A new study reveals the scale of Australia wildlife being smuggled
October 8, 2024 8:30 PM Subscribe
"Something is increasing the trade": First detailed study reveals scale of Australian species for sale overseas. A new study reveals the scale of Australia wildlife being smuggled overseas, with dozens of species recorded for the first time. But government authorities insist its crackdown is working.
It would require a massive breeding program before quokkas could be spared for pets - quokkas have been categorised as a vulnerable species by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with a remaining wild population estimated to range between 7500 and 15,000.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:03 PM on October 8 [3 favorites]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:03 PM on October 8 [3 favorites]
I know it's a terrible idea that makes zero sense ecologically or financially but ever since I learnt that Americans have sugar gliders as pets I have wondered, why not also quokkas?
posted by neonamber at 10:25 PM on October 8 [1 favorite]
posted by neonamber at 10:25 PM on October 8 [1 favorite]
Uh… maybe read up on what a “pet” sugar glider goes through before wishing anything similar on any species.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:12 AM on October 9 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:12 AM on October 9 [1 favorite]
Oh, I know my vague fantasy of government approved pet quokkas will never happen... but a gal can dream.
posted by neonamber at 6:37 AM on October 9 [1 favorite]
posted by neonamber at 6:37 AM on October 9 [1 favorite]
There are so many animal abuse stories that make my stomach turn, my heart ache, my blood pressure skyrocket. The shingleback lizard packed into a sock, out of so many imagined animal lives in the human trade in their flesh, is one of them.
Human ego is a fucking disgrace. When these animals are taken from their natural environment, shipped inhumanely, put in plastic tubs in supermalls under bright lights, for the market of someone somewhere to buy the emotion of ‘wow’ and ‘oh look.’ Or some equally emotionally shallow response. Underlining that shallow emotion, the dark current is the colonising mentality, to have treasures from the remote parts of the world [to you] and have dominion.
Fuck these people.
In that same vein, quokkas are endangered and they have a home here in Western Australia. Let the beautiful and the free animals be free and beautiful right where they are because being a pet quokka would suck big time for them. Already their environment is touristed with idiots feeding them the wrong food, anthroporphising their ‘smiles’ and lurching into them for dumb selfies. Imagine if they were pets. Fuck no.
Because the lives of most pets sucks with hours of loneliness, lethargy, enclosure, a denatured environment, indifferent owners hauling them around without letting them be sniffing, social animals, and sometimes, too often, mistreatment. The thought of quokkas living in someone’s fucking apartment or backyard just for the ‘oh how cute!’ emotion, is horrible.
posted by honey-barbara at 7:03 PM on October 9
Human ego is a fucking disgrace. When these animals are taken from their natural environment, shipped inhumanely, put in plastic tubs in supermalls under bright lights, for the market of someone somewhere to buy the emotion of ‘wow’ and ‘oh look.’ Or some equally emotionally shallow response. Underlining that shallow emotion, the dark current is the colonising mentality, to have treasures from the remote parts of the world [to you] and have dominion.
Fuck these people.
In that same vein, quokkas are endangered and they have a home here in Western Australia. Let the beautiful and the free animals be free and beautiful right where they are because being a pet quokka would suck big time for them. Already their environment is touristed with idiots feeding them the wrong food, anthroporphising their ‘smiles’ and lurching into them for dumb selfies. Imagine if they were pets. Fuck no.
Because the lives of most pets sucks with hours of loneliness, lethargy, enclosure, a denatured environment, indifferent owners hauling them around without letting them be sniffing, social animals, and sometimes, too often, mistreatment. The thought of quokkas living in someone’s fucking apartment or backyard just for the ‘oh how cute!’ emotion, is horrible.
posted by honey-barbara at 7:03 PM on October 9
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Quokkas would make amazing pets, they are naturally curious and friendly and their flexible plant based diet means their ecological footprint would be much smaller than carnivorous pets.
I think the Aus government should undercut the potential illegal quokka market with a regulated pet quokka breeding program.
Sure, it would destroy the tourism industry of Rottnest Island but making pet quokkas available is clearly the greater good.
Imagine a mob of magnificent miniature marsupials keeping your lawn trim and eating the leaf litter while being illegally cute. Did I mention I want pet quokkas?
posted by neonamber at 9:39 PM on October 8 [3 favorites]