Veterinarian and wildlife expert urge caution as the pet mongoose trend takes hold

A series of social media posts by a young man in which he engaged in a number of activities with a mongoose he had adopted as a pet has prompted warnings from one of the country’s most experienced veterinarians and a land biologist about the associated health risks. and safety risks.

Dr. Paul Cadogan, who runs a veterinary clinic in May Pen, Clarendon, and renowned wildlife expert Damion Whyte warned as the series of posts appears to be influencing people to try to domesticate the predatory omnivores.

“As far as diseases go, rabies is the disease of concern when it comes to the mongoose,” Dr Cadogan said.

While he acknowledged that Jamaica is free of rabies, he said no one can say for sure whether mongooses carry the viral disease.

“If they were carrying that disease, we would only find out if there is an encounter (with a human) and we are allowed to test the animal,” added Dr. Cadogan, who has been a veterinarian for more than 30 years.

“We are surrounded by countries where rabies is endemic, and even though we have not seen any cases of rabies in Jamaica, with animal trafficking, you never know what can happen; Animal trafficking is always a threat to our disease-free status,” he said.

“We are talking about there being an investigation into the status of these animals, but that hasn’t happened yet,” Dr Cadogan added.

“There is also the possibility that they spread leptospirosis because they can carry and spread it. As you know, it is a serious disease that can be fatal for people who contract the disease,” he added.

In the series of videos, the young man, who has named the mongoose Pixel, shows how the animal is washed and cleaned by him, lies in bed with him, is fed and generally crawls over him or runs around a house while he sits . and talking to the small land mammal, which sounds like screeching.

The posts have become somewhat popular, with some viewers expressing a desire to get their hands on one of the mammals or asking how they could do so.

However, Whyte, a final-year PhD student studying zoology at the University of the West Indies, and Dr Cadogan urge caution.

“Mongooses are an invasive species, so you don’t want to encourage them, even if they were brought here on purpose. They have taken their place at the expense of some of our other wildlife,” said Dr Cadogan.

He said he had come across Jamaicans in the past who kept mongooses as pets.

“My concern, and I have advised them accordingly, is that although the mongoose appeared to be in good health, these are wild animals. As babies they may be sweet, cuddly and playful, but as they get older and their instincts start to kick in, there can be a risk of injury, and even if it is not the person keeping the mongoose, the one where the mongoose has a has a connection with, it could be other people or other animals,” said the vet.

“They can be very aggressive when defending their territory, their young or whatever. So that’s the main concern: having to take responsibility for everything that happens. And of course mongooses are predators, they kill birds. Sure, they’ll kill rodents, but they’ll also kill chickens. So when you are encouraged to have them around, there are those concerns,” he said.

Whyte agreed, pointing out that the decline in the Jamaican iguana population was the result of the introduction of the Indian mongoose to the island in the mid-19th century to control rats, snakes and other pests on sugar cane plantations.

Local scientists, he said, had thought the Jamaican iguana was extinct for decades, until a wild pig hunter found an injured iguana in the Hellshire Hills in St. Catherine in 1990.

“The hunter took him to Hope Zoo and that’s where the Headstart program was born,” Whyte said Jamaican observer.

The program includes iguana population monitoring to guide conservation plans; predator control, which involves removing a percentage of predator species, such as stray dogs, from the iguanas’ natural habitat; and replenishment, creating and maintaining viable, artificial breeding grounds for the iguanas, which are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

“Mongooses like to dig up iguana eggs and eat them, or when the iguanas are born they eat the young,” Whyte explains. “So now, after the eggs hatch, we take the young to the zoo where they are kept for up to three years and then released back into the wild.”

Whyte, whose social media posts on environmental issues enjoy a wide audience under the name Rooster’s World, said the country, along with the Headstart Program, operates a Trap Program to capture mongooses that prey on iguana nests.

“Every week we have teams in the Hellshire hills where the iguanas nest. Over the years we have captured hundreds of mongooses,” he said.

When asked what happens to the animals if they are caught, Whyte answers that they are put down.

“But they breed quickly and are very smart. “One of the things that keeps them alive is that they are omnivores: they eat fruits and other animals so they can survive well in harsh conditions,” he noted.

“We’re seeing a lot of it in Kingston now. They are good at living around people. They are aggressive and will fight cats. Since they are wild animals, they can also turn around and bite people,” he said.

Like Dr Cadogan, Whyte highlighted the danger the mongoose poses to other species and pointed to the Jamaican poorwill and the Jamaican petrel – two ground-nesting birds long considered extinct because invasive species, including the mongoose, preyed on their nests.

Scientists say the Jamaican arms have not been recorded since 1860, while the petrel was last collected in 1879. They also said the search for the petrel ended unsuccessfully between 1996 and 2000.

“So far I know about three people who have mongooses as pets. I know because they are asking what to feed them and other people are now asking how to get them,” Whyte said
Sunday observeradding that some comments under social media posts about the mongoose Pixel indicate interest in acquiring the animals as pets.

Both Whyte and Dr. Cadogan pointed out that there is no law in Jamaica that prohibits people from having mongooses as pets.

“So if they’re going to do that, they need to know the concerns and act accordingly,” Dr Cadogan stressed.

“I recommend caution, caution, caution. It can become annoying to other people, if not to the people who keep them as pets,” said Dr Cadogan, who also pointed out that mongooses carry a very pungent odor.

Responding to the backlash to the Pixel social media posts, Dr Cadogan said: “It will be hard to prevent this trend… To do what this man is doing you have to get them from babies because if you try it capturing an adult wild mongoose can be extremely dangerous… (but) people need to know to be careful.”

Whyte supported that point, saying, “I can understand why people would want them because when they’re little they look cute and cuddly, but the most important thing people need to remember is that these are wild animals.”

He suggested that the key to countering this trend lies in public education about the risks of attempting to domesticate mongooses.