• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Ohio Exotic Animal Escape

tonmo

Cthulhu
Staff member
Site Owner
Joined
May 30, 2000
Messages
11,267
Location
Pennsylvania
If you pay even a little attention to the news, you'll know that earlier last week, there was a dangerous situation where an owner of exotic animals (tigers, monkeys, lions, wolves) decided to let his 56 animals out of their cages and then killed himself with a shotgun. The local police had to hunt down the wild animals -- tranquilizing did not work (apparently one of the lions or tigers became enraged) so when necessary they killed the animals to protect the public. A few dozen animals died, fewer survived. Apparently at least one monkey was killed and eaten by one of the lions.

Obviously, this is resulting in a lot of people looking at the laws in place that allow people to keep exotic animals. I think it's easily possible that some of the output of the ongoing analysis could end up impacting cephalopod keepers. Anyone have thoughts on that?
 
I'm under the impression that in a lot of states, they define a lot of these laws down to the species level and it's mostly designed to keep people from keeping Things That Will Eat You, but does not apply to things like octopuses.

I may be wrong.
 
I do believe that's the case, but I guess I'm wondering whether we think tighter rules on certain "dangerous animals" could ultimately lead the way to tougher restrictions on fish keeping (some of which can also be dangerous). An escaped octopus doesn't get *too* far of course :smile: but if the business/politics/regulations on one aspect of animal keeping gets affected, perhaps that enthusiasm could bleed over to aquariums and keeping things such as cephalopods.

Sent via Tapatalk on Android
 
As I recall, last year there was a bill (that failed but is expected to be revisited) that tried to ban all live animal imports listing only a very few explicit exceptions (one of which was chickens, a bit odd because we were in the middle of a major concern about bird propogated disease). The idea was that anyone wanting to import anything not on this VERY short list would have to pay for a study to prove it would not be environmentally dangerous. The aquarium industry was up in arms because it would have destroyed virtually all tropical imports. The bill was presented by a representative from Guam. I have read that Guam has a major problem with an invasive snake. It was not intentionally imported though (there may be other things that are relavent) and it appears that legislative bodies definitely pay attention to this sort of oddity and react without clear connection to the situation causing the outcome.
 
My mom's old sorority sister is a 911 phone person (don't know the proper job title) for one of the police stations that responded to this incident. She said the official decision was decided in fear of having the animals roaming free at night, however it really boiled down to most police officers reporting in saying the situation was much more dangerous than it really was and they honestly were excited about having a real wild life safari hunt while getting paid. They decided to put down the "more dangerous" animals (lions, tigers, etc..) because they were cooler to brag about to their friends. While the grizzlies which are by far more dangerous and not on the endangered species list. were decided to be captured.

A friend of mine from the reef club worked as a kid at a local safari in arkansas that successfully raised all of these animals. He worked with the lions tigers and grizzlies the most since he was a big strapping college kid. He confirmed that grizzles are by far in every way more dangerous.

Sorry if I offended anyone or anything I just felt the need to throw my two cents into the ring on this subject that has been eating at me for a while now.
 
This could be the perfect time to STOP THE SALE OF BLUE RINGS! Because they're so dangerous, it would be easy to stop their keeping by regular people in this climate.
And DWhately, it will suck if the bill goes through.
 
that is interesting to hear wlyon. being that i live about 20 minuts away from where this tragety happend I heard a much different story, also knowing the some of the cops that actually responded to the call it seemed to be a very somber unwanted decision. While your statement is true about the policemen having the feeling to being absolutly overwhelmed i do not belive that they WANTED to have a wild "safari hunt". The decision was made to dispose of the animas because:
A) they were a direct threat to anyone who lived around them.
B) they were extremley malnourished and were beyond the point of saving, as the officers were advised by a wildlife expert from the cleveland zoo
C) becasue of tax cuts due to the failing economy there were too few police officers or volonteers to help contain and clean the mess up in a safe and timely manner.
Please dont misunderstand me, i do not want to come of as "flaming" you for your post, but please make sure you have the information from ALL sides of the situation before you make a judgemnet on people who had to deal with the situation. while i agree that it is indeed a tragety to lose so many animals due to ones mans neglect i do not feel it is apropriate to villanize the people who keep us safe at night.
 
I can believe that - 2 sides to every story for sure. Bottom line, there is cause and effect, the man's neglect was the flashpoint for everything that followed. I'm sure many lessons learned along the way. You don't really plan for a mass zoo escape... why he was able to get away with having all those animals for so long in such conditions is another question.
 
I am really surprised that they have not banned importing aquatics a long time ago. "not that i want this" There is such a problem with this. For example the snake head fish problem all over the country. The Hillsborough river around tampa fl is full of plecos and I mean I have been there and in a 100' square erea seeing at least 100 of them and most being 2' long. The oscars are caught in lakes all around here. then you have places loaded with peacock bass. Look at the Illinois river asian carp. "that problem was the governments doing" Then we could talk about the Python problem in FL."Not aquatic" but still a big problem. Then we have another problem that no one has ever mentioned that I know of. Quaker parrots. Not native to FL but there are 1000s of them here. They started as pets and are breeding like crazy. This is just a few of the problems off the top of my head. I am sure there are many more.
I am just wondering why they have not banned importing A long time ago. I hope they dont
 
Florida has not been proactive in its importation laws and unfortunately makes the rest of the states suffer with one size fits all legislation. Tropical animals need not be banned in Montana, because they will never establish themselves there. Marine species need not be banned in land locked states. It really should be handled based on habitat and individual species.

For instance, Colorado bans European hedgehogs because they can survive here, but allows African hedgehogs because they'd freeze to death anyways. Of course CO bans piranhas and venomous snakes, which makes no sense outside of fear-based legislation.
 
Good point but we are free to travel or move from state to state. The real issue is people that are not responsible. I have a good friend who owns a pet store and he had a python from childhood. Times got tough as they do for everyone from time to time and instead of taking a chance and giving it to someone who might let him go he euthanized the snake.
One big issue is FL is a transient state. People come and go in this state A lot. I have said for many years if you didnt fit in where ever you are from then you end up in FL. Everyone here is from somewhere else. Its rare to find someone over 40 that is from FL. I guess I fit in that stereotype being from MN but moved here as a child. The weather and my love for everything aquatic keeps me here.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top