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Ohio exotic animal owners await Kasich decision on ban

WOOSTER, Ohio — It could still be a couple weeks before Ohio’s new governor takes a close look at an emergency order signed by former Gov. Ted Strickland, banning ownership and sale of certain “dangerous wild animals.”

When he does, feedback from both sides will be abundant.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife plans to present its findings by early March. So far, the division has received about 40 e-mails and more than 90 comments to its website.

Of the e-mails, “more than half express an opposition to the rule,” said Heidi Hetzel-Evans, of ODNR’s media relations office in a statement. Of the electronic comments, “most are from Ohioans who own some of the listed species and oppose the rule.”

History

Strickland signed the order during his last days in office — the result of an agreement he helped broker in June with the Washington, D.C.-based animal rights organization Humane Society of The United States, and Ohio’s farm commodity leaders. The agreement was made to keep HSUS from pursuing a ballot initiative in the fall of 2010.

“This rule will help protect Ohioans from deaths and serious injuries caused by attacks from dangerous wild animals held in private ownership,” Strickland said in a statement when announcing the ban.

The ban prevents “new private ownership of wild animals that are dangerous to human health and safety, requires existing private owners of dangerous wild animals to register the animals with the state, and details the type of facilities that can own and rehabilitate dangerous wild animals.”

The ban is in effect for 90 days, and could be made permanent, if the Kasich administration believes it necessary. So far, the high volume of public feedback has postponed the filing of permanent rules, to allow for a thorough review.

“Because the rule was initiated by the last administration, this (Kasich) administration is committed to enable Ohioans to share their opinion on this issue,” Hetzel-Evans said. “The website remains up and comments are welcome.”

Owners react

Animal owners like Keith Campbell of Hillview Exotics in Frazeysburg, and Cyndi Huntsman of Stump Hill Farm in Massillon, have been vocal about the ban since its announcement.

Campbell said he’s frustrated that exotic animal owners were not represented when the livestock care agreement was made in June.

“The (exotic) animal industry never had representation,” he said, saying owners of exotics were told their industry was “illegitimate.”

Campbell and the Ohio Association of Animal Owners counter notions of illegitimacy with the economic impact of exotics in Ohio. Campbell said he’s been told the industry brings $12.5 billion to the state, and “that kind of makes us legitimate in my eyes,” Campbell said.

Injuries

The biggest supporter of the ban is HSUS, which has produced a fact sheet of issues related to ownership of dangerous wild animals in Ohio.

Highlighting the list was the mauling of bear caretaker Brent Kandra, 24, at a Lorain County residence in August.

Other incidents include bites from venomous snakes and certain kinds of monkeys.

Campbell said he doesn’t oppose regulation, and even certain types of bans, but would expect those in compliance to be exempted.

“If you meet all state and government requirements,” he said, “you should be exempted from this ban.”

Although there have been some issues with exotic animals in Ohio, Campbell said they’ve mostly been owner-handler related.

Huntsman said the risks of working with exotic animals are part of the job, just as there are risks with other jobs, including livestock farming.

“He (Kandra) worked there, it was nothing new to that man,” she said. “He knew what he was doing, he knew the risks and he chose to take those risks.”

Tough position

Huntsman owns many exotics, including camels, lions, tigers, bears, wolves, fox and coyote. She estimates 90 percent of her income comes from exotics, a serious problem now that she can’t buy or sell.

She said when she did sell a dangerous animal, it was always to another licensed U.S. Department of Agriculture facility. Others have come to her for animals, and she turned them away.

Stump Hill Farm keeps the popular Massillon Tiger mascot, which is exempted from the ban.
www.farmanddairy.com/news/ohio-animal-owners-proponents-await-kasich-decision-on-ban/21136.html

"The Ohio Division of Wildlife plans to present its findings by early March. So far, the division has received about 40 e-mails and more than 90 comments to its website."

