# meerkats in the sun paper



## ladyboid (Nov 25, 2007)

Sun investigation into craze behind meerkat TV ad | The Sun |Features

Rfuk got mentioned!


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/general-herp-chat/520998-sun-rspca-article.html#post6323911


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## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

Im not sure Athravan will be too pleased with that rport of her shop.


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

:censor::censor::censor::censor:

Grrr


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Mujician said:


> Im not sure Athravan will be too pleased with that rport of her shop.


 


the sun said:


> When The Sun viewed a five-month-old male at the Cardiff Reptile Centre it was housed with its mother in a cramped, glass-fronted pen.


Cardiff Reptile Center

Reptile Cymru


she might not be pleased people are saying it's her  same street but two different shops by the look of it. Although if it is her, she needs to tell her web designer how to spell 'centre'


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## ladyboid (Nov 25, 2007)

Meko said:


> http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/general-herp-chat/520998-sun-rspca-article.html#post6323911


I noticed that thred but being in herp chat it might of got over looked.: victory:



I cant belive that they think people wanting to keep these as pets has anything to do with a add!! I love exotics and I have not once looked at the anoying advert and thought oh i must get myself one of them!!!
Maybe thats just me!
I am not going to go it to whats right and wrong regards everything else that has been said as i cant comment as i know nothing about care of a meerkat! I just thought it might be of intrest to the exotic keepers on this site.


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## Loderuna (Mar 9, 2010)

As far as I know, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs are also highly social, but I don't see a huge outcry over keeping them as pets!! I wish these people would concentrate of publicising people who don't look after their pets, rather than slamming everyone who keeps something exotic!


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

ladyboid said:


> I noticed that thred but being in herp chat it might of got over looked.: victory:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Unfortunately a lot of people would see the advert and want one, hence their rise in popularity, I disagree with people selling single meerkats, right from the start I have said that its not right to keep them in a home enviroment and I still believe that. If you want them get them in a proper outside set up, and the prices of them have gone through the roof recently.


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## ipreferaflan (Oct 8, 2009)

Meko said:


> Cardiff Reptile Center
> 
> Reptile Cymru
> 
> ...


They're both correct.
Center is the modern 'Americanised' version.

I must say though... I do prefer centre.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

SiUK said:


> Unfortunately a lot of people would see the advert and want one, hence their rise in popularity,* I disagree with people selling single meerkats*, right from the start I have said that its not right to keep them in a home enviroment and I still believe that. If you want them get them in a proper outside set up, and the prices of them have gone through the roof recently.


 
why do you disagree with selling single meerkats? if somebody has eight, why can't they buy another one to join their pack. Or if somebody had a pair and one died, why can't they buy another to make a pair again?
Selling singular doesn't mean they're going to be an only animal.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

ipreferaflan said:


> They're both correct.
> Center is the modern 'Americanised' version.
> 
> I must say though... I do prefer centre.


It's not the modern Americanised version, it's the American way of spelling it and not used over here. On this side of the pond it's spelt centre, but because of peoples lack of education in speaking the correct language we get a lot of American spellings creeping in. People will spell it out in their head as C -EN - TER and then write it down like that.


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## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

ipreferaflan said:


> They're both correct.
> Center is the modern 'Americanised' version.
> 
> I must say though... I do prefer centre.


Exactly, and we're not american, we're english. We spell it centre. they spell it center. We spell colour, they say color. There are lots of differences between our two languages.


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## ipreferaflan (Oct 8, 2009)

It's still accepted over here. Especially with the American spellchecker default in Windows software.
I'm not condoning the American invasion of our language; I study English Literature! But it certainly is widely accepted.


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## Nicky10 (Mar 16, 2010)

:devil:. I have no problems with meerkats being kept in groups in proper enclosures but of course you get idiots. Not every meerkat owner is going to have them on their own in the house


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## ipreferaflan (Oct 8, 2009)

Is it okay to keep them in pairs, though? They always seem to be in large groups in wildlife documentaries n stuff. Do you not need more than just two meerkats for them to be comfortable?


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

Meko said:


> why do you disagree with selling single meerkats? if somebody has eight, why can't they buy another one to join their pack. Or if somebody had a pair and one died, why can't they buy another to make a pair again?
> Selling singular doesn't mean they're going to be an only animal.


alright clever clogs, I meant to be kept alone, like CRC were offering in the sun video


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

SiUK said:


> alright clever clogs, I meant to be kept alone, like CRC were offering in the sun video


i'm at work mate so i can't watch the video. I only had the story to go off.


