This is an Infographic which is headed with the title “The Most Expensive Pets in the World”. It is dated 2022. The date is important because prices go up universally and perpetually because of inflation. Inflation is a natural consequence of capitalism.
The person who made the Infographic believes that all these animals were or are pets. I’m not sure that they are correct. Is a racehorse a pet? I don’t think so but they are a domesticated animal and they can be companion animals, at least to a certain extent. The same goes for cows. Mind you, that said, sometimes cows can be pets. But normally they aren’t, as we all know.
On a serious note, the concept of keeping exotic pets is a bad one for conservation. Recently a BBC documentary reported on the plight of the African grey parrot and how it is being wiped out, literally, because of market forces.
The African grey parrot is the world’s most intelligent bird. A lot of people like to keep birds and an intelligent bird can be a good companion. People in Africa steal these birds from the wild and sell them in the marketplace.
This is entirely illegal as per CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) which is an international treaty to prevent trade in wildlife and wildlife body parts. But is it effective? It isn’t. Far from it. They estimate that there are 10,000 adverts at any one time selling African grey parrots. These are almost all online.
There is a distinct lack of enforcement online of illegal adverts selling animals. Facebook is one of those culprits, I am afraid to say. Facebook administrators struggle and fail to properly monitor their website. This is because it’s too large. They are dependent upon users to tell them what’s going on and often users don’t bother to do this.
African grey parrots make their way out of Africa into Asia and the traders of birds there wantonly break the law. Unfortunately, law enforcement in these countries can be very poor. CITES is an abject failure as far as I’m concerned.
I have an article on this treaty with respect to cats which may interest you.
RELATED: CITES in relation to cats – is it effective?
Comment: how do parrots feel being confined to homes and apartments? Stressed?
