Pet snakes do not receive adequate care, warn experts
SNAKES should not be kept as pets because owners are ill-equipped to meet their welfare needs, the British Veterinary Zoological Society has warned.
Animal experts have called for laws on keeping the venomous reptiles, including cobras and vipers, to be tightened, claiming dangerous creatures are readily available to buy in pet shops.
They say snakes often prove too difficult for owners to look after properly in their homes, while not enough vets are adequately insured or have the required expertise to treat them.
Under the Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) Act it is legal to sell venomous snakes to people without a licence with the onus on buyers to obtain permission to keep the animal from their local authority.
Peter Kettlewell, president of the British Veterinary Zoological Society (BVZS), said fresh legislation was needed to restrict ownership of snakes, highlighting the lack of legal controls when reptiles are purchased in EU countries and brought to the UK.
He said: “Pet shops are currently excluded from the requirements of the DWA Act and are therefore able to keep dangerous species without a DWA licence. BVZS strongly believes the legislation should be changed to prevent this.
“The husbandry of reptiles is challenging, and even commonly kept reptile species kept in people’s homes are given inadequate care – as shown by the high proportion of reptiles presented to veterinary practices with husbandry-related diseases.
“BVZS believes that both the keeping of dangerous species by private individuals is likely to compromise both animal welfare and human safety, and as such, the selling of such species to private individuals should be carefully regulated and restricted.”
The RSPCA also said it is “deeply concerned” about the number of venomous snakes being kept as pets, describing the DWA Act as “weakly drafted and poorly enforced”. It claimed many owners do not bother to get a licence or do not realise they need one.
The Government has concluded a public consultation on the welfare of pet primates and could look to ban keeping these animals as pets. Josh Loeb, from Vet Record, said: “If written into law, such a ban would set a precedent.”