Owning Exotic Pets in America

Lotho loves parrots and these are representative of some he owned in Cincinnati.  They're large, magnificent birds but they're also exotics and that's the topic.

Note:  this is no slam of Lotho as he does not own the birds any longer.  The actual subject is chimpanzees.

Repeating:  Lotho does not own these birds anymore.  Let that one go and focus on the chimps.  Whether it was right or wrong forty years ago is irrelevant.  The only reason for posting is the birds illustrate the attractiveness of exotic pets.

There was some wondering earlier about whether it's still legal to own a chimpanzee as a pet in America.  The result was encouraging since it's quite a bit more difficult than it has been but the law still doesn't seem adequate to prevent such ownership.   (About:  Exotic Pet Laws)

The reason for the concern is a mature chimp may grow to seventy-five kilos and is much physically stronger than a man.  That's one-fifty pounds on the America side and that means, cowboy, you have no chance.  Keeping these animals as pets is some seriously willful and selfish stupidity relative to the danger they represent.

Sometimes people like to anthropomorphize their behavior in terms of their violence mimics that of humans but, in fact, it doesn't because they never do it capriciously.  It's the same with Great White Sharks as it seems they will not kill anything unless they are hungry.