Elephant in the Living Room

The UGA student group Speak Out For Species kicked off its Animal Voices Film Festival Monday night at the Miller Learning Center. The film "Elephant In Living Room" was the first of four movies which will be shown in February.

It will be followed by "A Fall From Freedom, on February 13^th," "Forks Over Knives," on February 20^th and "Madonna of The Mills," on February 27^th.

"Elephant In Living Room" speaks to the growing problems caused by Americans and their infatuation with exotic animals. It follows Oakwood, Ohio, animal control officer Tim Harrison, who at one time kept and loved large cats, but abandoned them after a friend was attacked and killed.

It also chronicles the life of Terry Brumfield. who struggles to care for two lions, which eventually mate and produce three more. The two men become intertwined after Terry’s male lion escapes and is found attaching cars on the highway.

Harrison walks the movie goers through the sickening reality of the exotic pet trade, a trade which continues to sell animals which are not only dangerous, but that quickly outgrow the capabilities of those who buy them to care for them. Zoos and rescue agencies across the country are filled to capacity. Many owners release such pets when they can no longer control them or their fear becomes too strong.

There are more injuries here from African snakes and other animals than there are in Africa. Africans see these animals for what they are, somehow Americans see them as cuddly toys.

“In the '80's I would get five or six calls a year, but that number is now in the hundreds and growing out of control,” Harrison said.

There are now more tigers in captivity in Texas than in all of India. Studies show there are 7.3 million reptiles in American homes. Over 15,000 wild cats now live in America and could be in the home next door. These cats can and do kill.

Harrison visits an exotic swap meet in Pennsylvania and secretly tapes dozens of the most venomous snake of the world as they are sold, as pets. Most being stored in cheap Tupperware with the lids being held on with tape. One of the most shocking pieces of video shows one man buying a 10 foot Python for his five-year-old son. The snake outweighs the child.

Harrison finds a Puff Adder, the most venomous snake in the world, and buys it to remove it from the market, donating it to a medical research facility. In another instance, he is called to a home in Ohio where two young boys have been playing with a snake found in the yard all afternoon. It turns out to be an African Viper, also one of the most deadly in the world.

Although poisonous snakes hold high risks, non-poisonous ones hold their own danger. It is estimated that over 300,000 Burmese Pythons are now living and thriving in the Florida Everglades. A recent study shows that there is a 99% decline in the populations of foxes, raccoons, opossums and other mammals.

During the research, no evidence was found of any rabbits and squirrels, dead or alive. The Python has now become the top of the food chain in the swamp, above the formidable alligator.

Pythons can and do kill and have killed children as well as adults in recent years. Many call for regulations to be put into place. Others continue to argue against such restrictions, demanding the right to own and possibly die, because of the animals they love.