# "The Elephant in the Living Room"



## Rum_Kitty (Jun 14, 2009)

I was just wondering if anyone had watched this? It's a documentary film about large exotic animals in the American pet trade. It focuses mostly on animals considered dangerous, like giant constrictors, venomous reptiles and big cats. Anyone watched? If not, I do recommend it. It could be argued to be biased in favour of banning exotic pets, because it mostly focussed on a very sad story about a small family of lions living in squalor with a man who clearly has mental health issues, and a man who basically goes around cleaning up the mess people get in to with large, "dangerous" exotics. But personally I thought it presented quite a good argument, that it is too easy to get hold of these animals in some American states and there is a lot of animal and human suffering going on as a result. Overall it made me pretty glad we have the DWA act in place here, not just for the safety of people but for the safety of animals. Much as I'd like to own one of the smaller exotic cats like an ALC, or even an F1 savannah cat.


----------



## mrcriss (Nov 2, 2010)

Is it online?


----------



## Rum_Kitty (Jun 14, 2009)

Yeah, I found it online just by using google.


----------



## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

Would you mind sharing the link? It sounds very interesting, but I couldn't find it.


----------



## thomas12146 (Nov 18, 2012)

The Elephant in the Living Room – A Michael Webber Film

Came up on google


----------



## shane 08 (Dec 31, 2009)

*Ttt*

Theres another about a old guy in the staes who breeds tigers its called the tiger next door thats about a guy keepin tigers in his yard its crazy inthe usa u people give away tigers like there guinea pigs" if u can collect you can have them is what they say...... CRAZY!


----------



## TalulaTarantula (Jan 21, 2011)

Ive seen this, personally cant get enough of things like this as it opens the door to the secretive world of exotics, 
I hate to say it though, most of the people in shows like this clearly have some sort of mental problems (im not applying this to ALL exotic owners before people attack)
And alot of the time i believe the animals welfare may suffer for the humans own interests.

I believe Ohio are currently going over a bill to regulate the keeping of such animals, of course the owners arent happy, but i think its a good move on the animals part.


----------



## Rum_Kitty (Jun 14, 2009)

need to check out the one about tigers. isnt it wild to think in some states you cant keep a pet ferret and in another you can buy yourself an elephant if you have the cash.


----------



## 5plusmany (Sep 29, 2011)

Oh bums, you have to buy the dvd?! Looks really interesting..


----------



## TalulaTarantula (Jan 21, 2011)

5plusmany said:


> Oh bums, you have to buy the dvd?! Looks really interesting..


Watch The Elephant in the Living Room (2010) Online - LetMeWatchThis
The putlocker works best for me, but it varies from pc to pc so


----------



## Gryffindor (Jun 24, 2012)

Oh no, not another "America doesnn't have strict enough laws"! considering this is an exotics forum, I'd expect you guys to know the truth! The UK has much better exotic laws from a PRO exotics point of view. The US laws are really, really bad. Many exotic owners here actually want to move to the UK just to escape the horrible exotic laws! Most states have most exotics flat out BANNED. 

We do have DWA in America, it's called permits (you call permits licenses over there i think). But most of the time they just ban animals instead of requiring a permit for them. Heck, in many states you can't even own domestic animals like ferrets! In Georgia you can't even own corn snakes. Most things in California are banned, including ferrets and chinese hamsters.

There's very few states that allow wolves, with or without a permit. You really think that big cats would be allowed when wolves aren't? There's only a couple of states that allow big cats, and I'm sure you need a permit in them. Here in Florida big cats are Class I, meaning they're not allowed unless you're a zoo. 

I'd suggest you guys take a look here: SYBIL'S MESSAGE BOARD - View forum - STATE LAWS and here SYBIL'S MESSAGE BOARD - Login I think you have to be a member of the forum to view that part of the forum but it's a real eye opener. And don't believe anything these ridiculous documentaries tell you. Those stupid documentaries make my blood boil. they're just propaganda and they spread lies and apparently even fool pro exotics folks!


