In Reply to: Re: Think about what's best for SG's posted by Katie on June 06, 2000 at 21:06:56:

I am going to try to respond to each of these. I have given all here a right to their opinion, and yes we do allow attitudes, but lets all remember that all discussions and debates don't need to be ending in mudslinging... I too will try to maintain, and if I manage to do it, then I will expect you all to.

: 1) I am not suggesting that everyone let their captive-bred sugar gliders go. I am saying that it would be in the best interests of the sugar gliders if we were to stop breeding them since they can't live their lives anywhere near their potential. Gliders do not want us; they want their own kind and wide open spaces. They're nice to people who tear them from their parents at a tender age, make orphans of them, and force them to be dependent.

The best interest of the gliders in the wild is based on their habitat. If a glider is in an area where their homes are being burned and torn down, with progress moving just as fast in the rainforest, then exactly what is in their best interest? As far as a glider not "wanting" us.. well maybe you need to get into some real life research with real life captive gliders, that have NOT been pulled from their parents early, but ones that have been taught that they CAN trust us. and count on us to protect them from things they themselves couldn't. You can start with me, these are people that allow their gliders their own personality, and their own space. That is not to mention their own choices. My gliders have chosen me to bond with. she would die in the hands of another owner, not because of her home being burned, or torn down, not because someone else wouldn't try to give her a great home, but because she loves me, she wants to be with me. That is HER choice.

: 2) Just because some people aren't allowed to have a dog or cat doesn't make it alright to deprive an undomesticated animal of its home.

You went from saying that gliders shouldn't be bred in captivity, to talking about depriving a glider of it's home in the wild. What exactly do you really know about gliders born in captivity? Also what exactly is your issue?

: 3) Dogs, cats, rabbits, and ferrets have all been domesticated for hundreds and hundreds of years. Plus they never had wings or gliding membranes to begin with, which is something that of course cannot be utilized in a house.

Well you better tell my gliders that they cannot use their membranes and glide in my home. They seem to have a different view of what they are able to do and what you think they can't. check out the pic below and lets see if that isn't their membrane they are using, by the way this IS in my home. Oh Yeah by the way, if thats not a membrane she is using then what is it?

: Domesticated animals have much smaller home ranges; ranges that are compatible with houses and apartments. Feral cats and dogs have been altered so much by breeding practices over the milleniums that they are destructive to the environment; these are truly domesticated animals.

this has nothing to do with the topic.. but nice try. I believe a glider is MUCH MUCH smaller and actually much better for an apartment (as long as it is gliderproofed).

: 4) The habitat destruction needs to stop of course, but taking the wildlife and sticking them in our little houses is not going to solve anything, particularly since the sugar glider is NOT endangered.

these gliders are captive bred, captive raised, and many are very happy, in spite of what you may think. Again you are invited to check out my glider at any time.

: I am informed actually, and I've spent a great deal of time researching sugar gliders (no, not just internet babble, but articles in scientific journals.) Sugar gliders have huge home ranges in the wild and live in little colonies within larger congregations of gliders; we can't even hope to replicate this, not even with great big aviaries, let alone small cages in little apartments.

Okay , now I see, you have what it takes to know what a captive bred glider is , needs, wants and everything because a scientific journal told you so.. The next time I get a call about a wild caught glider, and it has HLP I will send them to you most definitly, so you can feed them
the same diet that is in the wild so they can live a shorter life and die of being calcium defienct. So you can see that their calcium and protein levels are outta whack. Oh yeah and so you can take them into a place where their homes are burned, and cut down. So you can add all the predators in the wild that will eat them. That is not to even mention the people that kill them as pests.

: I am a pre-vet student, a vet tech, a wildlife rehabilitator-in-training, and I always try to think about how I would feel in an animal's place. I don't have to think twice to know that I would choose to live 7 glorious years in natural habitat instead of 12 cooped up in a little cage most of the time, unable to glide, unable to forage for my own food, unable to see new things that I wanted to, unable to find new mates, unable to live a free life...

If only you knew, how many people chose that same route when the are drug addicts. And I will tell you MY gliders already do all of the above, I don't believe in leashes, or zippers. MY glider is free to leave me at anytime, she goes everywhere with me and sometimes that means at night. MY glider loves me and trusts me. She has the choice. The gliders in the wild don't. I have seen many a pre vet tech and many people who love animals come in and do the same as you just did. Only to really do the footwork and research gliders in captivity. and really listen to the "babble" of REAL OWNERS" to really see that the pitiful life that you all want to paint for the captive gliders, is mainly in your own minds.

: Love your pets as always, but I strongly urge people to stop supporting the use of these animals for the pet trade.

Please listen to yourself here. We obviously love our pets.. actually most here would agree they are not our pets, we are their people. as far as the pet trade.. My God, there isn't an animal out there that people haven't bought or sold yet. Including PEOPLE.. so if you want to push the issues of the pet trade please take this to a page where they are really dealing with endanged species that are being bought and sold right from the wild. Talk to the officials that are allowing the animals to leave their country's. This is America, we have our own set of rules.

• MY BAYBE

Follow Ups: