Can you have exotic and protected animals as pets in Mexico?

After the case of Tiger walking as if nothing in a Polanco shopping plaza it’s time to ask ourselves: can you have exotic animals as pets? You can buy protected species in Mexico?

To analyze this situation, you have to see things from two points: legal and the bioethics and we will go step to better understand the situation.

Legal: legal or illegal exotic animals?

First of all, no animal is illegal. These are, according to Mexican regulations, movable property, so they can be acquired through purchase and sale processes according to the commercial and market laws of each country. In the case of Mexico, these are regulated by the PROFEPA and the SEMARNAT.WITHIN the taxonomy of the different species that are possible to enter the animal market in Mexico, they are classified in four essential ways: small species, production animals, exotic animals and protected species.

Small species refers to the two domestic animals: dogs and cats. All other animals possible to be for companionship and with regular demographic status are considered.

SEMARNAT establishes specific norms for wildlife animals (or exotic animals) that can be considered companion animals, such as ferrets, hedgehogs, fish, guinea pigs, birds and other animals.

Animals that are considered within the General Wildlife Law as protected they cannot be bought, sold, reproduced for the company or as pets under any guidelines. These can only be acquired, legally, by farms and zoos (whether public or private) for their conservation and care with the support of federal authorities.in the case of animals, wildlife continues to populate their ecosystems, helping humanity to contain its advance across the planet by taking and modifying them, altering the natural state of those regions.

This forces the authorities to seek to preserve all these geographical areas where animals still exist in non-civilizing terms. Species such as tigers, monkeys, sharks (because the sea has never been domesticated) and others have a need for protection because of the same human activity that endangers their existence.