Latest news with #exoticpets
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I love Irwin my kangaroo. But his latest showdown with Colorado cops may force me into a heartbreaking choice
Long-time dog and cat owner Doneva Littlefield always thought she'd like a monkey if she ever got an exotic pet. But when a friend of hers became overwhelmed last June by two baby kangaroos he'd bought, she hopped at the chance to take them in. She had no idea what she was getting into and a year later her pet and her hometown of Durango, Colorado, have become repeated international viral sensations. The older 'roo, Irwin (named after the iconic zookeeper Steve) escaped from her home not once, but twice – all of it caught on camera by cops who wrangled him back to safety. The first time in October prompted a 911 call from a confused local who said a kangaroo with a diaper was walking down the street, Just last week, Irwin absconded again – only to be tracked close by near a neighbor's house. As officers tried to get within distance to grab him, Irwin took a jump – straight into the arms of one of the officers. 'The kangaroo was a lot nicer than I thought it'd be,' Durango Officer Shane Garrison, 24, tells Daily Mail. He was so touched by the experience, in fact, that he offered up his family's 40-acre farm as a possible new home for the kangaroo brothers when Doneva's husband stopped by the station to pick Irwin up. 'He was talking about rehoming it, and I kind of just pitched him the idea of me taking him home - and it kind of just grew from there,' Officer Garrison says. It's a possibility being considered by Doneva and her spouse, Brian. 'My husband hasn't been as much on board with this (keeping kangaroos) as I've been,' she says. 'He's just handed the check book over every time I've needed something.' Keeping the kangaroos costs them up to $600 a month, a bill far more expensive than either of them could have imagined. They did have an inkling that it wouldn't be easy. The kangaroos' first owner said he initially thought it would be 'a lot of fun', but the costs quickly became overwhelming. Irwin and Roo eat alongside the Littlefields pet dogs, an Australian shepherd and Shih Tzu mix Still, Doneva offered to buy them, and fell in love with them at first sight, she says. Irwin was about seven months old and his little brother, Roo, was around two months younger when they arrived in their new Colorado home. They were jumping into special pouches made out canvas and soft blanket-like material to mirror their mother's body. She purchased Roo and Irwin for $3,000 each. The 'roos took over the bedroom of Doneva's daughter, who was heading off to college. She prepared bottles filled half with evaporated milk and half with water and fitted them with adult diapers. Irwin and Roo began their lives at the LIttlefields' home by sleeping in their pouches in the bedroom of Doneva's daughter Paxton (pictured) who had just finished high school and was going off to college Irwin, she says fondly, 'has been a menace since the day we got him.' 'There's no boundaries with that kangaroo,' she says. 'If I'm eating something and he's near me, he's trying to get it from me … he's grabbing everything.' Irwin, she says, has 'always been very in key with what's going on around him, and he wants to be with humans,' she says. She adds that he loves attention, and his stunts show he certainly knows how to get it, too. Last October, when the kangaroos were younger and still spending most of the time inside the home, Irwin absconded from a door Brian had left open while Doneva was in New Mexico. She'd taken the kangaroos out in Durango before, meaning that Irwinn 'knew where he was going, and he knew exactly how to get home. 'As soon as the police started running into him … he ran straight back, right to our house, right to our backyard. That's where the police - and Brian - found him. 'My husband just took off his sweater and held it like a pouch, and Irwin came hopping right in the pouch,' she says. More than six months went by without incident as the 'roos kept growing. But Irwin - who now reaches Doneva's eye level when standing and weighs 70 pounds -unexpectedly went exploring again on May 19. Doneva had gone five or six nights without sleep. In a bid to get accustomed to the kangaroos living outside, she's been sleeping during the day and staying up all night to check on the 'roos every 15 minutes. Around 6am last Monday, however, she glanced outside for her routine check – and Irwin was nowhere to be found. She ran back inside 'in a panic' to wake up her husband, and they began combing the streets of Durango. He husband went to file a police report – only to be told that Irwin had already been picked up and dropped off at the humane society. But not before Officer Garrison's body camera footage recorded the hilarious capture, as well as his comment about how soft Irwin's fur felt. Doneva doesn't know exactly how Irwin escaped, but she believes it was by mistake. She wonders if a wild animal patrolling the street, like a raccoon, spooked him and sparked him to jump over the fence surrounding their yard. Since he's returned, she says, they've been shoring up the enclosure and reinstalled a pulsating electric fence – but the offer of a farm may seem like the best option. 