This news has made a lot of Ohioans outraged over the turn of events:
MarionStar:
State officials will return five surviving exotic animals to a woman
whose husband released dozens of wild creatures, then committed suicide.
The
Ohio Department of Agriculture announced the decision Monday at an
agency hearing in which the state was to defend its authority to
quarantine the animals - two leopards, two primates and a bear - on
suspicion of infectious diseases.
A spokeswoman for the agency
said the state had exhausted its authority in the case and that the
state's agriculture director would lift the quarantine order that was
placed on the animals in October. Medical results released last week
showed all five animals are free of the dangerously contagious or
infectious diseases for which they were tested....
Now these surviving animals are returned to the owner? This is absolutely ridiculous and an editorial in the ZanesvilleTimesRecorder agrees:
...Kasich on Monday shamelessly tried to shift responsibility from himself
and the Republican controlled General Assembly to our local officials
facing the prospect of exotic animals returning to our community six
months after Terry Thompson released them just before he died Oct. 18....
....The governor should have focused his energy on cajoling a do-nothing
General Assembly to finally pass the long-promised bill which cleared
the Senate only a week ago....
.....If the animals are returned here as expected, our residents will have
no more protection than they did in October. Kasich and fellow
Republicans are the only ones to be held accountable for that travesty.
Kasich has blamed his predecessors for failing to act.
Shame on Kasich and his Republican elected officials for failing to solve this problem. Kasich let Gov. Strickland's ruling expire. The ball was in Kasich's court, and he refused to do anything. I guess this is another example of Republicans doing away with regulations, and now the neighbors in Zanesville are at risk. If the exotic animal farm had been in Kasich's backyard, he might have done something.