As an Ohioan, I have to say that I am amazed (and maybe a little ashamed) that we've had such a poor turn out. And it's not just the snake people, but all exotics owners. Whether your animal of choice was on the list or not, once the list exists, it will grow, there's no doubt about that.

Have we come to a place that we are tired of the fight and ready to give up? Or, do we think those listed on the proposal deserve to be banned? Being from both communities (exotic owner and Ohioan), I am flabergasted that we've barely responded to the EO and proposed ban. Or, has everyone been going directly to the Governor's office and ignoring the ODW?

I really am curious to understand why the turn out was so low. If anyone has an idea, pleae let me know.

Thanks,

Mark

I think all efforts were directed to the Governor's office. Did not know about the Wildlife people.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

We all need to direct our energies at every bit of state legislation and then we will be well fit to fight the federal stuff. We will not stay strong by slacking off. Look at as working out or engaging in democracy or something that seems more fun than fighting for your right to make money doing what you enjoy. Meanwhile, think of ways to topple our deceptive adversary H$U$. They have a lot of money but a limited bag of tricks to employ. We can beat them. We do not have to be wealthy to win.

i HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOU MARK. Maybe if the link is up here as well people that see this can comment. It is disturbing that not many people have commented on this. I seriously hope that USARK and PIJAC are getting involved.

Exotic animal ban not being enforced for now

COLUMBUS -- State officials are not enforcing a temporary ban on new exotic pet ownership implemented by outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland.

Instead, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, at the request of Gov. John Kasich's administration, is studying the issue to determine how to protect Ohioans while not hurting businesses.

"He's very much aware of the hardship this would create for small businesses and the owners of the species that are on the list but also is aware of the sensitivity of the intent of the executive order," said Laura Jones, ODNR spokeswoman. "We're going to do our best to get this worked out, hammered out, and be fair to all parties."

In one of his last official actions before leaving office, Strickland signed an emergency executive order banning new ownership of wild or exotic animals, including alligators, bears, gray wolves and pythons.

Under the terms of the order, existing owners would be allowed to keep their animals, though they would have to register with the state by May 1 of this year and annually thereafter.

The executive order gave the ODNR the authority to move forward with rules prohibiting the private ownership of wild animals.

The executive order stemmed from an agreement he helped to broker between the Humane Society of the United States and major farm groups to keep an animal welfare issue off of the November ballot.

Kasich was supportive of the order initially, telling reporters at the time, "We don't want exotic animals here where somebody's bringing something in and then some neighbor gets hurt. So we'll look at it. It sounds reasonable, but let me just take a look at it. I would be inclined to say we should continue it."

But the new administration slowed the rules-filing process after hearing concerns from business owners. According to information posted on the ODNR Web site, " Gov. Kasich is aware that there are questions and concerns by the public and small business owners regarding the emergency rules. As such, it was the opinion of the administration that the filing of permanent rules with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review be postponed. This decision will allow for a thorough review and evaluation of the issues involved, and provides time for input from all affected parties."_

Additionally, the state agency does not have authority to enforce the ban on some species, Jones said.

"Our standpoint is, right now, that this is not something we're enforcing," she said. "There are questions of authority clearly with some of these (species)."

She added, "There are many facets to this. If it was enforced at this very moment, it would hurt small businesses. You would have people who have no mechanism for properly permitting or they would be in violation. We can't do that, to force something on them that quickly, so we're trying to come up with a common sense approach on how to proceed."

ODNR expects to forward recommendations for potential rules in 30- 45 days.

Marc Kovac is the Dix Capital Bureau Chief. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.
www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-heads/15477279-1.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d535e9ad842cbdf,0

QUOTE "Instead, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, at the request of Gov. John Kasich's administration, is studying the issue to determine how to protect Ohioans while not hurting businesses." END QUOTE

My question is...why do government authorities waste the taxpayers' time and money protecting the taxpayers from a harmful source that has a probability of harmful occurrence of less than 1 in 10 million?

Does anyone seriously consider that effective government, focused on the People's business?

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer