In Zanesville, Ohio, local law enforcement was called in to respond to an incident at a private residence where Terry Thompson had been keeping a menagerie of captive wild animals. Responders arrived to find that Thompson had taken his own life after opening the doors to cages housing 56 exotic and wild animals. With tigers, lions, bears, wolves, and other potentially dangerous animals running loose, the sheriff issued a shoot-to-kill order.In the end, at least 48 animals perished, including 18 tigers, 17 lions, eight bears, three mountain lions, and two wolves. Thompson had previously been convicted of cruelty to animals, yet he was still allowed to keep these condemned animals. He had also recently been released from prison after serving time for federal firearms charges.Ohio is one of a handful of states that has virtually no oversight over wild animal ownership, and not surprisingly, it is among the states with the highest number of injuries and deaths caused by captive wild animals. Last year, another tragedy unfolded in Columbia Township, Ohio, on the property of Sam Mazzola when 24-year-old Brent Kandra was killed after sustaining more than 650 wounds inflicted by a captive bear. Today, across the state of Ohio, wild animals are being held in inadequate conditions—and in enclosures that are not even sufficient to contain them. Although Ohio Gov. John Kasich recently announced an executive order regarding dangerous wild animals, the order does nothing to address the fundamental problem: the fact that citizens in Ohio are allowed to keep wild animals. (See http://governor.ohio.gov/Portals/0/pdf/news/DWA%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf.) Enough human and animal blood has been shed in Ohio to underscore the urgency for not only stricter enforcement of existing laws but also immediate government intervention to prohibit private ownership of wild and exotic animals in the first place. The serious public safety threat and the tragic deaths of dozens of animals in Zanesville were entirely preventable, and the state of Ohio has the authority to permanently ban the sale and possession of these animals to ensure that a similar disaster never happens again.Won't you join PETA in taking a stand for these animals by urging the state to exercise this authority immediately?