and now for something that actually matters

I'm taking a break from plugging my wares to talk about something actually matters. I just read this article (click: here) about two cougars that were rescued as part of the Big Cat Rescue. It's asking for donations, which I encourage you to do, but that's not the moral.

Exotic animals are not pets. Lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, crocodiles... these are not pets. These are wild animals that do not live well in cages with people.

The article I posted explains how that a lion that lived with the cougars ended up biting his owner in the leg, causing him to bleed out and die, and then the lion himself was killed.

That's how these stories always end. It ends very badly for these animals. Look at Travis the monkey, who was raised as a child and went on to rip off that poor woman's face in Connecticut before the police killed him.

I've always wanted a big cat. I thought it would be fabulous to own a tiger, until I really started researching it and realized what it means for these animals. They are not domestic. They don't belong in cages. They don't know how to live with people.

When researching about lions for Hollowland, I read tons and tons of articles about lion ownership gone wrong. Big cats being mistreated, abused, and neglected. Owners, their families, and their neighbors being seriously injured or killed by animals that shouldn't be there in the first place.

This says nothing for the animal trafficking industry and the abuses that animals suffer through at the hands of smugglers.

This isn't a condemnation of zoos or animal rescue organizations who have trained professionals that care for animals that have been rendered unable to survive in the world or work on breeding efforts for endangered species.

But please, please, please do not get an exotic animal. It will not end well for you or the animal.