Zanesville, Ohio

I think we all agree that what happened in Zanesville was an unmitigated tragedy. This tragedy occurred as a result of both an underlying belief and an overlying lack of regulation caused by that underlying belief.

I think with hindsight everyone can agree that having private ownership of exotic animals is a bad idea. There was a distinct lack of regulation of the facilities, especially considering the person responsible for these animals had been in trouble previously for his lack of proper care. But how exactly did a facility that posed such an obvious threat skate by with so little regulation?

The real culprit in this tragedy is the entire concept of ownership of animals. Had these animals been transported to a canned hunt to be mercilessly gunned down, we probably never would have even heard about them. Under current law, almost all animals share their status with a mailbox, and are no more than pieces of property to be disposed of at their “owner's” whim. As long as that underlying belief is maintained any regulation of what can be done with animals will be superficial and nearly impossible to enforce.

If we are to really change things and prevent these types of tragedies from occurring in the future, we will need to rethink the status of animals in our society. Only by recognizing that animals are living and breathing creatures that can feel pain and suffer, or feel joy and contentment, and basing our laws and regulations on this fact, will we be able to move beyond the current system of horrendous abuse, whether by factory farm or the type of exotic animal park that existed in Zanesville. It is time for us to move beyond the old belief of an animal as a piece of property, and to recognize that these are living, thinking and feeling creatures worthy of our respect, and not so different from us.