Share thisUSDA Does Not Regulate Private Ownership of Exotic Animals
On October 18, 2011, local Sheriff’s deputies shot 48 animals—including 18 rare Bengal tigers and 17 lions—after Terry Thompson, owner of the private Muskingum County wild-animal farm near Zanesville, Ohio, released them from captivity, and committed suicide.
In response, the USDA clarified that it does not regulate the private ownership of exotic animals as follows:
The USDA enforces the Animal Welfare Act that establishes standards of humane care and treatment for warm-blooded animals that are exhibited to the public for compensation. Its unit of Animal Care regulates zoos, circuses, aquariums, petting farms and many wildlife sanctuaries, and inspects them in order to ensure the care of their animals meet Federal standards.
Terry Thompson, the owner of the above Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, did not meet the criteria of an exhibitor under the Animal Welfare Act, because he did not exhibit his animals to the public for compensation, and was not required under the Act to hold a license for dealing in exotic animals. Regulations of the private ownership of exotic animals falls to states and local municipalities in the US.
-USDA does not regulate the private ownership of exotic animals. October 2011. www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/newsroom/2011/11/ac_statement_ ohio_animal_release.shtml
New AVMA Euthanasia Guidelines Expected Shortly
On September 27, 2011, the AVMA Executive Board approved the content of the 2011 update of its AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia. The significance of these guidelines is their recognition by, and the requirement of the USDA and OLAW to comply with them.
In contrast to earlier edits, these guidelines were developed by eleven working groups consisting of more than 70 representatives from veterinary medicine, animal science, animal control, animal agriculture, wildlife, and other relevant fields, which were responsible each for identifying and assessing research pertaining to technique or species-specific topics. Also included on the panel for the first time was an ethicist. These new, more extensive guidelines cover both vertebrate and invertebrate animal species.
The humane slaughter and depopulation of animals are no longer included in these latest euthanasia guidelines. Instead, the AVMA will address those two topics in separate documents in 2012-2013.
-AVMA board approves Panel on Euthanasia report. AVMA News. Euthanasia. November 15, 201. Posted October 26, 2011. http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/nov11/111115b_pf.asp