Documentary “The Elephant in the Living Room”
One of the benefits of summertime is getting to catch up on my TV watching. That’s right, people. I’m a librarian who loves television. Since we don’t have cable, and we only get two network stations, for me that means a whole lot of Netflixing. Of course, Netfix does a lot to recommend things that they think I would enjoy watching. One of the recommendations I received today was a documentary titled “The Elephant in the Living Room”. It’s a pretty small documentary about a wildlife officer in Ohio and a man who owns a bunch of lions. The premise of the documentary is to discuss the subject of exotic pets. Should we be allowed to keep wild animals as pets? The story opens with Terry, a man so crippled physically and by depression that he spent almost a year and a half in bed. Finally, a friend gave him a lion cub, and then he received another one later on. Which of course, grew into two large African Lions. The problem with African Lions, is that, of course, they are African Lions. They are huge- well over 500 pounds. So this wildlife officer goes around trying to get people to give up their big pets, to put them in different situations. This storyline is certainly not new. I was living in NYC when a SWAT team had to go into the Bronx and tranquilize a tiger someone was keeping in their apartment. I have heard the stories. North Carolina actually has two preserves for big cats. Which I think says a lot about how many people are trying to raise lions and tigers for their own pleasure. And more than that, they have monkeys and snakes, and lizards and animals that no one should really see unless they happen to be on an African safari. What is our fascination with trying to tame? What fuels our desire to try and hold on to that which is gorgeous in nature, but becomes messy and terrible outside of that? When exotic animals are put in small cages, they become unkempt, depressed and messy. While watching this, I cried several times when I saw the conditions they were being kept in- snakes in plastic boxes with holes punched in the top for transport, monkeys in tiny crates stacked one upon the other. I wonder what it is about us that we cannot find comfort in the animals we are given for companionship. We have more cats and dogs than we know what to do with- the shelters are literally overflowing with them. And yet, a portion of the population (actually, a larger population than I thought) finds that to not be enough. Those are the people who purchase adders and rattlesnakes as pets, who go to animal auctions hoping to pick up a cougar pup. If you wonder about the purpose of places like Carolina Tiger Rescue: http://www.carolinatigerrescue.org/ then you should watch this documentary, and learn what they are dealing with. That they are dealing with the repercussions of choosing an exotic dangerous pet. Would I recommend this? Absolutely. And, if at the end, you are tempted to have your own lion cub, go to the ASPCA first.