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## kodakira (Jul 11, 2008)

If it publicises the fact that Meerkats should not be kept alone and that they should be kept in a correct manner then at least for once the Sun have done a good job.
I do agree though they have summised / intimated that the Meerkat for sale on RFUK has gone as a single pet ( which was not mine by the way )

http://www.debonaireexotics.co.uk/id42.html. I have always condoned that keeping Meerkats in at least pairs or groups is the right way to keep them as it states at the bottom of my web page. I also believe keeping them in the right enviroment is also correct.
People have contacted me on numerous occasions about buying a Meerkat to be asked if they already had Meerkats and if not if they wanted to keep Meerkats then they should buy at least a pair. The normal response from people is to give a mouthful of abuse saying that I am just trying to con them out of their money.

Bit of a shame really as we have never had any to rehome until now. We had two babies and they had been reserved to go to a lovely new home to be kept in a large well designed enclosure with the plan that the pair would be added to. Unfortunately one of the babies unexpectedly died so we contacted the potential new owner and said we were not willing to sell the baby singly which they were more than happy with, as they to wanted to keep them correctly.

The fact is that these fads come along due to films and adverts etc and there are people out there that see the cuteness factor and want one. this will never stop but what we need to do is send out the correct message to these potential owners which gives all the points good and bad.

Best Wishes

Neil


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## J-Williams (Apr 7, 2010)

Many of my enemies were mentioned in that Article, for one the sun know sh*t all an never do their f 'ing research! CAPS are the biggest arseholes I have ever met, I dont care if I offend them, I hate them and they think they have the right to put CHESTER ZOO in their cruelty video's.

This article shows they obviously dont do their research and there is a lack of information eg. the RFUK part.

I just get angry.


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## oliwilliams (Feb 23, 2010)

its not athravan thats reptile cymru, the one in the vid is cardiff reptile centre and i have been there several times and think they are a new member on here 
cf reptiles i think. I thought the animals were all housed and cared for very well and look healthy.
And why even mention rfuk if they were not able to buy anything? fu****g silly conservative paper


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

oliwilliams said:


> its not athravan thats reptile cymru, the one in the vid is cardiff reptile centre and i have been there several times and think they are a new member on here
> cf reptiles i think. I thought the animals were all housed and cared for very well and look healthy.
> And why even mention rfuk if they were not able to buy anything? *fu****g silly conservative paper*


 
and that has what to do with anything?


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## NaomiR (Jan 26, 2009)

me thinks someone has issues :whistling2:


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

kodakira said:


> If it publicises the fact that Meerkats should not be kept alone and that they should be kept in a correct manner then at least for once the Sun have done a good job.
> I do agree though they have summised / intimated that the Meerkat for sale on RFUK has gone as a single pet ( which was not mine by the way )
> 
> http://www.debonaireexotics.co.uk/id42.html. I have always condoned that keeping Meerkats in at least pairs or groups is the right way to keep them as it states at the bottom of my web page. I also believe keeping them in the right enviroment is also correct.
> ...


I agree. If it is publicising the fact that Meerkats will suffer mentally if kept alone & can become aggressive, then that can only be a good thing. Plus the naming & shaming of the reptile centre that were trying to sell the baby Meerkat as a single pet.


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## halcyon (Nov 2, 2007)

hi there 
im so angry about this:devil: but it was bound to happen and be put in the press

as a keeper of meerkats for a few years now i am overly shocked on how many people think they are fine to be kept on their own

this is as big a falicy as lemmings commiting suicide of cliffs

they need company of their own kind and a human does not replace this at all

keeping meerkats single can effect them over time...indeed it does not happen over night but it can end up causing head problems later on


and keeping them in small cages....well dont get me started on that:censor:

rant over from me guys
normally i would not put my thoughts on a forum like this but some one has just knocked my cbr motor bike over...so im a little angry:devil:


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## Katnsean (May 9, 2010)

halcyon said:


> hi there
> im so angry about this:devil: but it was bound to happen and be put in the press
> 
> as a keeper of meerkats for a few years now i am overly shocked on how many people think they are fine to be kept on their own
> ...


:gasp: god i think i would actually ball my eyes out and throw all my toys out the pram .. if someone put my cbr 600rr on its side.. hubby managed to forget the front wheel lock was on yesterday and tried to move it, cracked the front mudguard, that was bad enough we've only had it a little while and it was mint.:whip:.

Hope your bike feels better soon


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## NaomiR (Jan 26, 2009)

halcyon said:


> this is as big a falicy as lemmings jumping of cliffs


erm sorry but they have been known to, under the guise of "mass migration" :Na_Na_Na_Na:

really sorry about your bike though that is NOT funny :bash:


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

> erm sorry but they have been known to, under the guise of "mass migration"


Yeah but in that case do they fall or are they pushed.....by the guys behind wanting to know why the ones in front stopped :lol2:


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