Do Monkeys and Other Wild Animals Make Good Pets?

Harsh Reality or Freak 'Accident' -- Where's the truth?

With the recent news that a chimpanzee in CT severely attacked and almost killed a woman, I have noticed a number of news stories and articles that tout monkeys as great pets, or depict monkey owners as doting on their pets, and treating them as children, very literally. So, it seems many think the incident in CT was an isolated and unusual incident. The story of what happened to the CT woman - and to the chimp and his owner - is absolutely heartbreaking. There are a lot of updates, so I linked to the search results page for readers to choose the stories themselves.

While it can easily and truthfully be claimed that this was an extenuating circumstance, it is not hard to put the pieces together and also realize that keeping a chimpanzee in a city environment is a disaster waiting to happen. The chimp was being treated for Lyme disease, which can cause behavior changes and agitation in humans, and then was given Xanac to help reduce his anxiety and moodiness from the illness and treatment. But anti-anxiety medications also can have the opposite effect in some people. Further, this wasn't the only time the chimp, Travis, had caused problems. He had gotten out of the car while stopped in traffic, and chased a man who had thrown something at him. Lucky man got away, but traffic was held up for 2 hours before they could calm Travis down and get him back in the car.

Actually, according to many monkey owners, trainers, and wildlife refuge workers, most monkeys kept as pets do not work out in the end, and have to be euthanized or sent to a refuge. They are wild animals, and as with most wild animals, their wild nature does come out as they mature. Add to that their intelligence, dexterity, agility, and strength, and you clearly have a recipe for trouble.

"Typical" pets are domesticated

People often don't realize that the animals we keep as pets, even pet rats, mice, and rabbits, as well as bigger animals, are all domesticated. They have been domesticated forever, or at least for hundreds or thousands of years, depending on the animal. Taking a wild version, such as a wild rabbit, rat, raccoon, wolf, dog, is NOT the same. They will seem like domesticated animals sometimes, as babies, but as they mature, it becomes clear that they are WILD. As wild animals, they will be more nervous, often have a much higher energy level, unpredictable, and less inhibited about biting or attacking humans or other household pets.

Exceptions to every rule

There are always individual exceptions to every rule, but you cannot domesticate any animal in just one or two generations. But people don't always realize this, and so when they hear about assistance monkeys for the disabled, or hear of a (so far) friendly monkey that someone has had for a few years, they assume it's a safe pet. What they don't realize is that one well behaved monkey is an exception, not a rule -- and may be well behaved when they see the pet, but not all the time. Also, the monkeys that are trained as assistance pets for the disabled are specially selected, specially trained, and most likely specially bred (domesticated).

This "individual exception" happens with other types of wild pets, as well. I knew someone in passing, when I lived in Philadelphia, who had a wolf and a regular dog. She lived in Center City, the downtown residential area, in a row home! For years, I'd see her walking the two and letting the wolf run in an enclosed portion of the park late at night. There was never an incident and the last time I saw them, the wolf was quite old, so I doubt there was ever an incident. However, the woman had taken a great deal of trouble to provide for the wolf's needs, and even taken him to the University of PA to learn about his behavioral needs.
Still, for every one person with good experiences and the lifelong company of a wild animal, there are many, many more with bad or even dangerous experiences, who had to give up their pets after becoming very attached.

So a good experience is the exception, and most wolves or even wolf hybrids, don't make good pets, even for people who live out in the country. Most other wild animals don't make good pets, whether they live in big houses in the country or in small houses in the city. A very small pet that is wild might "work out", simply because it is very small; an example is the many smaller snakes that are kept as pets. But there are people who keep very large pythons and other types of snakes, who find themselves in danger, or even dead, as that seemingly gentle pet grows too large to control.

Consider the Animal, Too

If the concern for safety doesn't bother some people, they should also stop to consider the effects of captivity on their wild "pets", who suffer mental and physical distress over their captivity, without any normal outlets for their energy, whether mental or physical.
Even domesticated dogs -- who some believe may have never been wild, or if they were, it was thousands of years ago -- sometimes suffer from lack of meaningful work or activity. A wild animal even more so. Horses and other herd animals, are possibly the only animals that can be changed from wild to domestic safely and permanently.