'What we're doing is unsustainable,' she says. 'I can't keep doing this.' They're visiting Officer Garrison's farm and 'family compound' this weekend, he says; it's where he grew up 'capturing calves and goats, horses, things like that.' 'It'd be cool to be able to raise a kangaroo and hopefully make them have a better life, where [Irwin] can run around and be normal,' he says. 'Normal' might be a stretch when it comes to marsupials leaping through the fields of southwestern Colorado; Doneva has spent the past year watching pedestrians do double-takes outside her house and motorists nearly run stop signs. She's thrilled that her 'roos have become woven into the fabric of Durango's community - and hopes to work out visits whenever she wants if her pets resettle on nearby farmland, Officer Garrison's or otherwise. 'No matter what it's cost me or what, I've gained a lifetime of beauty and peace with having these creatures,' she says.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘People buy a lion and can't handle it': inside the farms breeding cubs for Tiktok and Instagram likes
Champagne glasses clink at an exclusive Bangkok party, where guests in designer clothes laugh and mingle. They take turns posing with a cat, passing it casually from one to the other. But as the camera settles, it becomes clear this is no house cat – it's a lion cub. One woman, in a red cocktail dress, lifts the animal to her face and blows a kiss at the camera, a glass of wine balanced in her other hand. Clips such as this are flooding Instagram and TikTok, offering a glimpse into Thailand's booming captive lion trade. According to a new report by the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand and the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group the number of lions in captivity has more than tripled since 2018 – a trend fuelled in part by the rising popularity of exotic pets among the country's wealthy elite. A growing network of lion farms cater to this demand – many of them run by amateurs with little experience in wildlife care. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her nursery, lion breeder Patamawadee Chanpithak giggles as three cubs – just weeks old – clumsily crawl over her lap, nudging her with closed eyes as if trying to suckle. The room smells of kitten formula. 'We were very inexperienced when we started,' she says, recalling how five of her first six cubs died within days. To date, she has sold more than 80 lions across the country. Some buyers are Thai and some are foreigners, she says, but all of them are wealthy – lion cub prices in Thailand start from $5,000 (£3,700), with white cubs fetching up to $15,000. Keeping a lion is costly, requiring reinforced enclosures and up to 10kg of fresh meat a day. Most buyers want their lions as young as possible. While there are customers who buy directly from farms, breeders also work with agents who aggressively promote cubs on social media – not just to sell, but also to rent them out for photoshoots and parties. The problems begin once the animals grow. 'Some people buy a lion and then can't handle it,' says Patamawadee. 'They ask us to buy it back.' The report suggests this 'buy-back' system has become central to the farms' business model, offering the experience of owning a lion without the long-term commitment. Older lions may be used for breeding or passed on to zoo-like venues, generating profit at every stage of life. Regular transfers between facilities make it difficult to track individual lions, contributing to the gap between official records and actual figures. The report identifies at least 444 lions in captivity – up from 138 in 2018, and more than the 342 registered with Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Researchers say the real number is probably significantly higher, as many sales and breeding activities go unregistered. Despite attempts to control the trade, a number of loopholes have allowed it to flourish. In 2019, the government introduced the Wild Animal Preservation and Protection Act to regulate the ownership of non-native Cites-listed species such as lions, which previously had little protection. According to the report, the law had the unintended effect of boosting the trade in lions by creating a legal pathway with significant gaps in oversight. While lion ownership requires a licence, breeding does not – anyone who legally owns lions can also breed them. Cubs don't need to be registered until they are 60 days old, and hybrid species such as ligers are excluded from the law altogether. The result is a thriving industry, with the trade in lion cubs alone estimated at more than $1m (£740,000) a year. Taweesak Anansiriwattana, a Bangkok vet known by his customers as Dr Vee, sits in his office in a clinic on the outskirts of the city. 