Special Entry: "We've got fissues."

When Manx came to us, his tail had been ripped off down to the bone and left untreated. Spartan, Clarence, Noriko, Nanahara, and Warsaw had all been fought for entertainment and betting; Warsaw is permanently disabled from his wounds. Jersey, Nugget and many others were found on the brink of death from starvation. Murphy was abandoned on a front porch in the middle of winter, sick and underweight. Mia was unwanted because a genetic defect resulting from coloration selected for show animals had caused her to go blind. Leucothea, Rail, and two others were neglected by a hoarder. Boudica and Thatcher were abandoned because they didn't reproduce. Mahalo and many others were found dying of severe, untreated infections that could have been prevented with proper husbandry, while Chuck was so infested with parasites that it nearly killed him. Some, like Mouse, lost their homes because they were just "too ugly" to be wanted. And others, many others, died before help ever reached them.

Animal lovers would hear these stories and ask where they can sign up to welcome these tragic dogs and cats into their homes. They would demand legal repercussions for abusers, or hold walks to raise funds for medical care. These poor lost souls would want for nothing in the loving care of dedicated volunteers. The problem is, none of the animals above were dogs or cats. They were all fish, and many more have suffered and died silently, with no advocates.

I've met self-professed animal lovers keep bettas in a vase on their desk or goldfish in a bowl in their kitchen. Others tout the importance of research before buying yet have overstocked, under-stimulated, incompatible nightmares for home fish tanks. The same people who go to leaflett against puppy milling or wild caught parrots buy their fish from pet stores without a second thought. For all of the condemnation of the exotics trade, few I've met bat an eye at the fish in a store front aquarium.

Fish in most pet stores are mass (mill) bred, production bred on fish farms, or taken directly from the wild. They are subjected to extreme shipping stress with no laws protecting them on their voyage. In stores, they are kept in over-crowded aquariums with species they may be incompatible with, and seldom receive any sort of veterinary intervention for the (extremely prevalent) infections, parasites, and injuries that plague them. Untold numbers - thousands, perhaps even millions - die before ever leaving the store from preventable health conditions, and it is common to see sick, dead, and dying fish on display even in stores that pride themselves on animal care (ie. Petco/Petsmart).

Those who survive long enough to make it to their new homes do so with no adoption screening and often no age limit (some without even so much as a guarantee that the animal will survive more than a day!). The result is often prolonged suffering in undersized, unclean, unsuitable living conditions, perhaps alongside aggressive tankmates, before dying of a shortened lifespan (knowledgeable, responsible, and perhaps equally importantly humane fishkeepers, even among those devoted enough to the hobby post on web forums, seem a rare phenomenon). Those that lose their owners' interest due to upkeep, overbreeding, prohibitive size, or any other reason may find themselves released into non-native habitats, returned to pet stores, dumped on shelter staff ignorant of their care needs, killed through gruesome home methods, or shuffled through to the next owner with only a shadow of hope that they will not suffer the same fate again.

If we consider the dismal state of the fish industry, it is readily apparent even from surface examination that these animals are suffering and dying on a massive scale that trumps perhaps every other species championed by shelters and humane groups. They have little to no legal protection, a low standing in our culture, and perhaps the greatest (and only preventable) crime of all, virtually no advocates (PETA anthropomorphising bettas as social butterflies does not count). Humane outreach programs, legal funds, and even grassroots protests ignore the issue of fish in pet stores for more handsome quarry like ending dog fighting, stopping puppy mills, or reducing rabbit homelessness. Rescues for fish are few and far between (and often, in my experience, fraudulent), with sanctuaries virtually non-existant. Thus, no one speaks out to prevent the suffering of fish in the pet trade, and no one is there to pick up the pieces when the inevitable happens.

Here at ACS, fish ARE a major concern. At one time, they made up the bulk of our residents. These animals have experienced all the horrors (and then some) ever experienced by rescued dogs and cats, but their suffering occurred legally, unpunished, and often unquestioned, right in the public eye. They are constant reminders of the progress that needs to be made in bringing the animal welfare community around to the plight of all animals, not just the cute, furry ones that are visually appealing and great for fund raising. They need impassioned advocates unafraid to draw the comparison between the worst abuses of mammals and birds and the commonplace suffering of fish.

