Exotic animal regulations head to Ohio governor

ANN SANNER

Asso­ci­ated Press

COLUMBUS — Leg­is­la­tion that would tighten reg­u­la­tions on own­ing exotic ani­mals in Ohio was headed Tues­day to the gov­er­nor for his expected sig­na­ture, months after author­i­ties were forced to shoot dozens of lions, tigers and other dan­ger­ous wildlife released from a farm last fall.

The mea­sure would ban new own­er­ship of exotic ani­mals, while allow­ing cur­rent own­ers to keep their crea­tures by obtain­ing a new state-issued per­mit by 2014 and adher­ing to strict new care­tak­ing standards.

Facil­i­ties accred­ited by some national zoo groups would be exempt from the bill, along with sanc­tu­ar­ies and research institutions.

Ohio’s restric­tions on exotic pets are among the nation’s weak­est. Efforts to strengthen the law took on new urgency after Terry Thomp­son released 50 ani­mals — includ­ing black bears, moun­tain lions and Ben­gal tigers — from his east­ern Ohio farm in Zanesville in Octo­ber before he com­mit­ted sui­cide. Author­i­ties killed 48 of the ani­mals as a pub­lic safety mea­sure. Two oth­ers were believed to have been eaten by other animals.

The Ohio House passed the mea­sure 87–9 with changes on Tues­day, and the Sen­ate agreed to the revi­sions, which included lower per­mit fees and a lower min­i­mum insur­ance require­ment than the ver­sion sen­a­tors passed last month.

Per­mit fees for bears, tigers and other dan­ger­ous ani­mals would begin at $250. And insur­ance poli­cies for the crea­tures could range from $200,000 to as high as $1 mil­lion, depend­ing on the num­ber of animals.

Own­ers would be required to pass a back­ground check and show inspec­tors that they adhere to care stan­dards and have taken safety mea­sures such as fenc­ing their prop­erty. Signs would have to be posted on the prop­erty to alert peo­ple there were dan­ger­ous ani­mals on the premises.

The bill cleared the Leg­is­la­ture after hours of tes­ti­mony from dis­traught own­ers who had lined up in hear­ings to express con­cerns about hav­ing to get rid of the fam­ily pet or pay too high of a price to keep it, among other issues.

The Colum­bus Zoo and the Ohio Farm Bureau Fed­er­a­tion are among the measure’s supporters.

Posted by AP News on May 22 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.