Less than two days after Zanesville-area officials killed almost 50 escaped exotic animals, an Ohio University student gathered the support of more than 60,000 people in her campaign to halt exotic animal ownership in Ohio.
Liz Dumler, a senior studying biological sciences, created the online petition after hearing about the Tuesday escape of 56 exotic animals in Muskingum County and the resulting deaths of 49 of them.
Change.org began promoting the petition after it had about 2,000 signatures. Since then, the petition’s supporters grew dramatically, sometimes by more than 100 signatures each minute.
Dumler said she used the events in Zanesville as a platform for her long-held belief that people shouldn’t own exotic animals.
On Tuesday, Terry Thompson, the owner of an exotic-animal reserve, set 56 exotic animals free before shooting himself. Throughout the next day, officials killed 49 animals — including large cats, bears, wolves and monkeys — and captured six, which are being held at the Columbus Zoo and The Wilds, a private, non-profit conservation center just southeast of Zanesville.
One monkey remained at large, but officials believe it was eaten by one of the big cats.
“It was shocking to see the situation unfold. So many animals lost their lives because of one man,” Dumler said. “I’ve always had an issue with exotic-animal trade. This just truly opened people’s eyes.”
Her petition calls for Gov. John Kasich to ban the sale, ownership and harboring of exotic animals in Ohio.
“Ohio has some of the most lax regulation of exotic pets, and after this disaster, it is apparent that this lack of regulation has been a threat to public safety and the welfare of the animals for a long time,” according to the petition.
Dumler said she blames the animals’ deaths not on the local authorities but on the fact that there is no legislation to prevent the possible escape of exotic animals into residential areas.
“They did what they had to do to protect the people,” she said. “It never ends well for the animals, so it would be in the best public interest to ban this so it doesn’t happen again.”
Ohio is one of fewer than 10 states that does not have a ban on exotic animals, according to the petition.
Willem Roosenburg, associate professor of biological sciences, said he supports a ban on exotic animal ownership and trade for several reasons.
“The best situation would be if they are free in the wild,” Roosenburg said. “Many of these were endangered species. (The killing) puts more pressure on the wildlife population.”
The purely online campaign uses email and social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for promotion, Dumler said.
Every time someone signs the petition, it is emailed to Kasich, his spokesman Rob Nichols, and Scott Zody, interim director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
OU officials said it is important for students to add their ideas to the debate.
“It’s a great thing for a student to pay attention to,” said Becky Watts, chief of staff to President Roderick McDavis.
aw366209@ohiou.edu
