OHIO ABUSE & SHOOTINGS

    This week in Zanesville, Ohio 56 exotic animals ran wild after their owner let them escape his property before taking his own life. All but few were shot and killed by police. Terry Thompson's 'collection' included lions, tigers, wolves, monkeys, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs camels, and bears! Even though there were numerous complaints and visits from police, somehow his operation was legal. Ohio has no regulations on the ownership of exotic animals. Wow. In the last six years, local authorities visited Thompson's state farm nearly thirty times in response to complaints about escaped animals, cruelty, and more. When Terry Thompson was found dead and the animals' cage doors were left open and fences unsecured, authorities saw that chimpanzees and orangutans were in locked cages inside the house.
    Thompson had a long history with the law and had just completed a one-year sentence on two federal counts of possessing illegal firearms. In November 2005, he was convicted of cruelty to animals are sentenced to six months of house arrest and fined $2870. Complaints were filed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding his illegal activities, including exhibiting animals without a license and declawing tiger cubs in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. Things were looking up when there was a ban for exotic animals in the making. But, when a new governor took place [John Kasich], he purposely let the ban expire, saying it would "hurt small business." Ohio is one of fewer than ten states that have no regulations about private ownership of exotic animals. It should now be more than clear to the governor that Ohio needs to take exotic animals out of unsafe private collections, for the safely of both the animals and humans. I am sure when Ohio does so, the other few states will follow.