Jack Hanna Urges Tough Exotic Animal Rules In Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jack Hanna has urged a state panel to draw up strict rules for owning exotic animals in Ohio, where a man set loose more than 50 beasts last week and then killed himself – but the TV personality has stopped short of advocating a complete ban.

Hanna, the former Columbus Zoo director, said he told a working committee during its closed-door meeting on Monday that Ohio must make sure that what just happened never happens again. Police killed dozens of the released animals while schools closed and motorists were warned to stay in their vehicles.

Hanna told The Columbus Dispatch ( ) that his message was: "No more lions and tigers and bears as pets." http://bit.ly/rNHF1R

On Friday, Gov. John Kasich ordered a temporary crackdown on private ownership of exotic wild animals. The study committee has until Nov. 30 to draft permanent legislation, with one more meeting scheduled next week.

Kasich said Tuesday that Hanna has told him there may need to be exceptions to a complete ban.

"What Jack Hanna's told me is you may have some breeders, you may have some circumstances where it's legitimate for somebody to have it, but they clearly have to be qualified, they have to be certified," Kasich told reporters after a public appearance.

The Republican governor said he has difficulty comprehending exotic animal ownership.

"I have a really hard time understanding why somebody ought to have a grizzly bear on their private compound, or lions or Bengal tigers. I just don't get it, but it's a complicated issue," he said.

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

Comments

[ladywiccan]

07:21 PM on 10/31/2011

Exotic animals belong in two places one is in their natural habitat, and two in a reputable zoo or sanctuary or preserve.

[Susanne McDaniel]

12:29 PM on 10/28/2011

And, I couldn't believe that Hanna was condoning the shooting of these animals when they were loose. The whole thing was cluster-f@#$ that could have been prevented had the ban not been able to expire in the first place.

[ladywiccan]

07:23 PM on 10/31/2011

I don't think the Ohio police were thinking about the animal's saftey at the time, their concern is the of the two legged variety

[averagezoe]

09:32 PM on 10/27/2011

Hanna is an idiot. I belong to several groups who have been lobbying for legislation and it is a foregone conclusion that leaving it up to the individual states does not work. Nothing short of a federal law prohibiting any and all ownership, importing and breeding of exotic animals is going to solve this problem. Frankly, I could care less how many such owners are killed yearly by their "pets" - my only concern is for these poor animals who are forced to rot away in backyard cages.

[Master-T]

09:44 PM on 10/27/2011

Hanna told The Columbus Dispatch that his message was: "No more lions and tigers and bears as pets."

Gee, Jack - ya' think?

Animal rights activists have been saying this forever, and Jack Hanna just now stated the obvious. Why is it that Jack Hanna has never aligned himself with animal rights activists? Oh right, I forgot. Because Jack likes the "for profit" model with respect to animals. How'd that work out for these animals Jack? Thanks for repeated what we've been fighting for for years. Better late than never, I guess.