Ived been noticing rising cases of people releasing animals into the wild as of lately. Where I used to work at, I remembered this specific customer who came to me with the question if I could take in his turtle(like a ton of people do), feeling somewhat of a pity for the man, I asked him "is this a captive bred animal?". He replied to yes, that he got it from hamburg, PA reptile expo a year ago. He simply couldnt keep it. It grew too big for him. He didnt plan ahead and thought "maybe ill just give it to someone or release it.". I accepted his request, exchanged numbers. Following day, his wife had set the turtle free in a lake. The turtle being a painted turtle wasnt that bad. But the fact it was in captivity was. It could infect the natural wild life and pose a threat. It seems alot of people are releasing their animals. Not just turtles, but frogs, toads, treefrogs, hamsters, rabbits, fish. And people wonder why there are going to be ban on exotics? Its due to the ignorance of the public!
The sad part is... People like that tend to be ignorant and arrogant. Refusing to listen to others. I lost my job because I refused to sell an animal to a man who didnt know or care for the said animal. Man even stated he would simply give it away or feed it to his other pet(dog), should his 9 year old son get bored with it. I used to hear lots of people make absurd comments of the sort. I saw people literary mistreating animals. Customers with turtles, used to get refered to me. Once this old woman, came in with a tiny 3 year old red eared slider in a 2 gallon critter keeper tank. The woman wanted to upgrade to a glass tank. I told her 2.5 gallon aquarium isnt even enough. I even tried to get her to buy a cheaper large 55gallon rubbermaid. But the woman was so stubborn. The irony of it was that she kept asking for my advice right after I told her its not good for the animal.
Ived seen people release animals into the wild. At which times I dont know what to do. Because I dont want to seem as Iam harrassing someone. But I feel bad because Iam right there and could try to stop them. Same people keep going to stores to buy same animals. I assume the released animals died off. But still....
How do you guys deal with this sort of ignorance in general? is there anything at all I can do?
Its because of these jerks that us reptile/amphibian enthuasts are being blamed for. Because these people watch other people keep certain animals in a movie and try to imitate them. I had a friend wanting to get a bullfrog after seeing that movie cheaper by the dozen. Little kids especially try to imitate, and their parents let them and end up giving proper care.
Is there like any way that someone could give public speaches to raise awareness of what they are doing?