----------



## Gryffindor (Jun 24, 2012)

TalulaTarantula said:


> Ive seen this, personally cant get enough of things like this as it opens the door to the secretive world of exotics,
> I hate to say it though, most of the people in shows like this clearly have some sort of mental problems (im not applying this to ALL exotic owners before people attack)
> And alot of the time i believe the animals welfare may suffer for the humans own interests.
> 
> *I believe Ohio are currently going over a bill to regulate the keeping of such animals, of course the owners arent happy, but i think its a good move on the animals part.*


I just saw this. Dont be stupid, what are you, an animal rights activist? This kind of thing really makes my blood boil. I'm sorry to be rude but you clearly know nothing of the issue in Ohio. It is not good at all. Most exotics are banned in Ohio now, "dangerous" and non-dangerous species, and they can add any new species they like at any time without having to pass a bill for it. 

The people that already have exotics will have their exotics seized if they didn't register their pets to be grandfathered in. The deadline for registering is now past. And they also need to microchip their pets by Jan 1st. There's a lot of new "guidelines" that the people who are registered will have to meet, like ridiculous sq ft requirements for enclosures just to make it so that people will have to rebuild enclosures. Just so that people won't be able to meet requirements and will have their pets seized. And other ridiculous stuff like requiring a certain number of acres, requiring expensive house insurance, etc.

All registered pets were publicly listed by Ohio, meaning that now crazy animal rights activists can and will target them. 

The Zanesville thing was only one crazy guy and this was already in the works before Zanesville anyway. They're just using it as an excuse. You have no idea what animal rights activists are like here. They're nuts and they're in power. People/organizations like the Humane Society, PETA, Jack Hanna, the woman that runs Big Cat Rescue, they all want all exotics banned and they're rich so they have a lot of influence over laws. I loathe them with a fiery passion :devil: Exotic owners worldwide should unite, not agree with these nutcases, so I find it really disheartening how you guys just don't understand. Of all people not to understand.... :?


----------



## Gryffindor (Jun 24, 2012)

TalulaTarantula said:


> Ive seen this, personally cant get enough of things like this as it opens the door to the secretive world of exotics,
> I hate to say it though, most of the people in shows like this clearly have some sort of mental problems (im not applying this to ALL exotic owners before people attack)
> And alot of the time i believe the animals welfare may suffer for the humans own interests.
> 
> *I believe Ohio are currently going over a bill to regulate the keeping of such animals, of course the owners arent happy, but i think its a good move on the animals part.*


I just saw this. Dont be stupid, what are you, an animal rights activist? This kind of thing really makes my blood boil. I'm sorry to be rude but you clearly know nothing of the issue in Ohio. It is not good at all. Most exotics are banned in Ohio now, "dangerous" and non-dangerous species, and they can add any new species they like at any time without having to pass a bill for it. 

The people that already have exotics will have their exotics seized if they didn't register their pets to be grandfathered in. The deadline for registering is now past. And they also need to microchip their pets by Jan 1st. There's a lot of new "guidelines" that the people who are registered will have to meet, like ridiculous sq ft requirements for enclosures just to make it so that people will have to rebuild enclosures. Just so that people won't be able to meet requirements and will have their pets seized. And other ridiculous stuff like requiring a certain number of acres, requiring expensive house insurance, etc.

All registered pets were publicly listed by Ohio, meaning that now crazy animal rights activists can and will target them. 

The Zanesville thing was only one crazy guy and this was already in the works before Zanesville anyway. They're just using it as an excuse. You have no idea what animal rights activists are like here. They're nuts and they're in power. People/organizations like the Humane Society, PETA, Jack Hanna, the woman that runs Big Cat Rescue, they all want all exotics banned and they're rich so they have a lot of influence over laws. I loathe them with a fiery passion :devil: Exotic owners worldwide should unite, not agree with these nutcases, so I find it really disheartening how you guys just don't understand...of all people not to.... :?


----------



## harderfasterdarker (Jan 12, 2013)

just watched this. plus and negative views from both sets of partys.. emotional for terry but where do you draw the line of having an exotic pet ?


----------

