About the campaign

Meerkats have become the latest “must have” pet craze to hit the UK and animal dealers are exploiting the popularity of the animals made famous by TV programmes and commercials.

The Captive Animals' Protection Society (CAPS) campaigns against the trade in exotic animals as pets and meerkats are a good example of why these animals should be left in their natural habitats.

Meerkats:

• Small mammals found only in Southern African deserts
• A highly sociable animal, lives in colonies of up to 30 individuals, usually comprising a dominant pair and their offspring
• Matures at around one year of age, but offspring usually remain in the group into adulthood. At around 18 to 30 months of age, males will voluntary disperse
• Average lifespan of 12-14 years

CAPS investigations:

An important daily activity for meerkats is searching or foraging for food, which means that they require large open spaces and plenty of physical activity. CAPS has investigated meerkat breeders and dealers in the UK and found poor conditions, such as a small enclosure in a pet shop and a cage in the hallway of a private home (see video below).

A private dealer visited by CAPS investigators kept an adult pair in a conservatory with a tiled floor and no access to outdoors. Babies were removed early to ensure the female bred again and at just 5 ½ weeks old were being sold for £600 each.

In the wild, pups begin to travel with the group on foraging bouts at 4 weeks of age, and for the first three months are fed by the helpers, whilst also being taught how to catch their own food. Early separation in captivity between mother and young can lead to behavioural problems for the pups later on.

None of the dealers visited by CAPS were concerned about our lack of experience in keeping meerkats and didn’t ask much about how we would keep them. All were offering to sell them individually.

Problems with meerkats as pets

Even many people within the zoo and exotic pet trades have been speaking out against keeping meerkats as pets, citing reasons such as:

• They are burrowing animals so will damage a house easily, ripping up carpets, scent marking and destroying anything they can
• They shouldn’t be kept alone. One meerkat keeper reports: “Solo meerkats tend to actually go insane from anxiety, and many seriously self-harm. There are stories of lone meerkats actually chewing their own paws off”
• Their large teeth means it’s not uncommon for people to be bitten (and scratched) badly
• They can easily be killed through keeper’s lack of knowledge – how many people know meerkats can die from eating grapes or raisins?
• Meerkat young kept as pets have a low survival rate. Females often eat their own babies through stress

CAPS is the only organisation campaigning to end the trade in meerkats as pets. Our work has been reported in the media across the world. Working with the Sun and Daily Mail newspapers, we have revealed this cruel trade to millions of people, discouraging them from buying meerkats as pets.

How you can help

Meerkats and other exotic animals should not be kept as pets: don’t buy these animals and discourage others from doing so

Sign our pledge not to have meerkats as pets

Make a donation towards our campaign (this links to the main CAPS website)