Some time ago, the "strange fish" crocodile gar appeared in many places, attracting attention from the entire network.
It is understood that some of these crocodile gars are released by the breeders in the lake, and " strange pet " has once again become a hot topic.
Click to read "It's not OK to bite a child! The strange fish in the lake are "incited" at high cost! 》
Nowadays, the pet market is no longer just a world of cats and dogs, and snakes, lizards, geckos and other animals have also gained the favor of many people.
Extraordinary pets usually complete transactions through the Internet. Some of them are used for viewing, while others are sold publicly.
On December 4, 2019, a strange-pet coffee shop in Xi'an. Source: Visual China
However, the hot exotic pet market has brought challenges to biosecurity . Some people raise peasants out of curiosity and follow-up style, but do not understand their characteristics. Once they cannot meet their psychological expectations, such as "not relatives", "very interesting", and "hard to raise", they will abandon them. Some of the abandoned pets may pose a threat to others, and some may endanger the local ecological balance because they are alien species.
rearing: It looks pleasing to the eye, but the cost is high
Shaote, from Qingdao, Shandong, is a snake raising expert, who has raised more than 20 corn snakes and a pair of snakes in the house. He introduced that corn snakes are the most common pet snakes, with a docile temperament and a basic entry-level variety with a relatively affordable price.
"Compared with cats and dogs, crawling pets is quieter and worry-free. After raising them for about 3 years, they can grow from seven or eight grams to three or four hundred grams. When it breeds, it will feel fulfilled when the little snake breaks its shell."
is good-looking, which is another reason why the peaches are popular.
Zhang Xian, who works part-time in fox adoption and rescue, raised his first pet fox in 2016. Because the fox is "good-looking", it can bring visual satisfaction to the breeder, and will respond to the owner when he is fed, "it seems to be acting coquettish."
The "2021 Chinese Pet Content Value Research White Paper" released by the consulting agency for pet foxes of different breeds shows that the attention of pes content that meets users' curiosity mentality is gradually increasing, accounting for between 5% and 15% of the popularity of cute pet content.
But the beauty is short-lived in most cases, and is replaced by the tedious programs and high overhead brought by raising pets.
Shaote's main expense is to prepare a snake cabinet for pet snakes to live in, and food is also a continuous expenditure.
The staple food of snakes is rats. Frozen rats are usually transported and sent to home by freezing and need to be stored in refrigerated conditions, but they need to be thawed when feeding. In addition, snakes are warm-changing animals. Farmers need to prepare heating pads and temperature control, and they also need to bathe the snake regularly to clean up the scales and odors on their bodies to prevent skin diseases and parasites. Wu Dong, a breeder at
ferret , said that the breeding procedures for ferrets are more complicated.
He prepared a lot of supplies for ferrets, such as a food pot, an exclusive toilet and a double-layer cage with space enough for ferrets to move. Because ferrets are afraid of heat, they need to prepare fans, mats, ice pads or cooling boards in summer. In winter, you need to add a velvet thickened hammock.
In addition to the basic configuration, Wu Dong also purchased many toys, special shower gel , hair cream and towel bags that allow ferrets to get into the entirety.
In terms of food, in addition to high-quality staple food, he also prepared many snacks for interactive interactions, as well as nutritional creams, teeth grinding and teeth cleaning snacks.
Pet ferrets of different colors
More and more pet owners are willing to spend time laying out their pets, but excessive equipment is difficult to clean up and is prone to bacterial growth. In addition, the production of pet supplies lacks supervision, the quality of goods is uneven, and there is a lack of after-sales guarantee.
Buying and selling: The pricing is random, and the goods are not suitable for the board
, there is a market.
As people's interest in strange pets is getting higher and higher, strange pet transactions have formed an industrial chain, and many agents have appeared between buyers and sellers.
Shaote said that it is difficult to buy snakes on e-commerce platforms, so the "snake circle" is usually traded through social platforms. Most sellers are individuals and send ordinary express delivery; buyers must record unboxing videos after receiving the goods, otherwise the seller will not be responsible even if there is a problem.
Therefore, the main role in this transaction chain is the intermediary, which is generally held by insiders who are trustworthy by both buyers and sellers. The transaction process is roughly: the buyer sends money to the intermediary - the seller ships the goods - the buyer confirms the goods when receiving them - the intermediary sends money to the seller. If there is a problem or a transaction dispute during the process, it will be decided by the intermediary.
"But there are many unreliable agents in 'climbing', and everyone can be an agent, there is no threshold," said Short.
He encountered a situation where an agent had no source of goods, but he used a set of exquisite posed photos to promote it on social platforms and set a price. Many agents do not even have the basic knowledge of raising snakes and rely on virtual and real news on the Internet to teach buyers. After the buyer purchases
, the pet snakes they receive often miss the goods. "Even an agent with a quality of character cannot fully guarantee that the pet is fine, because the agent has no source of goods. Some are still 'indigenous generations'. The agent continues to recruit agents on its next level. Often the superiors of one agent have many layers."
Leopard-print geological Lizard suborder, native to India and Pakistan and other regions. Source: Douyin
Why does the unusual pet market need an agent to exist? As a physical seller, Wu Dong gave an explanation: some businesses breed large quantities of animals and are unable to sell them all, so they need an agent. However, agents and merchants are prone to information differences, and both parties may sell the same snake at the same time. Therefore, the snake may have been bought, but the agent will tell the buyer that the snake is still in his own hands.
At the same time, most buyers of strange pets can only distinguish the quality of snakes through videos, so some agents often take out sick snakes in a healthy appearance. "As long as the buyer has watched the video and made a decision, he needs to pay a deposit first. When he receives the animal, even if there is a problem with , the deposit cannot be refunded. ," said Short.
In addition, the price of the peat is unstable, and the buyer may still have a price increase after paying the deposit transaction. In this case, sellers and agents will drag on the shipment. After the tug-of-war, most buyers choose to return the goods, and the sellers instead sell to new buyers at a higher market price.
On May 18, 2017, the Forest Public Security Bureau of Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan Province broke the major online trafficking of wild animals. The picture shows the national first-class protected animal, bee and monkey, seized. Source: Visual China
Shaote said that the transaction of pessimistic pets is not purely seller market , and buyers often cheat goods. After receiving the goods, the buyer does not confirm the receipt, and reports to the platform to send a living body, threatening the seller to refund the money; after the platform intervenes, the seller will generally be sentenced to refund the money, so that the buyer can achieve the purpose of scamming goods.
In addition, the online trading model makes pet epidemics another major hidden danger.
Most of the pet keepers buy pets through online trading platforms, or sell them one-on-one through an acquaintance. The "quarantine" is very far away from them. In this regard, pet epidemic prevention and control professionals are quite worried: "There is no fixed market and clear supply channels for purchasing alien pets. It is unclear where the animals come from, whether they have been quarantined, and whether they carry viruses."
A alien pet doctor pointed out that there are still major shortcomings in the domestic research on alien pet zoonotic diseases in . It is not clear whether the viruses carried by them are contagious and pathogenic, and how to prevent and treat them.
transportation: express mail, life and death are difficult to predict and there are many problems in the transportation process of the pets after the sale of
.
Liu Jiaqi, who has been a special animal veterinarian in Beijing for 5 years, said that all express delivery cannot mail live goods, and common pet consignments include air and land transportation. But no matter what method, a quarantine certificate is required in advance and will be undertaken by a professional shipper.
"Because the attention of special animals is not as high as that of dogs and cats, it is difficult to attract attention even if someone secretly transports them through express delivery." Liu Jiaqi said.
There are also merchants who tip the express delivery site in their jurisdiction. Please do not pass this order through security check, and say that the risk of death and injury of living items sent by mail shall be borne by the sender, and the express delivery point only needs to be responsible for issuing it. In this case, some merchants only pay attention to whether animals can be sold, and do not pay attention to the scientific nature of the mailing and ship them uniformly, resulting in attacks, fighting and even preying on each other.
Flower pig is one of the popular pets. Source: unsplash
Zhang Xian encountered this situation.
Once, she bought two foxes of the same size and age, one red fox and one snow fox , but in the end she received a red fox and half a snow fox. "Most of the strange pets have the sense of hunting engraved in their bones. Animals of different sizes and different breeds of are not suitable for putting them together. "
There are also some merchants who sell foxes in the form of blind boxes and send them randomly. The pets are bumpy during transportation, some are tortured to death, and some are injured to varying degrees. Zhang Xian once bought three foxes at one time. The seller told her to send pets for consignment, but when she went to pick them up, she saw a coal truck responsible for transportation. The foxes were placed under the carriage and had no food and drink for nearly a week. Two of them were already dying.
For this kind of phenomenon, Liu Jiaqi analyzed that some sellers choose to issue randomly to save manpower and material resources, avoid elimination and screening, and maximize profits. Some farms only have breeding-related qualifications and procedures, lack understanding of the pet industry, and do not have relevant qualifications and certificates, so the phenomenon of inferior products as good ones often occurs.
Medical: Veterinary scarcity, "autonomousness" is prevalent
A professional pess doctor said that as long as pets are transported, they may get sick and have stress reactions such as heatstroke. The body cannot adapt to the sudden change of external environment as soon as possible, which is prone to a series of metabolic disorders.
Pets need to be treated if they get sick, However, the coverage and professionalism of different pet hospitals are still lacking.
Professional pet doctor at work. Source: Shangguan
The doctor introduced that the threshold for a different pet doctor is relatively high. First, you must be from a veterinary medicine related major, and then you can take the professional veterinary certificate. At first, there was no professional training on the treatment of pessimism in China. Some platforms invited foreign teachers to give lectures in China, and the translator was translated while the lecture was being translated. Every time you receive a kind of pessimistic pet, you need to learn a lot in order to develop a suitable treatment plan.
