Minecraft Axolotl Woes

 

An exotic pet craze has Minecraft to blame.

Minecraft is at the root of the rise in the purchase of the endangered axolotl which families can’t properly care for.

The RSPCA have voiced their rising concerns with the increased popularity of the unusual amphibian due to Minecraft. The creative video game, popular amongst teenagers and children, has recently added the rare Mexican salamander in the playable world. Many children and teenagers have decided that just owning the creature virtually isn't enough and interest in the purchase of axolotls has been on a rapid increase since Minecraft’s update. However, despite these little pink creatures’ cute smiles, their trendiness amongst kids and teens comes with great risks.  

With Christmas soon to be around the corner and children desperately pleading for this trendy new pet, animal welfare officials are anticipating careless purchases of the animal with fears that they may end up with a surplus of axolotls in rescue centres after families realise they are either too ill-equipped to care for them or the trend of owning one dies off. Some experts are anxious that many may meet a worse fate by being dumped in lakes or flushed down lavatories.

The axolotl craze is a familiar tale: a certain animal is popularised in media aimed at children and as a direct effect, these animals are bought as pets at a mass scale. Many parents don’t realise that these creatures have a multitude of requirements: they need the correct tank size, mix of water and the right temperatures. On top of this, the axolotls' life span can be up to 15 years which means that parents may have to uptake the burden of keeping these animals when their children eventually fly the nest. 

The pattern of buying children trendy pets spans back to the 90s where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise inspired many ill-educated families to buy turtles and terrapins which have specific needs that need to be carefully catered to. A huge dilemma occurred in the United States when tiny baby turtles were sold in great quantities and delivered through the mail in the late 80s to early 90s to unsuspecting parents. This later spurred a horrific case of salmonella poisoning as young children would put the infected tiny turtles in their mouths and fall ill. Inevitably, the trend spread around the globe as more and more parents here in the UK bought these animals as gifts for their children. Kent’s Wingham Wildlife Park details the consequences of the craze on their Website: “After the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films in the ’80s, the sale of these terrapins rocketed in the pet trade, however when these baby pets outgrew their small fish tanks, many of these turtles were sadly released into the wild all over the world, leading to introduced populations of this species in a huge array of countries.”

Although the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle trend had a calamitous effect, many animals have fallen victim to the pet craze since then: from finding Nemo’s popularisation of the Blue tang and clownfish, to even the Compare the market advertisements which feature meerkats. In fact, in 2009 the RSPCA’s advice line rose by 184% after meerkats were found being bought and sold as pets or abandoned. There is a strong fear that history will be repeated with the latest trend.

The axolotl is only native to the freshwater lake of Xochimilco in Mexico City and their native populations have been in a steady decline in recent years due to the industrial expansion of Mexico City. They are currently listed under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list for critical endangerment.

Despite their silly faces, scientists fear the axolotls could pose an ecological risk as in their native Mexico they have made 90 other species extinct due to a fungal disease that axolotls are known to carry. Lana Davison, of Southwest Axolotls, fears that “Some people only want them because they’re in the game. We have heard of people who have dumped axolotls in lakes.” She also raises the biological risk that they pose by adding: “They can breed with other amphibians we have already in this country and become an invasive species.”

Wildlife experts will be monitoring the impact of the species and the RSPCA will continue to dissuade parents from buying their children pets for Christmas.