It was not until he became a public safety officer that he changed his attitude about keeping exotic animals as pets.
Harrison started his animal rescue career while he was in high school. He was an assistant to a zoo veterinarian. “He would go out and catch exotic animals,” Harrison said. He noted the veterinarian used to allow him to help capture the animals.
The veterinarian used to get five calls a year about exotic pets that had gotten loose. Eventually, those five calls increased to more than 100.
“It’s so obvious what caused it,” Harrison said. “Just as soon as Steve Irwin (“Crocodile Hunter”) started playing with cobras on his TV show, the same year I had 20 cobras calls.”
Harrison is the director of Outreach for Animals, which is a nonprofit organization started 12 years ago by public safety officers. One of the organization’s goals is to educate people on the importance of keeping wildlife in its natural habitat. The organization’s membership includes public safety officers from across the country who are called upon by various organizations to help capture exotic animals.
Most people seeking exotic animals as pets have bought their animals from exotic animal dealers over the Internet, Harrison said. It’s not against the law to sell exotic animals over the Internet, but it is illegal to bring nondomestic animals back to residential communities in the Dayton area, he said.
The industry rakes in between $6.5 billion and $12.5 billion a year, depending on where it is being done in the country.
Education is key in Harrison’s line of work.
He recalled the deaths of some people who had come in contact with an exotic animal or tried to handle the animal without help. One of the deaths involved a man who regularly attended Harrison’s presentations. The man tried to handle a Burmese python and ended up being “constricted to death.” This type of death involves the python wrapping itself around its prey and using its teeth to grab the prey.
“Every time the prey takes a breath in, it squeezes tighter,” Harrison said.
Fortunately, Harrison has had good outcomes during rescue missions.
He recalled an incident that occurred in east Dayton about 10 years ago. Two boys, ages 4 and 6, had found a Gaboon Viper in a garage and were playing with it.
“One of the parents called and said this was a weird snake, and we don’t know what it is,” Harrison said.
The snake was venomous and had fangs that were more than two inches long.
Harrison said when he told the boys’ parents that the snake their children had been playing with was deadly, the parents “almost had a heart attack.”
For more information about Outreach for Animals, visit www.outreach foranimals.org.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2414 or kwynn@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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