December 10, 2011
Exotic animals, puppy mills are goals of humane society
By Mannix Porterfield

CHARLESTON — Keeping a Bengal tiger in the backyard could become illegal in West Virginia.

Ditto for a hulking primate, a giraffe, a boa constrictor, an elephant or any poisonous reptile for that matter, if the Humane Society of the United States gets its way with the Legislature.

Besides the so-called “exotic animal” legislation, state director Summer Wyatt also is returning in January with the so-called “puppy mill” proposal.

Wyatt says the Humane Society was inspired to seek laws in states without one — West Virginia has no such bans — after the bizarre incident last Oct. 18 in Zanesville, Ohio.

Authorities were forced to open fire and kill 48 tigers, bears and other animals after Terry Thompson liberated them and then took his own life in northeast Ohio.

“I can’t imagine how scary and horrific that would have been,” Wyatt said.

“We (society) thought there would be a push because that could happen at any time, anywhere, where there aren’t laws or where these laws aren’t being administered properly.”

West Virginia is among states lacking any such regulation whatsoever with regard to keeping such animals pets, boarding them in the backyard, or owning them inside a home.
www.register-herald.com/todaysfrontpage/x2082931311/Exotic-animals-puppy-mills-are-goals-of-humane-society

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