Until that day comes, ACS would like to suggest the following:
1. If you wouldn't buy from a store that sells milled puppies or wild caught exotics, don't buy from a store that sells fish! Fish in chain stores tend to come from a small handfull of massive production breeders or are wild caught depending on the species. Likewise, if you normally oppose purchasing animals from pet stores, carry that philosophy over to fish!
2. Look to your classifieds, craigslist, petfinder, shelter listings, etc. if you think you'd like to adopt a fish. Most major cities will have postings every day for fish who are no longer wanted for a wide range of reasons. If you simply must buy, support a responsible, humane breeder with good credentials - though remember that ideally, living beings should never be reduced to products.
3. Carefully research before you adopt or purchase any fish. Flipping through a book published in the 80's, going to Yahoo! answers, or reading one web page does not suffice. Go to the websites of serious enthusiasts, talk to other keepers on forums for experience, read up on the species habitat and diet in the wild - misinformation is common, but outright ignorance is simply inexcusable.
4. When you see ailing fish in pet stores, speak up. Stores need to know that it is not acceptable for any animal in their care to be suffering or denied basic care needs. Consider how you would react if it was a dog, cat, or rabbit, and act accordingly. Be polite, firm, and if possible public so that other shoppers become aware of the problem as well.
5. Try to avoid the "sympathy purchase"- you are putting money in the hands of abusers. Many stores will relinquish ailing fish free of charge if asked, particularly if you display a level of expertise. Just remember to never bring home an animal you do not have the time, funding, and knowledge to help.
6. Educate whenever you see a fish being mistreated, be it in stores, private homes, or places of business. Ignorance is massive and pervasive when it comes to proper fish husbandry; even stores are often happy to learn the proper care of a given species. Just as you would try to educate a friend letting her unspayed cat breed willy-nilly, do not remain silent on behalf of fish. This is complicity with cruelty.
7. Above all, be an advocate! Whatever your talent may be - humane law, rescue, fostering, education, protest, letter writing - use it to help fish in addition to any other causes you champion. If you live in a state where fish have legal protection, DO report abuses. If you have space in your home, money in your wallet, time on your hands, and knowledge in your head, consider fostering or adopting fish needing homes. Got a talent for education? Write caresheets, post on web forums, or just talk to people about issues pertaining to fish in the pet trade. And always feel free to be your local fish store watch dog, making sure management keeps an eye on the conditions of animals in the store.

Rancor & Khaeryne

Rancor & Khaeryne are two Emperor Scorpions who were abandoned along with a two others (one Asian Forest Scorpion, Gremlin, and a third Emperor Scorpion who died shortly after rescue) when their owner no longer wished to care for them. The four animals were being kept on sand - an inappropriate substrate for a tropical species - in a 3g Kritter Keeper, well below the minimum tank size for a single scorpion. The aggressive Asian Forest Scorpion had out-competed the other animals for food, resulting in Rancor and Khaeryne to be seriously underweight.
There was also insufficient water offered for the group, causing dehydration among all three survivors and most likely the cause of death for the fourth. The suffering of this maligned animal demonstrates the price of both ignorance and a lack of regard for "lower" animal like invertebrates.
(Above: Khaeryne Left: Rancor upon rescue, underweight and dehydrated. This image shows him drinking water frantically upon being introduced to his new habitat, a behavior that lasted for nearly five full minutes.)

The focus of this blog, however, will not be on problems with the exotics industry or the suffering of invertebrates. There is an even darker side to the strife of the emperor scorpion: they have been listed by CITES II as a threatened species since 1995, yet are still almost 100% wild caught (WC) for the pet trade. As the single most commonly sold species of scorpion in pet stores, the Emperor Scorpion is severely threatened by over-collection, yet a lack of awareness and widespread apathy has resulted in a failure to stop the trade in this vulnerable species. Even "enthusiasts" of scorpions and other arachnids routinely sell imported WC scorpions since captive breeding is not profitable (but selling imports at a high mark-up is!).

All too often, the popularity of a given species is its demise. Much as parrots once suffered serious declines in wild populations due to collection for the pet trade, the Emperor Scorpion's simple husbandry needs, hardiness, docile temperament, and large size have created in an appeal that is literally stripping the wild of the species. However, unlike parrots, which have widely endearing qualities resulting in a strong push for advocacy, Emperor Scorpions are lumped into a category of undesirables that many people even within the rescue community are unwilling to fight to protect. Indeed, in addition to their suffering in the pet trade, these animals are routinely bought en-masse for movies, manhandled on game shows like Fear Factor, eaten as a novelty, and otherwise exploited with no contest, due to a lack of awareness and/or a lack of compassion.

It is important to never buy an Emperor Scorpion unless you are certain that it comes from captive bred (not captive born, which implies a second gen with wild caught parent) lines. Pet store individuals are guaranteed to be wild caught, and expo or online vendors typically sell WC as well unless otherwise specified. The 9-18 month gestation, small number of offspring, and frequent scorpling mortality makes the Emperor Scorpion unprofitable to breed in captivity. While a few enthusiasts of the species are fighting hard to establish captive bred lines to protect the scorpions from collection, these efforts are in their infancy. Thus, for the time being, there are very few ways outside of adoption to ethically acquire an Emperor Scorpion.

It is also worth questioning the validity of keeping Emperor Scorpions in captivity overall. One interested in keeping one of these magnificent animals should consider what is more important: the desire to "have" an animal as a pet, or the need for its species to continue surviving and thriving in the wild as it ought to. Like a tiger or a wolf, the Emperor Scorpion is a wild animal with no real place in captivity, and whose very survival is threatened by humanity due to exploitation. Can we really excuse the continued presence of these animals in the pet trade, something fueled entirely by consumer demand, and truly profess to care about wildlife or conservation? Likewise, can anyone consider themselves to be an ethical steward of animals if they purchase a threatened species, without doing the research to know of their situation or having done so but simply not caring? Personally, I think not.

