Schools closed-exotic animals prowl Ohio - Sozobe?

...Silly claims that i'm accusing you of being "anti-US" (which i am not and have not) are not to the point.

(Muskingum County Sherriff Matt) Lutz's ignorant savagery and Hanna's defense of it is the reflexive attitude of too many police and public officials in this country, and not just when it comes to exotic animals. Police too often respond to one complaint with a hail of bullets - even when it's native wildlife like black bears, wolves or mountain lions," Glenn Hurowitz of the Center for International Policy wrote his blog on The Huffington Post.

Hurowitz also said that "Lutz should face review of his actions, and should probably lose his job."

The owner of the wild animal preserve,Terry Thompson, let all his wild animals loose and then killed himself, and it seems that he wanted his body left as food for the creatures. It looks like he baited his body by putting dead chickens nearby before killing himself. It appears he wanted the wild animals, to eat him. While no one can say for sure, the sheriff did say this is what Thompson possibly had in mind.

Thompson, 62, did get bitten by one of the animals after he was dead and it looks as if one of the big cats not only bit him, but dragged his body around. Other than the bite on his head, there's no evidence that the animals carried out, what was possibly their owners sick and twisted plan of the animals eating his dead body, according to WKYC Channel 3 News.

Quote:

(Muskingum County Sherriff Matt) Lutz's ignorant savagery and Hanna's defense of it is the reflexive attitude of too many police and public officials in this country, and not just when it comes to exotic animals. Police too often respond to one complaint with a hail of bullets - even when it's native wildlife like black bears, wolves or mountain lions," Glenn Hurowitz of the Center for International Policy wrote his blog on The Huffington Post.

Hurowitz also said that "Lutz should face review of his actions, and should probably lose his job."

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/234984/20111020/exotic-animals-jack-hanna-matt-lutz-zanesville.htm

I haven't looked but I have no doubt that the media will find any number of "experts" having the exact opinions they're looking for. And yes. We just need to hear them.

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The woman’s voice sounded a little annoyed. “There’s a bear and a lion out,” she told the 911 operator on Tuesday. “Right up behind us.”

Come again? the operator said. “Yeah,” the caller replied. “They’re chasing Terry’s horses.”

I agree that it is wrong to condemn authorities. It's an awful outcome, but imagine if the poor creatures had killed someone.

she said she couldn't see how an enlightened country could have such lax laws on just anyone being able to keep such animals.

......The Ohio director of the US Humane Society, Karen Minton, says the state is one of five in the US with lax laws

"We're finding ourselves to be a magnet; people are coming to this state for the sale and trade of these dangerous and exotic species. It's shocking how readily available these animals are," she said.

"One can acquire any of these species from going onto the internet.

"There are publications for people to - like a classified section if you will - but instead of used cars and whatnot it's armadillos, it's Gaboon vipers, it's grizzly bears.

"It's a shocking amount of different animals who clearly have no business being in someone's backyard or being kept as a pet."

No regulations

Ms Minton says in Ohio people can legally buy exotic animals without permits.

"There's an exotic animal auction that's notorious here in Ohio, where literally thousands of animals come in - kangaroos, grizzly bears, hyenas, wolves, a wild menagerie of different animals," she said.

"And people can just go and they put maybe a horse trailer on the back of their car and they purchase them and they buy them."

She says Ohio's laissez-faire stance on the issue means there is no way to know who owns exotic animals in the state.

"We really don't know. No-one has a real good number on the number of places that are out there. I can put a puma in my backyard as we speak and call myself a sanctuary," she said.

Owners have no obligations to fence their properties and there is no inspection regime to make sure the animals receive proper care.
Lioness and bear killed after being deliberately set free Photo: The bodies of a lioness and a bear shot by police (APTN)

Ms Minton says it is the fault of the state, not the police involved, that the animals had to be put down.

'The local sheriff's office in a pretty rural county in Ohio - they're not equipped to go in and handle an angry, aggressive mature grizzly that's loose and that is about to go out into the community," she said.

"We don't have a single entity that - this is your go-to when these sorts of things happen. So, we really find it as a sad sort of by-product of the fact that Ohio has no regulation." ......

I'd have thought the main point was that your view of the US as an enlightened country made you surprised re the laws regarding the keeping, by what appears at this point, in some states, to be just any old Thomasina, Dick or harry, especially surprising...this especially given the rarity of a number of the poor animals, which one would imaging ought to have been part of a careful captive breeding program, as they are in most western countries, to help maintain a diverse gene pool with hopes of eventual return to a more enlightened wild

It appears that over twenty of the animals were still on the property when they were killed,

As bad as the situation is, these guys made the best choice they could when they had few options. The role of police in this country is to protect the citizens, the animals take a back seat to safety of the general public, and yes that means even one human life comes first.