Ohio exotic animal ban could see action next year

Asso­ci­ated Press

COLUMBUS — The expected spon­sor of a bill that would ban casual own­er­ship of exotic ani­mals in Ohio says it will likely be intro­duced early next year.

Ohio state Sen. Troy Balder­son says the two weeks left in the 2011 leg­isla­tive cal­en­dar aren’t enough to craft a com­pre­hen­sive bill.

Law­mak­ers were wait­ing on a report from Gov. John Kasich’s exotic ani­mal task force start draft­ing a bill. They released the report Wednesday.

Kasich called for an expe­dited report after sheriff’s deputies had to kill 48 ani­mals released near Zanesville by owner Terry Thomp­son before he killed himself.

The report sug­gests the ban start in 2014. Own­ers would have to meet new tem­po­rary safety stan­dards before then and reg­is­ter their ani­mals with the state.

Zoo, cir­cuses and research facil­i­ties would be exempt.

Posted by AP News on Nov 30 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.