APNewsBreak: Ohio to change rules allowing state to pull animals from certain owners

APNewsBreak: Ohio pets’ fate to depend on owners

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A spokeswoman for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland says new rules will allow the state to pull animals away from owners who have behaved questionably.

The decision comes after a bear attack this month in a Cleveland suburb that resulted in the death of its 24-year-old caretaker. The bear’s owner had lost his federal license to display the animal but legally continued to keep a menagerie of wild beasts as pets.

Strickland, farm groups and the Humane Society agreed to a deal in June calling for a statewide ban on dangerous wild pets, though existing animals were to be exempt. Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst says the governor has asked that the rules address cases in which an owner has violated laws.