In Reply to: Katie posted by KarenE on June 07, 2000 at 22:37:31:

I also think Katie was a bit misguided, but I think two points have to be made here...

First, to be nit-picky, it's not illogical for her to think gliders are better off in the wild and then to post her request for one. If you read that post carefully, you will notice that 1) her friend's glider was "rescued from a pet store". She may well feel (of course I can't say for sure, but it's logical) that yes, they're best off left alone in the wild, but if they're in captivity they're better off with her friend than with the pet store. 2) She won't buy from a pet store or breeder, but wants a glider that "needs a home", which will presumably protect it from getting sold or fobbed off to an evil pet store or unscrupulous, uncaring owner. Again, maybe not as good as if the thing's ancestors had never been removed from the wild, but better than mistreatment.

OK, the second and more important point is that she actually raised a good question. It's a question that ALWAYS should be asked when an undomesticated animal is being kept as a pet, and I had the same question when I started learning about sugar gliders. The question is this: Can the animal be happy in captivity, particularly under the conditions that it has to live in as a pet? For many (most?) undomesticated animals, the answer is clearly, "No". Their needs just can't be met in captivity except in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Unlike Katie, who seems to think the answer is ALWAYS no, I have been (or am being) gradually convinced that for sugar gliders, the answer is, "Yes, IF..." We're all learning what that "if" entails, and that's what this forum is about. Taking the time to answer her calmly could have helped us think about that "if": what DO we think it takes to make our gliders happy in captivity?

Unfortunately, some folks in here were too busy being defensive to realize that there may have been a part of what Katie was saying that was worth paying attention to, something to make us think about the well-being of our gliders. True she was pretty rude and obstinate and had some blind spots (which of us isn't guilty of that?), but it's too bad we missed the opportunity to look past that and maybe learn something.

If you're sure you're right, you don't need to shout down the criticism. After all, what threat did she pose?

I agree with Dawn and Sandy. I find this "guess we showed her" triumphalism a bit disturbing.

-- pwf

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