In addition, their natural habitats are in the forests of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia, which are nothing like the inside of a home or cage. In the wild, they live in trees in large colonies and spend most of their evenings foraging for sap (hence their name) and playing with family and friends. Their wide availability and social acceptance are leading these animals to be kept in thousands of households throughout the United States.įor starters, sugar gliders are nocturnal, which means they are on completely opposite schedules than their keepers. In addition, viral images and videos of people with these animals help perpetuate the problem, by making it seem normal and acceptable to keep wild animals as pets. This traveling company can often be seen selling sugar gliders at malls, festivals, conventions, and most recently, at the Florida State Fair. One of the most common sellers of sugar gliders in the U.S. Malaysia and other countries like Australia, have since banned pet ownership of these animals, but these animals are still gaining popularity as pets around the world, particularly in the United States, where they are bred to be pets. For example, In 2011 this quota supposedly restricted the harvest to just 225 individuals per year. However, Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Perhilitan, had almost 9,000 sugar gliders registered with the Department at the time, suggesting quotas were being widely exceeded. Experts say that these quotas are repeatedly ignored. The species is classified as of “Least Concern” in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, but they are subject to a government-issued quota that dictates how many can be taken out of the wild each year. According to reports, wild-caught Sugar Gliders are then sent to breeding farms in Jakarta, from where they may be exported under the guise of being captive-bred. These tiny marsupials are largely trafficked from Indonesia. These animals are easily collected from the wild since they sleep together in groups, which allows large numbers to be captured by hand in a short space of time. Sadly, this has led these precious animals to now be the most exploited in the global wildlife trade. With their pint-size bodies and big, bold eyes, there’s no denying that they are some of the most adorable creatures on this planet. Sugar gliders are tiny marsupials that fit in the palm on your hand – think the world’s smallest opossum mixed with the ittiest bittiest Koala and you have a sugar glider. Sugar Gliders Rise in Popularity as “Trend Animals” One such species that has gained popularity as a trend pet over recent years is the sugar glider.
Many of these animals are captured and sold alive as exotic pets.
Factors like climate change and habitat loss are contributors to this decline, but the wildlife trade is key. In the past 40 years alone, around 52 percent of the world’s wildlife has disappeared. Some 13 million animals are taken illegally from their homes for the pet trade. The sale and trade of exotic animals garners an enormous profit valued at as much as $20 billion a year and is second only to the drug trade in terms of its worth. The wildlife trade is one of the most lucrative illicit markets on the planet.
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