Ohio lacks an exotic-animal ban nearly four months after Gov. Ted Strickland promised to enact one in a deal with the Humane Society of the United States.

Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive officer of the national group, said in Columbus yesterday that he remains confident Strickland will keep his word, perhaps by issuing an executive order shortly after the gubernatorial election Tuesday.

However, "If any one of the commitments is not agreed to, that violates the terms of the agreement. That's not a threat," Pacelle said.

That could mean the Humane Society would seek to put an animal-welfare issue on the statewide ballot next year or in 2012, he said. He quickly added, "We don't want to be there. ... We want progress on all issues."

In late June, Strickland agreed to sign an order banning possession and sale of wild and dangerous animals as part of a multi-issue deal with the Humane Society, the Farm Bureau and other organizations to prevent a farm-animal care bill from appearing on the fall ballot.

Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said the governor "is committed to making sure it (the ban) happens. When he makes a commitment, he stands by it."

Although the rules are to be reviewed by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, a legislative panel, Wurst said Strickland might issue "an emergency executive order" to get things rolling. The rules still would have to be subject to public hearings, she said. The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board is working out regulations related to care and slaughter of farm animals.

The agreement stipulated a ban on sales and breeding of exotic animals. Current owners would be grandfathered in, but could lose their animals for rule violations.

Whatever happens, it will be too late to assuage the grief of Deirdre Herbert. Her son, Brent Kandra, 24, was mauled to death Aug. 19 by a black bear kept by a private owner, Frank Mazzola of Lorain.

"This really needs to be addressed, not just because my son died," Herbert said at a Statehouse news conference. "Dangerous, wild animals should not be kept in cages, backyards or homes.

"I just ask that my son's death be the last death here in Ohio under these circumstances."

The abundance of wild animals in private hands in Ohio and elsewhere was emphasized by Michael Webber, director of a documentary, The Elephant in the Living Room, and Tim Harrison, a retired Oakwood firefighter and paramedic and director of Outreach for Animals.

Webber said in researching and filming the documentary, he found people buying, selling and keeping as pets alligators, bears, chimpanzees, cougars, lions, pythons and tigers.

"They are sold by the hundreds," he said. "Where are they? Where do they end up?"

The sale of exotic animals, Webber noted, is legal in Ohio; no paperwork is required.

Harrison spends much of his time running down animals that have escaped or been released by owners who no longer can deal with them. He has found cobras in Cleveland and a cougar on the streets of Dayton.

"When you buy a large predator, you immediately sign a death certificate - for you or the animal," Harrison said. "In all the years of doing this, I have never had a happy ending."
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