The big case against owning small pets

I grew up in the Maryland suburbs and spent much of my childhood in the woods. I would turn over rocks to find shiny centipedes and watch small schools of fish glide through the creek as box turtles sunbathed on the banks. A squirrel’s frenzied search for a nut would capture my full attention. 

I liked these critters so much that I wanted animals around all the time. So I asked my parents to take me to the pet store — a place where many small animals, for a small price, could be mine.