(JP)Tighter control eyed for owners of rare pet animals

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http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2002031900550.html

 

Tighter control eyed for owners of rare pet animals

March 19, 2002

 

By MAKIKO AIZEKI, The Asahi Shimbun

 

Menacing turtles, lizards, prairie dogs on the loose

after being discarded by their selfish owners.

 

Five of these hapless foreign immigrants have been

detained in a small room for four years. They may have

no visitors and their detention is certain to continue

because they are deemed a threat to children.

 

And there are more like them on the loose in Japan.

 

They are North American snapping turtles. Their

handlers at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo say they are part of a

wider problem: the growing number of dangerous exotic

pets-turtles, raccoons, iguanas and prairie

dogs-abandoned by their owners and running wild in

Japan.

 

``These turtles were discarded in the ponds probably

by owners who got tired of them,'' says Yosuke

Yamamoto, curator of the zoo's reptiles section.

``These people may think it's all right to let them

return to nature. But that's quite wrong.''

 

The snapping turtles, whose shells are now about 50

centimeters in diameter, and one alligator snapping

turtle, which is 80 centimeters long, were found in

ponds at a park and a temple.

 

Police rounded them up after residents complained that

the turtles' strong snapping beaks could injure

children.

 

The bad-tempered reptiles, imported from North America

as pets, have jaws that are powerful enough to chop

off fingers.

 

Yamamoto said snapping turtles and other imported pets

that have been abandoned thrive in Japan and threaten

ecosystems and the habitats of local species.

 

And they are not the only foreign reptiles at large.

Take red-eared turtles. While draining the zoo's

Shinobazu pond for cleaning five years ago, Yamamoto

and his colleagues found a startling 200 Mississippi

red-eared turtles plus a collection of Japanese pond

turtles. It is unclear how the red-ears, originally

from North America, got there.

 

Known, rather confusingly, as midori-game, or green

turtles in Japan, young red-ears are sold as pets at

stalls in summer festivals for just a few hundred yen.

 

 

At that price, they are easily thrown away when the

novelty wears off. In the wild they multiply, taking

food from native species and forcing them out of their

natural habitats.

 

The problem is not trivial. A survey from 1996 to 2000

by the predecessor of the Ministry of Land,

Infrastructure and Transport found these red-eared

turtles in 56 of the 123 rivers examined.

 

According to Takayuki Nikaido, head of reptile and

amphibian shop Burden in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward, the

pet reptile boom started about 15 years ago. That is

one reason, he says, why Japan's iguana population has

exploded. And in the past few years, rare imported

turtles and lizards have been in high demand.

 

In 1999, about 2 million reptiles were brought into

Japan.

 

But once their novelty wears off, fickle owners wonder

what to do with pets that suddenly seem tricky to care

for. Akira Yamauchi of the Yamauchi Iguana Laboratory,

who offers advice about how to raise iguanas on his

Web site, is often asked by troubled owners if he

would take their pets off their hands.

 

In the shop, young iguanas may measure only 20

centimeters long, but they can grow up to 2 meters.

Coming from tropical areas, they must be kept at a

room temperature of 30 degrees. Otherwise, they will

die.

 

``The owners say they did not realize that iguanas

grow so big. Or their spouses abhor their pets.

Utility charges are costly. Owners give such selfish

reasons,'' laments Yamauchi.

 

Iguanas were once sold for 30,000 to 40,000 yen each,

but the increased imports have reduced their prices to

the 3,000-yen levels. Prices five years ago hit 980

yen, according to Yamauchi.

 

Besides reptiles and amphibians, imported animals such

as raccoons and prairie dogs are causing similar

problems.

 

Hokkaido had a bitter experience with raccoons, whose

popularity as pets sharply grew in the latter 1970s

because of a TV animation hit.

 

Many owners, however, did not know how aggressive the

animals would become.

 

Unable to cope, owners released the adult pets in

fields and mountains. They multiplied in Hokkaido with

no particular enemies and have wreaked havoc with

agricultural produce and gray heron eggs.

 

The Hokkaido government adopted an ordinance last

October that requires animals brought in to the

nation's northernmost main island to be registered.

The ordinance also asks owners to sterilize their pets

and to be careful not to release them.

 

The ordinance also covers ferrets, originally from

Europe, and prairie dogs, from North America, which

are popular as pets among residents in apartments.

Prairie dogs, however, can become ferocious during

mating season.

 

The Osaka prefectural government, meanwhile, set up a

facility for temporary protection of discarded pets in

the face of increasing complaints and inquiries. It

currently keeps about 20 guinea pigs, rabbits and

snapping turtles.

 

On the national level, the animal protection law was

revised in December 2000 to the prevention of cruelty

to animals law, with greater responsibility and

stricter penalties for pet owners.

 

The revision strengthened the penalty for unreasonable

killing or injuring animals to a maximum prison

sentence of one year or a fine of up to 1 million yen.

Before the revision, the maximum penalty was a 30,000

yen fine.

 

The maximum fine for discarding animals was also

raised from 30,000 yen to 300,000 yen.

 

An advisory panel of the Environment Ministry in

mid-February came out with guideline proposals for

keeping animals. To protect the nation's ecosystems,

the proposed guidelines called on owners to take

precautions to prevent their pets from running away.

 

Izumi Washitani, a professor of conservation ecology

at the University of Tokyo, says some restrictions are

necessary for imported pets.

 

``New animals brought in from abroad may be carrying

some unknown viruses. If they break loose, they could

change the ecosystem and even affect later

generations,'' Washitani says.

 

``The greatest problem is the failure to keep track of

what kinds of animals are being imported. Owners

should naturally be held responsible for their pets,

but it is also necessary to impose some restrictions

on importing pets.''

 

(03/19)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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