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Under the Sun Cynthia Oi |
Snakes and lizards
and prairie-dog tales
Victor the constrictor lived in a sprawling split-level house overlooking a pond in northeastern Connecticut. The yard and grounds were well-landscaped and the home tastefully decorated, reflecting the status of the upper-middle-class people who owned him.I can't remember if the family owned other pets, but I remember Victor. He was kept in the basement rumpus room, his world a glass fish tank measuring about 2 feet by 4 feet, covered to keep him from slithering off somewhere.
On the whole, Victor seemed well cared for. Lights warmed his tank for his reptilian comfort. He spent his time coiled around a tree limb propped in the tank and didn't seem to move more than necessary. About once a week, a live frog or rat was tossed into the tank as sustenance. Not having to make his way in the wild, he didn't need much more.
Although technically a pet, no one seemed to have much of a fondness for Victor. I never saw anyone touch him, much less take him out of the tank. He was a snake, after all. He was treated as part of the decor in the rumpus room, something to point out to guests, as in "Here's the wet bar, this mask we got in Africa, the baskets there are from Bali, and oh, that's Victor, he's a boa constrictor."
Another family I knew had an iguana and a huge, ugly fish that ate live goldfish. The iguana was confined to an old butler's pantry. The fish got attention only when it was fed because the owner liked to see the plume of gold scales it expelled after swallowing lunch.
I guess I'm a pet bigot because I don't understand why some people are attracted to these animals. If I had a yen for a pet, I'd get the traditional dog as a faithful companion, but only if I had space to let it run and play. I wouldn't choose a cat because they make me sneeze and wheeze. Birds are cute, though kind of boring, and it would be sad to clip their wings or not allow them to fly like they're suppose to. Guinea pigs, rabbits and gerbils would be out of the question for me, but if someone wants a rodent or a reptile or anything else termed "exotic," fine.
Except when they spread diseases. The recent episode with monkeypox is an example. The first outbreak of the disease in the Americas apparently originated from rodents imported from West and Central Africa to sell in pet stores. Fleas bit the infected alien rodents, then bit domestic prairie dogs that also were for sale and infected humans who brought them home.
The spread of monkeypox, so called because it was first discovered in monkeys, is another scary example of what can happen when we fuss around with things we know little about or don't anticipate. The danger is that the introduced virus will become established in the United States and infect wild animals as well as the pet-store variety.
Last week, the federal government did the right thing in banning the sale and distribution of prairie dogs in the nation and importing of all rodents from Africa. But the bans are temporary and we don't have a policy that governs such situations when we ought to.
Monkeypox hasn't spread to Hawaii so people here are generally unconcerned. Still, monkey-pox ought to make humans think twice about taking animals out of one environment and plopping them into another. If there were some compelling reason for having these animals around, I wouldn't have a complaint, but there isn't. The only reason seems to be that people find them desirable -- they just want to possess unusual living things for the sake of having them.
OK, this is America, and as a fellow who was annoyed when I criticized SUVs as energy-irresponsible says, we're allowed to choose according to our lifestyles. Too bad Victor couldn't make that choice. After all, he's just a snake.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Cynthia Oi has been on the staff of the Star-Bulletin since 1976.
She can be reached at: coi@starbulletin.com.