Beyond Cute: Exotic Pets Come Bearing Exotic Germs

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http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0A16FE395C0C748DDDAF0894DB404482

Science Desk | June 17, 2003, Tuesday
Beyond Cute: Exotic Pets Come Bearing Exotic Germs

By DENISE GRADY and LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN (NYT) 1626 words
Late Edition - Final , Section F , Page 1 , Column 1

LEAD PARAGRAPH - Epidemiologists can be such killjoys. Consider, for instance, Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, who has been publicly denouncing prairie dogs since 1997. A prairie dog in a burrow is one thing, but a prairie dog in the house makes Dr. Osterholm a bit edgy.

The fact that the United States has exported thousands of prairie dogs to Japan, where they are not found in nature and where people find them adorable, gives Dr. Osterholm a full-blown case of the willies. Japan banned prairie dog imports in March, and the European Union halted them yesterday, but researchers still worry about what havoc may be wrought by the animals that have already been shipped overseas.



 

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