Bay area non-profits aim to care for exotic animals, educate on responsible ownership

PLANT CITY, Fla. - You'll find a unique blend of animals living together on Christina Peters' Plant City farm. The Marine veteran rescues and cares for exotic pets as part of her non-profit called "Roos and Coos."

Roos and Coos got its name from kangaroos and Scottish highland coos that are both housed at the farm. Peters said they now have all kinds of different exotic animal species, including parrots, monkeys, lemurs, skunks, possums, raccoons, tarantulas and snakes. 

"We actually started out as a regular farm, and after we had our licenses, then people started calling us, asking us to take in other captive bred animals, including the Florida Wildlife Conservation," said Peters.

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Kathryn Wysocki educates the public about skunks through her Pinellas County non-profit, Pet Skunk Advocates and Rescue. She said they do a lot of school programs. 

"Pet skunks are very loving," Wysocki said. "They're squishy, they're soft. They love attention." 

However, she said people don't do a lot of research before purchasing a pet skunk, and they don't know that are rescues that they can adopt from or surrender to. Wysocki said it's illegal in the U.S. to have a pet skunk with its scent glands intact. 

"It's one of the ways they're able to tell the difference between a wild skunk and a pet skunk," she said. "You cannot take a skunk from the wild and make it a pet. That is against the law."

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They said before you consider adopting an exotic animal, do your research.

"Because even though these animals are legal, some of them don't make great pets," Peters said. "Talk to somebody who has had that animal in the past, and they can tell you the pros and cons before you make that decision. And if you do that, then hopefully less animals will need to be rehomed in the future."

For more information about Roos and Coos Farm, visit their Facebook page. For more information about Pet Skunk Advocates & Rescue, click here. 

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