'I don't agree with people keeping lions as pets,' he says. Over the past five years, he has treated more than 25 privately owned lions. 'Our climate is too humid for them. Skin infections are common,' he says, adding that malnutrition is also widespread. 'People feed them chicken, but they need organs like liver and intestines to survive.' Though owners are required to build enclosures measuring a minimum of 3 metres by 3 metres, fewer than half of the households Dr Vee has visited meet these standards. 'There are serious animal welfare challenges,' says Tom Taylor, operations chief at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand and co-author of the report. 'Some of these facilities keep lions in cramped and barren enclosures without sunlight, on concrete substrate, and poor-quality food, resulting in a life of misery.' To meet demand, breeders often separate cubs early to force mothers back into oestrus. Inbreeding is common, especially with white lions and hybrids, which are considered more valuable. Lions, which are not native to Thailand, are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. While the country's captive population offers little benefit to conservation, Taylor warns it is becoming fertile ground for trafficking, fuelling demand that puts wild lions at risk. 'We have received credible reports from traders indicating that lions in Thailand are being illegally exported, both as live animals and dead for their body parts,' he says, adding that lion parts may be filling the market gap left by the more tightly restricted tiger trade. Public safety is also a significant concern, as seen in news reports of lions escaping from private enclosures or being taken into public spaces. In 2024, a viral video of a man driving a pet lion in a convertible car caused widespread concern. In response, the director general of the department of national parks said the government was considering changes to the law, including restrictions on lion ownership. The report calls for an urgent ban on private ownership and commercial breeding, tougher licensing requirements, and limits on lion cafes and photo opportunities – arguing these practices promote the glamorisation of exotic pets. 'Many people are drawn to the idea of owning a lion without fully understanding the ethical, financial and safety implications,' says Taylor, adding that similar trends are emerging with other non-native species, including ring-tailed lemurs and red pandas. 'We hope this report encourages the public to think about where these animals come from, the conditions they are kept in, and what happens when they grow too large and dangerous to handle.' Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- The Guardian
Irwin the kangaroo gets the jump on police in Durango, Colorado
The most notorious roo-peat offender in Durango, Colorado, was once again seen hopping through town. Irwin, a pet kangaroo, first jumped through Durango as a baby in October 2024. On Monday, he showed that his escapist tendencies have followed him from the pouch to adolescence. Irwin (named after Steve Irwin) was first caught in October when officers lured him with a large bag, banking on its similarity to a kangaroo pouch. But, when it came to catching a more grown-up Irwin, local police officers had to come up with a different kanga-ruse, a new form of hop pursuit. Released footage shows an officer approaching Irwin in a narrow corridor between a red fence and a brick house. Irwin attempts to jump past the officer (described by Durango's police chief as 'a big farm boy'), and lands in his arms instead. 'We have the kangaroo detained,' another officer calls into dispatch. Irwin's confusion over his locale is understandable. Kangaroos, famed for their springy legs and long leaps, are native to Australia, and used to bouncing in more boundless spaces than a private owner can typically provide. Kangaroos are legal to own in Colorado, one of many exotic animals on an eclectic list that includes three species of wallabies, poison dart frogs, emus, reindeer, caimans and African pygmy hedgehogs. Escaped exotic pets are often linked to human repeat offenders. A Raleigh, North Carolina, man publicly apologized and turned in more than 75 snakes after failing to report an escaped zebra cobra six months earlier – and was seen on TikTok years later handling venomous snakes. Fatalities from kangaroos are rare, but not without precedent. Last week, a man in South Carolina was found dead in a petting zoo's kangaroo enclosure. In 2022, an Australian man was killed by a wild kangaroo he had kept as a pet.
