COLUMBUS, Ohio ? A study group on Monday proposed that Ohio ban new ownership of venomous snakes, monkeys, tigers and other dangerous animals with only limited exceptions.
The group has held expedited meetings in private since last month, when police were forced to kill 48 wild animals ? including endangered Bengal tigers ? after their owner freed them from his Zanesville farm and then committed suicide.
A summary of the group's input and state agencies' recommendations for new regulations was obtained by The Associated Press on Monday, after the panel's final meeting.
The guidelines suggest the ban start on Jan. 1, 2014. Owners would have to meet new temporary safety standards before then and also register their animals with the state. Zoo, circuses and research facilities would be exempt.
The panel's recommendations are only suggestions to state lawmakers and Gov. John Kasich, a first-term Republican who convened the group in April to get their input. The members' ideas and the recommendations from the Ohio Department of National Resources and state Department of Agriculture would have to be drafted into legislation, heard before committees and passed by the legislature before becoming law.
The office of state Sen. Troy Balderson, a Zanesville native, has said he would pursue legislation as soon as the working group makes its recommendations.
According to the group's summary, owners would face new criminal and civil penalties for keeping dangerous wildlife against state rules. And those who improperly release dangerous animals would also be punished. Details of any fines or jail time were not included in Monday's report.
The group recommended that state and local officials be given new authority to inspect and enforce the law on private property where dangerous animals are housed. In addition, the state would also set up a way for owners to voluntarily surrender the creatures.
Selling wild animals wouldn't be restricted prior to the date of the ban, although the summary hints that a tougher crackdown on the sale could soon follow.
"The hope is that by reducing impediments to sale, we will reduce the number of animals that are still in Ohio on the date of the possession ban, which will require confiscation and forfeiture," according to the summary.
The working group includes 10 organizations with a stake in the issue, among them the Ohio Association of Animal Owners, the Ohio Farm Bureau, the Zoo Association of America and the National Resources Department.
Ohio has some of the nation's weakest restrictions on exotic pets. Efforts to strengthen the regulations took on new urgency after farm owner Terry Thompson opened his cages and let his animals out on Oct. 18.
Police officers fatally shot dozens of the animals, but three leopards, two monkeys and a young grizzly bear survived. They have been quarantined at the Columbus zoo, where they continue to be under observation, said Erica Pitchford, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture.
Zoo and state officials are trying to develop the animals' medical history and determine whether they are healthy enough to begin being tested for diseases, Pitchford said in an interview Monday.
The animals must be anesthetized to have blood drawn. And there's a concern that if they put them to sleep before they are strong enough, they might not survive.
The state's Department of Agriculture ordered the animals be kept under quarantine at a zoo after Thompson's widow had sought to reclaim them. There is not an expiration date on the quarantine, nor is there timeline for the testing to occur, Pitchford said.
"Until everyone feels confident about how to go about putting those animals to sleep, we are going to continue to observe them and try to get them as healthy as possible," Pitchford said.
The working group faced a Nov. 30 deadline to make recommendations for updating Ohio's laws.
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Online:
Ohio Department of Natural Resources: http://bit.ly/tH1nwH
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