Predator Pets

Humans have had a close relationship

with animals for thousands of years.

Scientists agree the domestic dog has been a trusted pet

for around 15,000 years.

And cats became part of the household from 10,000 years ago.

And now, it's estimated

there are at least 600 million pet cats in the world.

Exotic pets have also been kept for thousands of years.

It's well documented

that the Egyptians kept baboons as pets,

and exotic animals kept in the home

feature in many ancient texts.

In modern times, the keeping of exotic pets has increased.

A staggering statistic is that there are more tigers

in the U.S alone

than there are in the wild.

Animal owners truly believe they're playing a role

in preserving the numbers of exotic animals.

But on the other side of the debate,

there are those who believe it is a cruel practice

to keep any animals in captivity.

This series explores the issues from both sides;

from those who know the dangers,

but see the benefits;

to others who condemn the keeping of exotic pets.

Their stories follow.

From the outside,

it looks like an average family home,

but this home has some unusual residents.

These are our two baby sloths.

They're zoo animals

and they're going to go into exhibits in the zoo,

but chances are, since my wife raised them,

they're probably going to have

to come home every night, now,

because they're a little more than just a zoo animal.

In 1994, Charlie Sammut bought 51 acres of land

in Salinas, California.

It started as a small exotic animal rental business,

supplying animals for film and television,

with part of the property dedicated

to an elephant sanctuary.

It grew into Monterey Zoo,

which is now home to more than 100 exotic zoo animals,

or maybe Charlie and his wife, Lisa,

just have a lot of peculiar pets.

She can do this over and over.

We retreat them, I guess, by definition like pets.

It's tough to say,

"I don't think people should have them as pets,"

because we spend 24 hours a day with them.

Because we're a zoo, we're able to do that.

If we had to go to work every day

and spend what little time we had left with them,

I don't know that they could get the care they need

to stay healthy.

And they're so fragile,

they can't walk on the ground,

they have to hold you.

They've got a cute little seal like face,

and you put all that together

and people just adore them.

They're needy.

Although they're a little more aggressive

than some might think

While the sloth are young,

Charlie's schedule revolves completely around their care.

So what's funny is

your life revolves around them.

If we're out somewhere,

we have to get home

because Bugsy and Bell have to get their exercise.

And Lisa lets them runs around the house at night.

Then we have to make their food

and it has to be cut a certain way.

Hi, baby.

I know.

Now, how do you do this and convince somebody

that it doesn't make a good pet?

I get it.

But I mean, yeah,

look at that face.

He's real bitey.

Sometimes he just gets in these moods,

and Lisa will take him into the dining room.

They like...

The bottom of our dining room chairs is their jungle gym,

they chase each other all over.

And we'll go walking by,

and they'll just come crawling across the floor,

lunging at us.

It's like, I think they're playing war.

But, yeah,

when he's in a bad mood,

he can be very bitey.

Monterey Zoo is not an accredited zoo,

and that's what allows them to treat their animals

more like pets than zoo exhibits

We've chosen not to be accredited

by the larger institutions,

the larger clubs, if you will,

because some of the rules they have prohibit us

from giving the elephants the quality of life they need.

I think we treat them like pets,

but I think we treat the elephants like pets too,

and I can't bring them home.

Now, my home is on the zoo property.

Is that what makes the difference?

I don't know.

Some of my staff don't have homes on the zoo property,

and I let them take some things home.

Are they pets?

How do you define it?

They come right back to the zoo

and they have a purpose at the zoo,

but we try to treat them all like pets.

And the sloths,

aren't Charlie's most unusual zoo exhibit pets.

Wife, Lisa, has forged a bond with a badger.

It was raised here in the house with us.

Had its personality and its temperament

afforded it to do so,

it would still be in the house with us.

We love it to death.

Unfortunately, it started plucking the tiles

off the kitchen floor,

so it was time to go to the zoo,

but that was a decision it made.

It just ended up that way.

But we still go down there and put a leash on him,

and take him for his walk every day,

like you would a pet

Given that Charlie's career,

working with animals,

started with his pet lion, Joseph,

it's not surprising that Charlie blurs the line

between zoo animals and pets.

I had an African lion that was just

beyond the scope of reason.

He was so safe, so patient, so unusual,

my children could ride on his back.

Yeah, he did things I wouldn't think of doing today.

I can't imagine what I was thinking back then,

but he could come home with me

and sleep on the dining room floor.

I mean, he was very, very special,

a one in a million.

It was only because of Joseph's

extra ordinary nature and willingness to perform

that Charlie entered the entertainment industry,

and later started a zoo.

He started this with me.

So, I mean, was he a pet?

It was much more of a relationship

than some lion in a zoo with a keeper.

I mean, we went to Africa together,

we went to Germany together,

we went to Mexico together.

We've been in every state in the United States.

But technically, we were a business.

We were in the animal training

and animal rental business for entertainment.

Now, again, because I was in that business,

I was with him the entire time,

and so it created that kind of animal.

So I will argue that if you're keeping them as a pet,

but your business, your industry,

isn't something that affords you the time

to spend with them,

there is no way to keep it safe.

You have to stay with them.

You have to be with them.

You have to have a team

of people that are helping you do it.

It has to be a professional situation,

but that's not to say there's not pet owners

that don't work somewhere else.

They don't work commercially,

but they're with their animals 24/7,

that's what they do.

They have the ability to do so

and therefore end up with good animals.

Most of the professionals in this business will tell you

that some of the best animals they've ever gotten

were pets that were confiscated from people,

because they got so much time in so much interaction

that they were just wonderful animals.

We have our...

our regular pets, if you will, okay,

because I do tell people,

"It's nice to come home and sit down on the couch

with something that you know probably won't eat you."

I know, I know, I know.

This chicken was brought into a Los Angeles veterinarian

to be euthanized,

because when it was born, its beak was like this.

And the veterinary facility,

the owner of the facility is a very good friend of mine,

and she pointed out that day when I was visiting

that if this chicken were a lion or a tiger