Exotic Pets Threatened Due to Ohio’s Pointless New Regulations on Animal Ownership

“Exotic Pets Threatened Due to Ohio’s Pointless New
Regulations on Animal Ownership,” produced by Tracy Oppenheimer.
About 6 minutes.

Original release date was March 26, 2014 and original writeup is
below.

In 2011, Ohio exotic animal owner Terry Thompson committed
suicide
after setting over 50 animals loose. No civilians were injured,
but the story received widespread media attention and Ohioans
called for action. The state responded by passing the
Dangerous Animal Act in record time, introducing rigid
regulations for all exotic animal owners. 

“To focus on this, and this law, as fast as they did and to pass
it as fast as they did was nothing but a knee-jerk reaction,” says
Cyndi Huntsman, president of Stump Hill Farm in
Massillon, OH. Hunstman and a few other exotic animal owners banded
together to sue the state over the act, and in early March 2014,
the court ruled to uphold it. 

The Ohio Department of Agriculture told Reason that
federal qualifications and requirements are too loose and don’t
properly manage the ownership of the animals, but Huntsman says
that the new state restrictions are keeping neither society nor the
exotic animals any safer. She adds that new insurance, veterinary
care, and cage requirements make it very difficult for the owners
to maintain their animals.

View this article.