Authorities shot nearly 50 big animals -- including 18 Bengal tigers and 17 lions -- this week after a farm owner in Ohio let loose his large animals and then killed himself. Terry Thompson, the owner, had just completed a jail sentence for possessing illegal firearms, had a history of abusing animals, and had vast debt over unpaid taxes. Most people agree that killing the animals was "unavoidable" once they got free. Ohio Gov. John Kasich said on Friday that he would is advocating for a moratorium on exotic animal auctions. The story made waves around the internet, leading many commentators to consider the lessons from the incident. Here are a select few:
This should never have happened: "States should have strict regulations to govern the private ownership of wild animals that have the ability to seriously harm people. Few individuals -- even those who are not as troubled as Thompson -- have the training or the resources to care for wild, dangerous animals," says a Los Angeles Times editorial. "If Ohio chooses not to go the route of the 21 states that ban the private possession of most wild animals, it should at least set strong new restrictions about who can be an owner and what rules they must abide by."
Thompson was the exception: "What Thompson did was selfish and insane; we cannot regulate insanity," says Zuzana Kukol at USA Today. But many other Americans care well for their exotic pets. "If we have the freedom to choose what car to buy, where to live, or what domestic animal to have, why shouldn't we have the same freedom to choose what species of wild or exotic animal to own and to love?" Cutting down on exotic animals because of "a few deranged individuals" would be like trying to "ban kids" in hopes of curbing child abuse.
Is it an American thing? "There seems now to be quite a sizable number of people in America who would sooner put human lives at risk than cause a wild animal to die," says Alexander Chancellor in Britain's The Guardian. "There are more tigers in captivity in the US than there are in the wild worldwide -- 5,000 against 3,200. And a tiger cub doesn't come for less than $700. But at least their owners won't be sentimental about them. They are mostly macho gun enthusiasts, the American equivalent of Britons with pit bull terriers."
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I sincerely hope the USDA bans all imports of exitic animals and private ownership. Especially in lieu of the fact that even with animal protection laws and the Animal Welfare Act, they are not, and cannot protect them. Those animals simply should not be anywhere but in their natural born habitats. Period.
How about that there are no absolute truths or answers about what to do about this "little problem" of ours. We are only now understanding the intelligence and emotions of non-human animals and this, after 1,000s of years of abusing "exotic" animals.
I, for one, will reserve judgment or drawing conclusions until much later - once we, as a society, digest what happened. What actions will take or not take over the next 10 years or so, to create the tipping point to reverse the destruction on the earth and all its living beings?
Ignorance can be fixed but stupid is forever.
I'd be a lot more in favor of having to register ownership and submit to inspections than an outright ban. The last thing I want to see is some misguided ban forcing 5,000 tigers to get sold to some country that turns them into skins.
Inspections are the place to start. Put the state veterinary associations in charge and give them 6 months to put in place a program and then get it done. If a 'collector' fails to meet the criteria for keeping an exotic animal safe and avoids letting it be a danger to others, seize it. Have a 'refuge' for the animals and have a plan in place to find a more suitable home. Ban the 'collector' from housing any more exotics. If the government can ban child pornographers from using computers; then states should be able to ban exotic animal ownership.
Eventually (sooner than later, I hope) this would put a halt to owning animals that one couldn't/shouldn't care for.
In the long run, NO one needs to own exotics in a private setting. No roadside 'parks'.....nada!
So true, that an all out ban would not work. One, where would those animals that are retired from circuses and rescued from owners who won't or can no longer care for them go? That said, we must regulate the ownership of exotic animals, or at least most species of exotics. In some states, one has to be licensed to simply rehabilitate wildlife. Tell me how anyone can defend that just any Tom, Dick or Harry can march out and buy a Tiger? That alone should be regulated, but so too should the lliving conditions, limits to how many, etc.
Had that been in place for a long time Terry Thompson probably would not have been able to have this many exotic animals.
And H yes, to 'no roadside parks! In fact, "Free Tony the Tiger" Louisiana! Get that poor tiger, who was born in captivity; born in cage and has lived his entire life in a caged prison at a freaking truck stop should be freed to a the sanctuaries that have offered to take him.