Associated Press
21-05-2025
- Associated Press
AP PHOTOS: Tigers, jaguars and elephants are the latest to flee Mexico's cartel violence
CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — A pack of veterinarians clambered over hefty metal crates on Tuesday morning, loading them one by one onto a fleet of semi-trucks. Among the cargo: tigers, monkeys, jaguars, elephants and lions – all fleeing the latest wave of cartel violence eclipsing the northern Mexican city of Culiacan. For years, exotic pets of cartel members and circus animals have been living in a small animal refuge on the outskirts of Sinaloa's capital. However, a bloody power struggle erupted last year between rival Sinaloa cartel factions, plunging the region into unprecedented violence and leaving the leaders of the Ostok Sanctuary reeling from armed attacks, constant death threats and a cutoff from essential supplies needed to keep their 700 animals alive. _____ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
The Sun
12-05-2025
- The Sun
Animal lover, 50, mauled to death & eaten by his own PET LION just days after buying beast to keep in his garden
A MAN was mauled to death by his pet lion in southern Iraq, just days after bringing the animal home in hopes of taming it in his garden. The victim, 50-year-old Aqil Fakhr al-Din, was known locally for keeping lions and other wild animals on his property for years, according to police. 3 3 Mufid Tahir, a spokesperson for local police, told Rudaw news outlet, 'Today in a garden in the city of Kufa in Najaf, a citizen was attacked by a lion in his own garden and died immediately. 'The lion had eaten a large portion of the man's body, and because the lion refused to leave the remains, we were forced to shoot and kill it." According to local TV reports, the victim's neighbour intervened before authorities came, shooting the lion seven times with a Kalashnikov rifle and killing it. Al-Din was immediately taken to Al-Sadr Medical City Hospital in Najaf but did not survive due to the severity of his injuries. A clip of the lion lying dead in the garden went viral on social media, sparking outrage over the man's ability to keep the animal in his garden and raising concerns about Iraq's lax rules on private ownership of exotic wildlife. Al-Din had bought the lion to raise and tame it at home, local reports claim. Iraq has long struggled with illegal wildlife trafficking, driven by a strong market demand along with years of weak law enforcement. In the absence of effective regulations, hunters and smugglers continue to capture and trade rare species. Falcons from Iraq's southern plains are among the most sought-after animals, especially due to their value in the Gulf's falconry traditions. In the mountainous and remote areas of the Kurdistan Region, smugglers also target a wide range of species including wild birds, foxes and reptiles. Many of these animals are sold in local markets or trafficked across borders to wealthier buyers in neighbouring countries. But rare and exotic species are also smuggled into Iraq and the Kurdistan Region from other parts of the world. These animals - ranging from African primates to Asian big cats - are sold in black markets or displayed in private collections, often with little regard for animal welfare. Despite Iraq's ratification of the Convention on the Protection of Animals in 2014 - which aims to regulate global wildlife trade - illegal trafficking remains widespread across the country. It comes as zoo worker was killed by a kangaroo after he was reportedly "roughhousing" with it. Eric Slate, who was the brother of the petting zoo's owner, was found beaten up at 5-Star Farm near Loris, South Carolina, according to police. The worker's exact cause of death is still unclear, but the local councilman Dennis DiSabato confirmed a kangaroo was directly involved in the killing. Slate's corpse was discovered just after midnight on Saturday, with the kangaroo still in the same enclosure. South Carolina has some of the most lenient laws in the US when it comes to exotic animal ownership. Unlike many other states that require permits, licenses or ban certain species altogether, South Carolina imposes minimal restrictions. Besides South Carolina, there are only two other states in the US where people can purchase a pet kangaroo without a permit: Wisconsin and West Virginia. In the absence of stricter rules, exotic pet incidents, including escapes and attacks, remain a real possibility.
