Legally Brief

Legally Brief: Exotic Animals and the Law

States that do not set even minimal safety and animal welfare requirements for private ownership of captive wild animals are playing a dangerous game that too often results in tragedy both for the animals and for people.

In October 2011, Terry Thompson released more than five dozen dangerous wild and exotic animals into his Zanesville, Ohio, community before he committed suicide. He had kept the animals as pets in cages on his property. First responders found themselves in a volatile situation, with no choice but to kill nearly all the animals.

At the time, Ohio had yet to institute any oversight of privately owned tigers, lions, bears, and other dangerous wild animals, an illustration that in the absence of state action, it is a matter of when—not if—something bad will happen.

There are currently six states that exercise no oversight of or restrictions on private ownership of potentially dangerous animals such as tigers, bears, and apes: Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Indiana. A bill aimed at providing some regulation of exotics ownership is pending in the Wisconsin state legislature. In Indiana, it is expected that the state’s exotics law will be amended to correct deficiencies that a judge ruled earlier this year precluded enforcement by the state wildlife agency.

Private citizens are ill equipped to meet the needs of complex and dangerous animals like tigers and chimpanzees. Many feed them inappropriate diets and keep them in squalid enclosures and cages that not only deprive them of the ability to engage in natural behaviors, but fail to confine them safely, leading to escapes. This is why ALDF and groups like the American Bar Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention oppose private ownership of exotic animals.

In the wake of the Zanesville catastrophe, Ohio eventually passed a law that restricts ownership of most dangerous wild animals to bona fide zoological institutions or sanctuaries. However, the state had already become a haven of sorts for exotics owners due to lack of state oversight for so many years. As a result, the state has had to step in and confiscate numerous dangerous animals from unsafe and inhumane conditions.

Sadly, many of the confiscated animals arrive at the state’s temporary holding facility in extremely poor condition after years of neglect, lack of adequate space and veterinary care, and poor diet.

One sad example was a lion named Leo. Necropsy records show he suffered from multiple painful health conditions frequently associated with long-term neglect, including “severe degenerative osteoarthritis,” degenerative joint disease, and intervertebral disk disease, all of which contributed to his rapid decline after his confiscation from a private owner.

Ohio has turned to ALDF’s friends, including Tim Harrison and his organization, Outreach for Animals, and Bobbi Brink and her extraordinary team at Lions, Tigers & Bears (LTB), to rescue and rehome animals who have been confiscated from substandard conditions. Indeed, since 2012, Brink and LTB have rehomed more than sixty big cats and bears to reputable sanctuaries outside Ohio.

While Ohio is taking meaningful steps to manage its exotic animal crisis, Nevada has yet to take action on the state level. But there is some good news here as well.

On November 17, Clark County, which encompasses the greater Las Vegas area, passed its first exotic animal ordinance. The ordinance prohibits anyone except bona fide sanctuaries and zoological institutions from keeping potentially dangerous animals (including, but not limited to, big cats, bears, and apes). Tim Harrison, Bobbi Brink, Las Vegas activists Linda Faso and Stephen Sorrentino, Jonathan Kraft and Tina Matajek from Keepers of the Wild Sanctuary, and our friends from the Humane Society of the United States all joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund to testify at the hearing where the ordinance was passed.

ALDF Legislative Affairs attorney Carney Anne Nasser worked on the ordinance with Clark County officials for several years, and it passed with unanimous support from all seven county commissioners. ALDF hopes it will serve as a model for localities in other states that lack oversight of private ownership of dangerous wild animals.

ALDF applauds Clark County for doing the right thing, and will continue to work with other localities to achieve legislative victories for animal welfare and public safety in 2016 and beyond.

Related