Keeping of exotic animals as pets is wrong

BELIEVE it or not, Chinese New Year can be very bad for animals. This is because each year of the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac is associated with a particular animal. It is believed that the animal ruling a person’s birth year has a great influence on their personality and destiny, and there would be demand for such animals as pets.

Hence, come Chinese New Year, pet shops and petting farms would go all out to get the animals associated with the zodiac sign for the year. For example, in this year of the rat, a petting zoo farm is drawing in the crowds with its collection of foreign breeds in the rodent family, including capybara, porcupine, degu, dormouse, chinchilla and Sphinx rat.