One in three exotic animal owners in Ohio lacks permit

Since a law went into effect a few months ago, the Ohio Department of Agriculture records show one in three exotic animal owners still have yet to get the proper permit.

A law was passed that required animal owners to get a permit by the beginning of this year if they had an exotic animal. According to The Associated Press, only 51 permits have been issued out of the 82 applications received. Most remain unresolved, but eight applications were dropped due to the animals maybe dying, being sent out of state or being given up.

Part of the problem is that not all exotic animal owners are yet ready for a permit. Agriculture Department Director David Daniels said, "People are in different stages of coming into compliance."

Some are currently improving their facilities, the cages or still need to get an identification microchip implanted to come up to the new requirements.

The law was put into place after a suicidal owner in Zanesville released all his animals back in 2011, according to the West Side Story. The animals all had to be rounded up by authorities and put down, due to public safety concerns. The owner had bears, lions and tigers at his farm.

One application received by the Agriculture Department was an owner who has 96 animals, with most being tigers and lions.