Yet again we have a situation where exotic animals kept as 'pets' pose a threat to public safety. How long will we continue to let the same man-made 'incidents' happen again and again without proper action? How long will we blame captive wild animals for displaying natural-born behaviors?
As we have seen splashed across the news, among other animals, lions, tigers, bears and wolves, were recently released from the Muskingum County Animal farm by the owner of the private facility before he himself committed suicide.
The local authorities were forced to make a choice and they chose to err on the side of caution and shoot down the innocent animals before they affected public safety.
People have questioned whether the local authorities had the right to gun down these creatures, but that is a moot point. These animals are now gone and we must not have allowed them to die in vain.
Tell US Senators that we need federal law preventing the private ownership of exotic animals. The majority of US states have laws prohibiting this, but not all. We cannot let more animals or people needlessly die because of our lack of proper federal controls.
We the undersigned are writing to express our extreme disgust around recent events at the Muskingum County Animal Farm, a private animal collection in Ohio, wherein 48 animals were gunned down after being set free by the owner.
Yet again we have a situation where exotic animals kept as 'pets' have threatened public safety. How long will we continue to let the same man-made 'incidents' happen again and again without proper action? How long will we blame captive wild animals for displaying natural-born behaviors?
In this case, the local authorities were forced to make a choice and they chose to err on the side of caution and shoot down the innocent animals.
People have questioned whether the local authorities had the right to gun down these creatures, but it is useless to argue at this point . These animals are now gone and we must not have allowed them to die in vain.
It is abundantly clear that we do need federal law preventing the private ownership of exotic animals. As you know, the majority of US states have laws prohibiting this, but not all. We cannot let more animals or people needlessly die because of our lack of proper federal controls.
Please take swift action to enact proper legislation that will protect citizens and these exotic species that we are continuing to needlessly put in harm's way.
