Exotic Animals in Minnesota Homes

Organizations are taking in dozens of exotic reptiles and big cats every year

MINNESOTA – Owning exotic animals is a bigger problem than most people think.

Whether its bears, monkeys, snakes, or tigers, it’s becoming more common across the country and right here in the Northland.

110 big cats are now living at the Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone. Many of them were surrendered or seized from local homes.

The Minnesota Herpetological Society takes in twenty to forty reptiles and amphibians every month.

Exotic animal ownership is a growing problem that’s getting tougher for volunteers and organizations to keep up with.

“As a child I always wanted one and my parents wouldn’t allow them in the house,” said Richard Wehmas about reptiles.

Wehmas now has eight reptiles in his one bedroom apartment, including a red tailed boa named Rosie. She’s about eight and a half feet long and was last measured at eighty pounds.

Wehmas has always been drawn to the cold blooded creatures.

“They aren’t one of those attention seeking animals like a dog or a cat,” said Wehmas. “You don’t have to play with them constantly.”

Reptiles need a lot of care. Wehmas spends an hour every night cleaning habitats.

“All of them have their own separate needs and it’s something that you need to be aware of before trying to bring these animals into your house,” explained Wehmas.

That’s something most people don’t think about when they buy reptiles online, from pet stores, and in other ways.

“I’ve seen people trying to trade snakes for car parts and that kind of stuff,” said Wehmas, who belongs to the Minnesota Herpetological Society, an organization that teaches people about reptiles and amphibians.

Every month, they take in dozens of unwanted creatures, looking to find them proper homes.

“She used to live with a sixty year old woman before I adopted her,” said Wehmas of Rosie. “She just got a little too big for her.”

The Herpetological Society has gotten everything from boa constrictors to exotic lizards. Wehmas is even helping re-home a baby alligator.

“A lot of the animals we get are things that were being owned illegally because people weren’t paying attention to their local ruling,” said Wehmas.

No Minnesota law restricts the sale or ownership of snakes, lizards, or other reptiles unless they’re endangered.

But some cities have their own rules. In Minneapolis, all venomous reptiles and amphibians and all crocodiles and alligators are banned.

“They don’t get the same kind of attention that other animals do because they’re often seen as gross or repulsive but I think they’re rather unique compared to a lot of other animals,” said Wehmas.

Meanwhile, in Sandstone, more than a hundred animals live at the Wildcat Sanctuary.

“Do we care for them and do we love them in a way a caretaker cares for a wild animal? Yes. Do we treat them like pets? No,” said Wildcat Sanctuary Executive Director, Tammy Thies.

Thies founded the sanctuary twenty years ago after seeing firsthand how being kept as pets can hurt wild cats.

“When people own these animals as pets they try to make them safe as pets, which you can’t do with an apex predator,” said Thies.

Some owners declaw and de-fang the animals.

According to Thies, many big cats develop bone diseases because they’re not eating the right diet in captivity.

“It’s really the animals that pay the price for people wanting to keep them as a pet,” explained Thies.

For fourteen years, it’s been illegal to own a bear, primate, or big cat as a pet in Minnesota.

“Since our law passed in 2005, we’ve seen a dramatic decrease in people that have big cats as pets,” said Thies. “They are supposed to be registering their pets under the state law, but I will tell you any cat that we’ve gotten surrendered or seized out of Minnesota since that time has not been compliant with the law.”

Thies tells us about eighty percent of the cats at the sanctuary were seized or surrendered from homes.

“We still have breeders in Minnesota breeding and selling wolves, bears, coyotes, lynx, cougars to people as pets and that needs to stop,” said Thies.

The Wildcat Sanctuary takes in animals with no questions asked and they don’t charge a fee.

They’ve rescued everything from tigers to African servals and hybrid cats too.

“We are not there to vilify the owner,” said Thies. “We’re there to help the animal and to make sure there’s not a public safety risk.”

These organizations are doing what they can to help animals in need.

But with inconsistent laws across the country, it’s hard to stop these creatures from ending up in the wrong situations.

“Know what you’re getting into if you’re going to own these animals because they are living creatures,” said Wehmas. “Just like your dog and your cat you want to make sure you’re taking care of them and that they have everything they need.”

The Minnesota Herpetological Society does animal intake every month and offers adoption opportunities all year.

The Wildcat Sanctuary is always in need of donations from the community.