Following last week's killing of dozens of wild animals in Zanesville, Ohio, PETA supporters gathered in front of the Ohio statehouse today calling on Gov. John Kasich to ban ownership of wild animals as "pets" immediately, before other tragedies occur. Earlier this year, the governor refused to extend an emergency ban on keeping captive exotic animals that had been put in place by his predecessor.

In a letter to Gov. Kasich, PETA noted that there are at least 10 wild-animal facilities in Ohio that are accidents waiting to happen. One facility in Massillon that holds more than 100 animals—including tigers, lions, pumas, jaguars, bears, and wolves—was found this year to be keeping tigers in an enclosure that had no top and was not tall enough to keep the animals contained. Another facility, in Perrysburg, was found to be keeping adult lions and wolves in enclosures that would not prevent them from jumping out.

Ohio's dangerously lax laws about wild-animal ownership have already resulted in human deaths, including a man who was mauled by a bear kept by notorious wild-animal exhibitor Sam Mazzola. To help prevent additional tragedies involving captive wild animals, click here to urge the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to exercise its authority to implement emergency regulations prohibiting private citizens from keeping wild animals.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

After four dozen animals were shot and killed in Ohio last week, PETA has reached out again to director Cameron Crowe, asking that he insist that 20th Century Fox producers put a disclaimer on his upcoming film  We Bought a Zoo, stating that keeping wild animals as pets is dangerous for both people and animals. The movie's trailer recklessly implies that all it takes is heart to operate a zoo—reinforcing the irresponsible idea that anyone can own and properly care for tigers, bears, lions, and other wild animals.

Even The Wall Street Journal calls into question the film's marketing following the mass slaughter in Ohio. Experts have already appealed to the director to stop using animals in his films.

Don't forget to ask the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to exercise its authority to declare emergency regulations to prohibit the keeping of wild animals, seize all such animals over which it has jurisdiction, and ensure that they are placed in reputable sanctuaries.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

In response to the tragic bloodshed that occurred in Zanesville, Ohio, on Tuesday, the governor of Ohio has issued an executive order that directs state agencies to increase inspections of facilities that harbor exotic animals and sets up a hotline for the public to report unsafe exotic-animal situations. While PETA is glad that the governor is finally taking action on this issue, it is too little, too late, for the dozens of animals who were shot dead in Zanesville.

The executive order does nothing to address the fundamental problem—the fact that the state of Ohio allows private citizens to keep wild animals, which poses a danger to both animals and people. Just last year, a privately held bear mauled and killed a young man in Cleveland. That's why PETA is calling on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to exercise its authority to implement emergency regulations to prohibit the keeping of exotic and wild animals immediately. 

The governor's executive order indicates that a legal framework for regulating dangerous wild animals will be proposed by November 30, but there is no need for delay: A ban on the private ownership of wild animals should be put in place right away.

Exotic and wild animals kept as pets always pay the price, whether they are shot and killed, as happened in Zanesville, or confined to backyards, basements, or garages, forced to lead lonely, desolate lives that are devoid of anything that they would experience naturally in the wild.

PETA, along with other animal protection organizations, sanctuaries, zoological facilities, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), condemns the private ownership of exotic and wild animals as pets—both for the animals' protection and the public's safety.

Please click here to visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website and politely urge the agency to exercise its authority to implement emergency regulations to prohibit the keeping of exotic and wild animals. Let's help ensure that a tragedy like the one in Zanesville has little chance of happening again.

Zanesville, Ohio, sheriff's deputies armed with assault rifles opened fire on dozens of "mature, very big, aggressive" lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, and bears who had escaped from a private menagerie in Ohio after the farm's owner, Terry Thompson, was found dead and the animals' cage doors were left open and fences unsecured. Primates were found locked in cages inside the house. 48 animals were killed.

You could hear a collective sigh of relief throughout the PETA building when outgoing Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed an executive order banning people from owning, selling, breeding, or trading wild animals. The move came after several incidents in which frustrated captive animals attacked their keepers.

The order also required current owners of exotic animals to register the animals annually, and it prevented people from keeping exotic animals if they had been convicted of animal abuse or neglect or if their license to exhibit, breed, or possess animals had been revoked. This provision of the law meant that notorious animal abusers such as Sam Mazzola (whose Animal Welfare Act license was revoked in 2008), could no longer keep the exotic animals who were suffering in their care.

jaaron/cc by 2.0

But now, the new governor, John Kasich, has requested that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) not enforce the ban. Instead, he would like the agency to further study the issue and decide how to keep Ohio residents safe without hurting "small business owners" (read: exotic-animal pimps). The ODNR website states that Kasich "is aware that there are questions and concerns by the public and small business owners regarding the emergency rules."

Don't let dealers of exotic animals keep Ohio from enforcing this important ban. It will protect Ohio residents and keep wild animals out of backyards and dismal roadside zoos. Please e-mail Governor Kasich and urge him and the ODNR to enforce this crucial ban.

Written by Michelle Sherrow