The Menagerie Lurking in Rural America

Sam Myers explores the depressingly common practice of rural US exotic pet auctions, which offer a diverse range of animals, including kangaroos, zebras, foxes, and reptiles. These animals require specialized care—obviously—which is often not provided at their new homes in America’s heartland. While some animals are regulated, many are not, and Myers spotlights a tragically under‐examined wildlife marketplace.

I was in town for the same reason Amy and Carol were, to attend the Nelson Alternative Livestock Auction, one of the largest exotic animal auctions in the country—though I wasn’t looking to take an animal home with me in my carry-on. I grew up in a small Ohio town, where exotic animal ownership was essentially accepted. It wasn’t like having a cat or dog, but I remember that a kid in my school had a pet bobcat, which the parents unceremoniously kept locked away in their basement. And I remember the local news station reporting that cops in another small town in the state, called Zanesville, had killed dozens of lions, tigers, bears, and monkeys who escaped from someone’s backyard. That tragic event kicked off a series of regulations that now shape America’s exotic animal rules. Many states have recently passed laws banning private ownership of large carnivores, and in 2022, the Big Cat Public Safety Act federally prohibited privately breeding and auctioning them too. More recently, the Captive Primate Safety Act was reintroduced in the House. This law would essentially outlaw owning, selling, breeding, and auctioning primates in the United States. But plenty of other creatures are still fair game. Even as a kid, I always asked myself: How do people buy these animals? And … why?