I will leave you with a final quote to consider, as I feel it is very pertinent to the Emperor Scorpion and other exotics who are largely wild caught:
"Those who wish to pet and baby wildlife love them, but those who respect their natures and wish to let them live their natural lives, love them more."
- Edwin Way Teale

Wendy

Wendy is a young female lop rabbit who was found roaming the streets in the dead of winter. Skinny, dirty, and frightened with overgrown nails and swollen teats suggesting a recent litter, it became apparent that it was likely she had been deliberately released despite hopes that she was merely lost. Wendy likely had a litter that was cute enough to be adopted out, but being larger and older was no longer desirable herself; we see this frequently in rabbits due to the large number of pet stores that sell animals of both genders, often resulting in pregnancies their new owners were not prepared to deal with. Pair this with the fact that many "mini" lops sold in the US are not so "mini" after all, and you can see why a rabbit who was suddenly too big and too pregnant for their owners' expectations would find herself on the street instead of in a loving home.

I wish I could say that the release of domesticated rabbits by their owners is a rare and isolated occurrence. Sadly, quite the opposite is true - indeed in the past we've taken in three other rabbits found running at large who were never claimed and thus likely abandoned. Rabbit homelessness in the United States is rivaled only by dog and cat homelessness; they are one of the most popular small pets, yet only just now are appropriate shelters and sanctuaries, advocacy groups, and spay/neuter efforts becoming commonplace. Despite being a commitment with a lifespan rivaling a dog's, rabbits are still available as inexpensive impulse purchases at pet stores, $20 in exchange for a creature whose vast care needs are only just now being understood.

The pet industry has played a prominent role in the rabbit homelessness crisis. Being inexpensive to produce and easy to sell at a high mark up, rabbits have been a prominent figure in most stores selling animals - including so-called progressive stores like Petco and Petsmart. Products sold in stores often fail to reflect the true husbandry needs of rabbits, ranging from too-small cages to inferior diets, with plenty of gratuities inbetween. Indeed, and investigation of a few local stores suggests that many stores do not sell a single cage appropriate in size for a pair of full grown rabbits. More importantly, what rabbits truly need can not be bought in fancy packaging: plenty of space, attention, stimulation, understanding, and of course, a committed life long home.

Still, responsibility must lie equally on the shoulders of the owners. While most in the US have come to realize that dogs and cats are precious family members who should not be purchased on impulse, commodified as tools of profit, denied basic care needs, or light-heartedly abandoned, the message is yet to spread out to other species. Ask your average person on the street if one should research and prepare before buying or adopting a dog and the answer is likely to be an enthusiastic yes, yet even advocates of responsible dog and cat ownership may keep rabbits and other species in utterly unacceptable care conditions due to ignorance. With the wealth of information now available on proper rabbit husbandry from organizations like the House Rabbit Society, there is really no excuse to go into rabbit keeping ignorant and unprepared.

And so, Wendy has a few requests for the prospective rabbit owners out there:
1. Please research proper rabbit husbandry prior to getting a rabbit - the House Rabbit Society is a good place to start. Pet store employees are not experts, often do not have the best interest of animals at heart, and may mislead you into buying unsuitable accessories for the sake of profit. Don't fall into the trap of assuming "They wouldn't make it if it wasn't good for them!" If this were good logic, there would be no market for cigarettes and junk food in humans.
2. Make sure you can afford and accommodate a rabbit's life long care needs. With proper care a rabbit can live as long as a dog or cat, and during that lifespan will need a constant supply of fresh foods, hay, bedding/litter, enrichment toys, etc. not to mention vet bills. What's more, the rabbit will need plenty of space and attention for it's whole life - not just until the cuteness wears off or until the baby is born. Pet ownership is about your commitment, not your convenience.
3. If you can't keep your rabbit, never let it loose! Domesticated rabbits have been bred for hundreds of years to live with humans. Their wild natures (and looks) have been so diluted by captivity that they never survive long out in the elements on their own. Releasing a captive rabbit isn't "freeing" it - it is a death sentence. Try classifieds, online adoption net works, rescue organizations, etc. Also consider if the rabbit really needs to be rehomed, or if its owner simply needs to step up to the plate and fulfill his or her duties.
4. Don't buy, adopt. Rabbits are living beings that we have no right in buying and selling like a pair of pants or sack of groceries - they are intelligent, sentient, living creatures. Pet store rabbits are typically mass produced in the same poor conditions of puppy mills and backyard breeders, which can result in genetic and temperament issues. Thousands of unwanted rabbits are already in need of loving homes without producing more. Check your local shelters, nearby chapters of the house rabbit society, petfinder.com, and classified ads - it is almost definite that you will quickly find rabbits needing homes.

Wendy is a wonderful rabbit, and I am honored to have her living here. However, the fact that she and many other rabbits have needed to come through these doors suggests a fundamental problem with the state of rabbit ownership today. The ultimate goal is not to have shelters and sanctuaries available for rabbits, but rather a day where rabbits are never put in her situation thanks to an end to impulse purchase and a greater respect and awareness of rabbits' needs.