To the responsible exotic animal community,

I am writing to you to offer my sincere apology for some misstatements that I made during my recent appearance on the O’Reily factor and the perception that I might have been attacking all exotic pet owners. I would like to start by saying that I am an ecologist, and I thought we were going to be discussing the problems that can occur when irresponsible pet owners release their animals to the wild. For example, the establishment of Burmese python populations in the Everglades. I am sure that we can all agree that this is bad for the animal and bad for the environment and a good message to disseminate widely.

I do not profess to be an expert (as many of you noticed immediately) on exotic pets and the exotic pet trade. My most glaring misstatement was that there is a federal ban on having large cats. I was not expecting to be talking about big cats and I misstated the existing federal ban on transporting big cats across state lines. That was entirely my fault, and I apologize. I also did not mean to insinuate that holders of permits should not be allowed to continue to operate. I have worked with owners of exotic animals who have taken in abused animals kept as pets by irresponsible owners and those who use animals to educate the public. I believe in the mission of these groups whole-heartedly.

On the show, I was talking primarily to the prospective pet-buyer who does not know the issues involved with owning an exotic pet in the way that visitors to this website likely do. I had hoped to mention that anybody looking into an exotic pet must do their research on the extra care, legal issues, and responsibilities of owning such animals. However, I believe that the message that the average person should not quickly jump into buying an exotic animal is a valid one for many reasons including

1) the potential for not being able to meet the animal’s needs,

2) the possibility of creating demand for wild populations that are threatened,

3) the possibility of releasing species to the wild that may become established and disrupt natural communities, and

4) the possibility of dangerous encounters that reflect badly on species that need to be protected in the wild.

I am sure that many, if not most of you, share these concerns.

Sincerely,

Mike Heithaus