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| Otters(水獭) are cute water animals. These days, keeping otters as pets is getting popular. In Japan, some "otter cafés (咖啡馆)"are open for business. People can pay to play with the otters there and to take photos with them. In Indonesia, people go swimming with their pet otters and take funny videos. These photos and videos posted online have interested more people to buy otters as pets. |
However, these enjoyable photos and videos hide the damage(损害) that the online trade is doing to otters. In fact, wild otters are facing many threats—they have long been hunted(猎杀) for their coats in some places, fishermen have been killing otters in order to stop them from eating fish and now, the online pet trade has become another big problem for otters.
In the wild, baby otters usually stay with their mothers during their first year of life. According to a report, 70% of the otters sold online are under one year old. These baby otters have been stolen from their mothers. When they are kept as pets by humans, they do not live full and natural lives.
Otters are very social. They live in family groups of up to 15 in the wild. Keeping an otter as a pet can make it very sad and lonely. These animals also need enough space to swim. Their owners' bathtubs or pools are nowhere near as large as the bodies of water in the wild.
On the other hand, otters simply don't make good pets. They have a very special fishy smell. If they are kept indoors, they will leave a lot of waste around the house. This would make the smell even more unpleasant. Besides, when otters are unhappy, they will make loud noises and even attack(攻击) people. If a person is hurt by an otter, he or she needs to go to hospital at once. So, we should stop the otter pet trade and never share photos and videos about them online.
