How did the fad for keeping wild animals as pets get started? Zoologists and environmentalists are at a loss whether to laugh or cry. "It's as if the more steam the animal protection movement picks up, the more people there are who want to keep them as pets," says Yeh-wang Chen, president of the Taipei chapter of the R.O.C. Wild Bird Society.

The birds in pet shops used to all be imported or artificially bred, but now many rare indigenous species can be found there as well.

"The truth of the matter is, a lot of people just want an unusual animal for showing off," says Lu Kuang-yang, a biology professor at National Taiwan Normal University, adding that what customers want, businessmen will come up with.

Many people also believe certain animals bring good luck: Asian bony tongue fish, for instance, are considered symbols of good fortune, and Taiwan has become the number-one importer of them. And while some people may buy animals because they feel sorry to see them in cages, that behavior only exacerbates the problem by stimulating the market.

Psychologists believe that keeping pets can have a therapeutic effect. In an age when families are getting smaller and smaller, the elderly can relieve loneliness by having an animal companion, and children can learn empathy and concern for others by growing up with a pet.

Not all animals are suited for the part, though. Dogs, cats and other domesticated species have been tamed and bred by man over the ages, and a set of methods has been developed for their feeding and caring. But many wild animals cannot be tamed, and keeping them in a modern apartment-style environment often causes both animals and masters more grief than pleasure.

"Foundlings" are sometimes left at the entrance to the department of zoology at National Taiwan University in the form of pangolins, flying squirrels, parrots and other creatures, most of them in parlous condition. "A parrot that sells for NT$10,000 and up kept defecating and tilting its head to one side, as if it had lost its sense of balance," says Wu Hai-yin, a graduate student in the department. "It kicked off the very next day!"

Veterinarian Ch'i Wei-lien has even more experience, having treated Formosan gem-faced civets, long-armed gibbons, and other exotic creatures. A little flying squirrel that was brought in once didn't seem sick except that it refused to eat. He tried emergency treatment and offered it substitute foods, but it died a few days later.

Ch'en Ch'ao-jen, a technician in the environmental protection division of the Council of Agriculture, indicates that many animals are already latently ill before they are sold because of a lack of proper food, water or ventilation or the shock of being captured, transported and confined, so the death rate is very high.

Even if the animals are healthy when sold, most owners are ignorant of how to take care of them and dealers are only interested in making sales. The result is that most people learn through trial and error. "There are always some animals that are sacrificed in the process," Ch'i Wei-lien says bluntly.

In addition, veterinary medicine is aimed mainly at domesticated species, so few vets know much about wild animals. And those who do know about them may not be happy to treat animals in cages for fear of abetting a pernicious practice.

Many vets are also worried about diseases in wild animals spreading to man. A rumor that Tibetan hounds smuggled into the island two years ago had rabies created a panic at the time, but at least there are shots for rabies, which is not the case with many other infectious animal diseases.

When they find out how hard their animals are to keep or grow tired of them, many owners drop them off at the zoo or the university, and many set them free to fend for themselves. Fishermen have reported catching piranhas in local streams recently, and nature photographer Ch'en Yung-fu has sighted mynah birds, Brazilian cockatoos and other exotic nonnative species on outings around the island.

And then there's the law. Many rare species are protected by international organizations or subject to strict procedures for import or sale under the Wild Animal Conservation Law. People who buy animals that have been illegally captured or imported may themselves be violating the law.

With interest in exotic pets on the rise, some people have gone into the business of breeding wild animals in captivity, claiming not just to make money from them but to be protecting them from extinction as well. "There's some thinking that needs correcting here," says Li Ling-ling, who is an associate professor of zoology at National Taiwan University.

Animals bred in captivity are often infirm or genetically inferior because of inbreeding or confinement. If well-intentioned but misguided people set them loose in the wild, the best thing that can happen is for them to die off before they can mate with their cousins in the wild and spoil the genetic pool.

"Nobody wants all animals to become domesticated, do they?" Li asks rhetorically. She says that if we really love animals the best thing we can do for them is to preserve the natural environment rather than spoiling it and interfering with it. If our national parks and nature sanctuaries are well managed, we can go there and see the animals as they should be, in the wild: "Why do we have to stuff them in our pockets?"

Many owners say it is precisely because modern industrial society is so far removed from nature that they want to keep pets, as well as to give their children a companion while growing up. But an animal shut in a cage or confined to a room can only display a small part of the behavior it exhibits in the wild, where it seeks food, chooses a mate and defends itself against its enemies.

Nature is not really far away at all. Residents of metropolitan Taipei who take a nature walk in nearby Kuantu will find that watching animals in the wild is much more thrilling than keeping them in an apartment or seeing them at the zoo. "Instead of having your children grow up with an animal, it's better to have them grow up with nature" is the fervent hope of Yeh-wang Chen, who is a junior high school biology teacher by profession.

[Picture Caption]

Metropolitan Taipei has recently succumbed to a fad for keeping long-armed gibbons, Formosan gem-faced civets and other wild animals as pets. (Left) There are even specialty shops for chameleons. (photo by Huang Li-li)

Many nonindigenous species of birds can now be seen in the countryside around Taiwan. This is a monk parakeet from South America. (photo by Ch'en Yung-fu)

Asian bony tongue fish are considered by the Chinese to bring good fortune and are highly popular in Taiwan. (photo by Huang Li-li)

Taiwan's blue pheasant, a rare indigenous species, have been artificially propagated in Taiwan, but there are always concerns about inbreeding and genetic weaknesses.

(Right) The growing popularity of falconry is bad news for many small creatures in the wild. Here people watch a buyer choose a falconet on Chungking South Road.

Pandas are facing extinction, and if people keep trying to catch them and raise them regardless of how they should be fed and cared for, then future generations may really have only toy ones lo grow up with. The picture was taken at Ueno zoo in Tokyo.

(Right) Itinerant vendors can often be seen selling animals on the streets of Taipei. This man is selling flying squirrels near the train station.

If people keep trying to catch animals and keep them, how can they learn to be friendly with man? The picture at left was taken at the Taipei zoo in Mucha and that on the right at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

Metropolitan Taipei has recently succumbed to a fad for keeping long-armed gibbons,.

Many nonindigenous species of birds can now be seen in the countryside around Taiwan. This is a monk parakeet from South America. （photo by Ch'en Yung-fu）

Asian bony tongue fish are considered by the Chinese to bring good fortune and are highly popular in Taiwan. （photo by Huang Li-li）

Taiwan's blue pheasant, a rare indigenous species, have been artificially propagated in Taiwan, but there are always concerns about inbreeding and genetic weaknesses.

（Right） The growing popularity of falconry is bad news for many small creatures in the wild. Here people watch a buyer choose a falconet on Chungking South Road.

Pandas are facing extinction, and if people keep trying to catch them and raise them regardless of how they should be fed and cared for, then future generations may really have only toy ones lo grow up with. The picture was taken at Ueno zoo in Tokyo.

（Right） Itinerant vendors can often be seen selling animals on the streets of Taipei. This man is selling flying squirrels near the train station.

If people keep trying to catch animals and keep them, how can they learn to be friendly with man? The picture at left was taken at the Taipei zoo in Mucha and that on the right at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

If people keep trying to catch animals and keep them, how can they learn to be friendly with man? The picture at left was taken at the Taipei zoo in Mucha and that on the right at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens.