Akron Beacon Journal...
Jungleland  
October 22, 2011 

Perhaps now state lawmakers will act. For years, they have talked about establishing rules for the ownership of exotic animals. Yet efforts have fizzled. Ohio has remained one of a dozen or so states with virtually no regulation, and thus vulnerable to what happened on Tuesday, a man near Zanesville unleashing 56 dangerous animals and then committing suicide. 

Lions, tigers, bears, leopards, wolves, monkeys and a baboon roamed the nearby hills. The local sheriff’s office mounted a hunting party, eventually killing more than 40 of the animals. Others were captured. Officials closed schools. Families remained indoors. Jack Hanna, the former director of the Columbus Zoo, especially lamented the deaths of 18 Bengal tigers, pointing out that just 1,400 are left in the world. 

To his credit, former Gov. Ted Strickland issued an executive order last year barring those with animal cruelty convictions from owning wild animals. Yet that wasn’t sufficient, even beyond the concern aired by the Department of Natural Resources that the order wasn’t enforceable. Ohio must address fully the problem, people owning animals that pose a potentially grave danger, having been removed from their native habitats, the state already with examples of harm, even deaths. 

The American Veterinary Medical Association has called for a legislative ban on the ownership of wild animals. The organization cites the risk to public health, domestic animals and local ecosystems. All the world now knows that Ohio lacks civilized regulation in this realm. State lawmakers should take the cue of veterinarians. 

Read this and other articles at the Akron Beacon Journal