8,000 was out on the loose around Sooke this past week and the sighting took on a life of its own. The story was picked up by all kinds of media. The quickest and most traffic came through Facebook.
Apparently the cat, named Samson, was hit by a truck and killed on Sunday. Which brings up the whole issue of exotic and wild pets. These animals belong in the wild, not in someone’s home or backyard zoo. What do they use for a litter box and how does the home smell? It’s not natural, its inhumane to keep such a large animal indoors.
If you have ever gone to a zoo and seen the tigers, lions of other large “cats” you would notice how they pace back and forth in the cage. They aren’t happy. They are stressed and they are out of their element. The whole beauty of a wild animal is their wildness - not its captivity and that is what one does when they have a wild animal as a “pet.”
Keeping an exotic animal, whether its a snake, turtle or a serval cat is the biggest kind of cruelty. Raising these exotics is also akin to cruelty. Sure breeders may be ethical and animal lovers but they are still contributing to this kind of unnatural breeding for the sake of some kind of status.
Wild animals raised in captivity do not lose their inherited instincts. Anyone who has a domestic cat knows this.
Sooke has bylaws against the keeping of exotic animals but the list doesn’t include these particular cats. That issue may have to be revisited once the new council gets their legs under them.
Meanwhile, it’s dark outside and there are deer and all sorts of critters with four legs and two legs on the streets. Let’s watch out for them... and if you are a two-legged creature please be visible. It is almost impossible to see someone wearing black on a dark and stormy night.