Headlines

People Keep Dumping Exotic Pets — Like Tarantulas — in This Urban Park

Park personnel work with rescue agencies to find new homes for the pets.

Published

5 years ago

July 28, 2019

PETS+ Staff

London’s Richmond Park has become a dumping ground for unwanted pets as diverse as chinchillas, tarantulas and even a goat, the Daily Mail reports.

In some cases, people empty entire aquariums into the famous royal park’s streams and ponds.

Releasing the animals into the park puts them at risk of being unable to fend for themselves, and it can disrupt the park’s ecology, the Daily Mail notes.

Park personnel work with rescue agencies to find new homes for the pets when they’re discovered, said Adam Curtis, assistant park manager.

Among the animals that have been found are hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, rabbits, terrapins, a tarantula, an American corn snake and a half-starved goat.

Visitors might see the iconic park as a good place to abandon pets because it is a nature reserve. It is well known for its 630-strong herd of red and fallow deer; rangers have been caring for the deer since 1637.

Read more at the Daily Mail

NASC Media Spotlight

At first it was just an idea: Animal supplements needed the same quality control that human-grade supplements receive. But that was enough to start a movement and an organization —the National Animal Supplement Council — that would be dedicated to establishing a comprehensive path forward for the animal supplements industry. In this Media Spotlight interview, NASC’s president, Bill Bookout, talks to PETS+ interviewer Chloe DiVita about the industry today: Where it’s headed, what’s the latest focus and why it’s vital to gain the involvement of independent pet product retailers.