Schools closed-exotic animals prowl Ohio - Sozobe?

18 Bengal tigers - dead
9 male lions - dead
8 female lions - dead
6 black bears - dead
3 mountain lions - dead
2 grizzly bears - dead
1 baboon - dead
1 wolf - dead
1 grizzly bear - recaptured
3 leopards - recaptured
2 monkeys - recaptured
1 macaque monkey - missing
1 grey wolf - missing


Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/animals/list-of-the-wild-animals-released-by-farm-owner-20111020-1m8t1.html#ixzz1bGq1l9MG

Surprizing they were able to capture the grizzly bear!

18 Bengal tigers - dead
9 male lions - dead
8 female lions - dead
6 black bears - dead
3 mountain lions - dead
2 grizzly bears - dead
1 baboon - dead
1 wolf - dead
1 grizzly bear - recaptured
3 leopards - recaptured
2 monkeys - recaptured
1 macaque monkey - missing
1 grey wolf - missing

"If Mr. Thompson had exhibited the animals, bred them or transported them, he would need to be licensed by us,” said Dave Sacks, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which enforces the Animal Welfare Act. “He was not involved in those activities . . . so we did not inspect or regulate his farm.”

Fritz Douthitt, a volunteer at the Zanesville Animal Shelter Society, recalled Thompson's 2005 trial for cruelty and torture of cattle and bison. She said he had not been able to get up the hill to feed his livestock, and they died.

The federal Animal Welfare Act applies only to commercial operations such as zoos, breeding operations that sell animals and auction houses. The act does not apply to private collections such as Thompson’s.

A person can keep lions, leopards, etc, in their own private collection, in what ever situation they choose to keep them apparently, for their own idiosyncratic reasons.
The federal Animal Welfare Act needs some serious tightening up!

Federal laws don't cover possession of tigers, wolves or grizzly bears, relying on state and local laws instead. Such "exotic animals" require a permit from the Agriculture Department, commonly issued to zoos and circuses, for their exhibition, sale or breeding.
Two federal laws, the Endangered Species Act, which covers tigers and grizzly bears, and the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, which covers big cats such as lions, prohibit the sale and interstate transport of endangered animals, like some of those reportedly released in Zanesville.
"But federal law does not regulate mere possession," says Sandra Cleva of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
For constitutional reasons, she said, states have been allowed to govern simple ownership of dangerous animals instead. Some large animals, such as black bears, are not covered by federal laws at all.
The Agriculture Department regulates animals under the Animal Welfare Act, but only if they are exhibited. Thompson's menagerie was a private collection, not exhibited to the public, "so essentially they were pets," said USDA spokesman David Sacks.

Conservation biologist Luke Dollar of Duke University says some estimates speculate that 6,000 tigers live in private hands in the USA and "it may be higher. We don't really know.

The reach of federal regulation is far broader than the state and local level regulations but is limited to regulating the ownership, transportation, exhibition, importation, and exportation of captive wild animals through interstate commerce and foreign policy. Because the federal government does not have a general police power, most regulations occur at the state and local levels, where police power does allow for general regulations for the public welfare.

When it comes to the US Constitution ... well, I know a heck of a lot less than US citizens would know. Not surprisingly

The Miss Olga Outrage (TM) routine again . . . i can't believe that any civilized nation in the 21st century allows the unregulated exportation of live sheep.