ROYAL OAK, Mich. – In the wake of the mass exotic animal release in Ohio, Local 4 talks with the Detroit Zoo about the care and keeping of exotic animals.
Sheriff's deputies shot nearly 50 wild animals -- including 18 rare Bengal tigers and 17 lions -- in a big-game hunt across the Ohio countryside Wednesday after the owner of an exotic-animal park threw their cages open and committed suicide in what appeared to be one last act of spite against his neighbors and police.
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Detroit Zoo Chief Life Science Officer Scott Carter said animals like Tigers and Wolves are not meant to be pets.
"There's no way to gauge what those animals' response is going to be," Carter said.
He said the zoo is contacted often by people who illegally own the exotic animals and can't, or don't want to, care for them anymore.
"We've been doing rescue for a number of years. We have six lions at the zoo. Five of those lions came from private situations, two in the city of Detroit," Carter said. "In most cases, people have realized, too late, that the animal they bought that was so cute is dangerous or hard to take care of, or else they just got tired of it."
Carter said the zoo can't take in all of the exotic animals they are contacted about.
"Where we can, we try to get those animals into accredited sanctuaries. But, there are simply too many for the zoo to take on," Carter said.
The Michigan Large Carnivore Act prohibits a person from owning or breeding lions, leopards, jaguars, tigers, cougars, panthers and bears. Ownership of those animals is restricted to a zoological facility.
But there is a proposed change in Michigan law that would relax regulations on keeping wild animals in the state. Detroit Zoo director Ron Kagan is against the changes and was to testify in Lansing on Wednesday against them.
