Collection 4: "Wild Animals Aren't Pets" and "Let People Own Exotic Animals"

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. yen
    a desire for something or to do something
    In many states, anyone with a few hundred dollars and a yen for the unusual can own a python, a black bear or a big cat as a “pet.”
  2. exotic
    strikingly strange or unusual
    But just as a 2007 raid on property owned by football star Michael Vick laid bare the little known and cruel world of dogfighting, a story that unfolded in a small Ohio city recently opened the public’s eyes to the little known, distressing world of “exotic” pets.
  3. dictate
    determine, order, or control how something is done
    But public safety, common sense and compassion for animals all dictate the same conclusion: Wild animals are not pets.
  4. transfixed
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    They shot all but a handful of the animals as the nation watched, transfixed and horrified.
  5. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    Owners of “exotic” animals claim they rarely maim or kill.
  6. maul
    injure badly
    That same year, a Connecticut woman was mauled and disfigured by a neighbor’s pet chimp.
  7. disfigure
    mar or spoil the appearance of
    That same year, a Connecticut woman was mauled and disfigured by a neighbor’s pet chimp.
  8. lax
    without rigor or strictness
    Eight—Alabama, Idaho, Ohio, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin—have no rules, and in 13 others the laws are lax, according to Born Free USA, which has lobbied for years for stronger laws.
  9. lobby
    detain in conversation for political or economic favors
    Eight—Alabama, Idaho, Ohio, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin—have no rules, and in 13 others the laws are lax, according to Born Free USA, which has lobbied for years for stronger laws.
  10. exempt
    grant relief from a rule or requirement to
    While it exempted current owners, Thompson might have been forced to give up his menagerie because he had been cited for animal cruelty.
  11. menagerie
    a collection of live animals for study or display
    While it exempted current owners, Thompson might have been forced to give up his menagerie because he had been cited for animal cruelty.
  12. regulate
    bring into conformity with rules, principles, or usage
    What Thompson did was selfish and insane; we cannot regulate insanity.
  13. captivity
    the state of being imprisoned
    These animals are born in captivity, and not “stolen” from the wild.
  14. domestic
    converted or adapted to use in the home
    If we have the freedom to choose what car to buy, where to live, or what domestic animal to have, why shouldn’t we have the same freedom to choose what species of wild or exotic animal to own and to love?
  15. deranged
    driven insane
    If society overreacts and bans exotics because of actions of a few deranged individuals, then we need to ban kids, as that is the only way to totally stop child abuse, and we need to ban humans, because that is the only way to stop murder.
Created on Mon Jun 15 08:26:16 EDT 2020 (updated Wed Jun 17 10:39:46 EDT 2020)

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