Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This Op-Ed first appeared on the blog A Humane Nation, where it ran before appearing in LiveScience’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights . For years, The HSUS warned Ohio policy makers about the madness of allowing private citizens to keep dangerous wild animals as pets. They ignored the issue, or what to me is more incriminating, they bowed to the influence and pressure of the rowdy band of exotic animal owners who claimed it was their right to have any animals they wanted. Pretty much every sane person got clarity on the issue in 2011 after Terry Thompson released nearly 50 large, dangerous, wild animals in Zanesville, just before taking his own life. Law enforcement personnel dramatically hunted the creatures down as dusk enveloped the eastern Ohio town, in an attempt to protect the community from the tigers , grizzly bears and cougars that were on the loose. The question is, why risk the lives of people and animals just so someone can claim bragging rights by having a big, powerful animal in his control? Hey, I get the human-animal bond as… Read full this story
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