Chicago Animal Attack Lawyer - Article

Dangerous Exotic Pets

Many people enjoy the companionship of animals, and those pets are increasingly viewed as members of the family. Billions of dollars are spent on pets every year, with much of that money spent on toys and other luxuries. In direct parallel to the rising overtones of aristocratic fancy in pet ownership, the appetite for rarer, exotic pets has experienced a similar ascent.

The never-ending effort to keep up with the Joneses has created a subculture in which animals that have not gone through millennia-long domestication, such as the case of cats, dogs, and farm animals, are being kept in private homes without the presence of knowledgeable animal trainers or adequate safety precautions. The public has an awareness of the danger of dog bites, but due to the comparatively low exotic pet population, the risks are not as widely known as they should be.

A small sampling of injuries caused by “exotic pets”:

• A ten-year-old boy was rendered quadriplegic and forced to use a respirator after he was attacked by a tiger and a lion kept by a family friend.
• A girl required hospital treatment for a bite sustained from a python during an educational presentation.
• A two-year-old boy was bitten by a macaque monkey as he was wheeled through a grocery store by his grandparents.

Just as dog owners are responsible for preventing their pets from causing injury to others, so too are exotic pet owners liable for the monitoring of their animals.

A Chicago Animal Attack Lawyer Can Help

If you or a family member has been injured due to an exotic pet owner’s negligence, contact Chicago animal attack lawyers, Friedman & Bonebrake, at (312) 466-8200.