According to its treatment cases, the research on the treatment of different pets is not as mature as dogs and cats, and the metabolic rate of different pets is much faster than that of dogs and cats. "So they cannot withstand the disease. It is often because the owner finds that the pet is sick in the morning and is already critically ill in the afternoon."
"Most of the strange pets were originally wild animals and were good at protecting themselves through disguise. As pets, they would forcibly cheer up in front of their owners and pretend to eat normally. Once the owner leaves, they would immediately become depressed." Dr. Jiang said.
The green-bred lizard of the farm was sent to the hospital for examination. Source: Guokhe.com
Some peasants have also seen these problems, so they usually explore treatment based on their experience. Wu Dong’s experience is: treating minor illnesses by themselves, but treating major illnesses is useless. How to treat
by yourself? Many breeders will seek medical treatment online. Data from an online consultation platform shows that during last year's "Double 11", the number of online consultation orders for peers such as Totoro, hedgehog , and turtles increased by 23 times month-on-month.
The seeking of doctors and medicines by the owner of the pet has also given birth to many Internet "doctors" who are randomly advised.
Liu Jiaqi found that there are many so-called strange pet doctors on the Internet who do not have any qualifications who make random diagnosis and take medication at will. A regular special animal doctor has a daily average number of patients with about 5 to 10 cases under normal circumstances.
" pet hospital has different scales, hardware facilities are different, and the doctors hired have different years of employment, so the pricing gap is large." Liu Jiaqi said that once the treatment fails, pet owners will have opinions; even if the treatment is successful, some people think that the price is too high and feel dissatisfied. However, there are no relevant institutions in China that can resolve such disputes, and reporting a case can only mediate disputes.
Abandoned: It is difficult to tame, and you have body odor and is abandoned
If it is really not cured or cannot be maintained, what should I do? Many peasants gave the answer - chose to abandon . After all, treatment costs a lot, and some pets are also aggressive.
Snapping Turtle is a typical aggressive pet. According to Wang Zhen, a breeder of snapping turtle, the snapping turtle belongs to the genus long-necked turtle. A snapping turtle with a 40 cm long back armor can stretch its neck up to 40 cm, so the attack radius is large and the speed is very fast, so it will not let go if you bite something.
The snapping turtle is huge and has a fierce temperament
In some online pet stores, many people abandon foxes. They are slogans such as "The little guy is very active and not afraid of being a child", "The snow fox is very smart and quiet", "Chubby and comfortable to touch", hoping that someone will accept their pets.
Zhang Xian said that the cost of raising foxes in the breeding farm is very low. They neither vaccinated nor eat high-quality special grains. They only need to feed some low-cost wheat bran, soybean meal and carrion. The growth cycle of the foxes is fast and can reproduce in about seven or eight months after being given hormones. There are at least five or six in a litter. These reasons cause the price of foxes is very low, so there are many people who buy them, and they usually buy several at one time. But foxes are hard to tame, and if they are put on a leash, they will bite or try their best to break free.
"There are many buyers, difficult to domesticate and have body odor, which causes foxes to become the mammal with the highest abandonment rate." Zhang Xian said.
Not long ago, Zhang Xian saw someone on a social platform saying, "The fox I bought was disobedient, otherwise I would be beaten to death. Anyway, it's so cheap, I'll buy another good one." Later, the man beat the fox until his internal organs were bleeding and he did not feed him for a week, resulting in the fox's death.
In recent years, Zhang Xian has encountered more and more abandoned pets. For a time, she had to temporarily resettle more than 30 abandoned foxes in her own self-built house. These foxes have some problems, such as being aggressive and biting people. In desperation, she donated some of the foxes to the zoo and the pessimistic viewing garden, and gave some foxes with better personalities and smaller months to experienced people to raise.
"If I could go back to the past and make a new choice, I would not raise a different pet anymore," said Zhang Xian.
Lizard does not depend on people, between owners and food, it prefers food. Source: pexels
In the view of industry insiders, in the process of human beings domesticating alien pets, public acceptance, industrial chain, and laws and regulations need to be constructed simultaneously, which is bound to be a very long process. No matter what kind of pet you are raising, you cannot make a decision on impulse.
extra-pets are attractive because of their uniqueness, but in terms of habit, they may not be suitable for raising pets. There is also a part in the "gray area" in terms of buying and selling, so the lovers need to consider it carefully, and this market also requires more regulations. For government functional departments, we must strengthen source management, strengthen port quarantine supervision and law enforcement of invasion channels such as inbound goods, transportation tools, delivery items, passenger luggage, cross-border e-commerce, and establish and improve a comprehensive defense system for invading species. At the same time, the list of invasive alien species will be updated in a timely manner to clearly inform the public which peas can be raised and which ones cannot be raised.
"Only by gathering the joint efforts of multiple parties can we effectively respond to the new challenges of biosecurity." said the above-mentioned industry insider of .
END
Edited by: Wang Chaoyi
Proofreading: Tao Zheng
Reviewed by: Yu Zhiguo
Source: Outlook Think Tank
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