playing the blame game

Today is going to be another random collection of thoughts, although I'll get to the main reason I'm writing in a little bit.

The last couple of weeks have been, well, less-than desirable weather-wise around here.  We've had a ton of rain, very little sunshine, and typical cool temperatures.  It's fall.  It happens like that around here.  That said, this year has officially become the rainiest year in history, and that's with two more months to go.

I bring this up because I always hear people wishing the weather was different depending on what season we're in.  In the winter, people wish it was warmer.  If it's summer, they wish it was cooler.  If it's spring/fall, they wish it would stop rain and transition to the next season already (although lately we haven't been having much of a spring).

I've recently been seeing a lot of "what happened to summer" posts go up.  This amuses me because it's usually from the same people who were complaining about how hot it was.

It's pretty much human to want things other then what we have though.  We hear it all the time in the winter.  It needs to be warmer.  It needs to stop snowing.  It needs to be this or that.  I'll give some people credit. They know what temperature they want it at and say that instead.  But most just lament that it isn't winter/spring/fall/summer anymore and that it should be summer/fall/spring/winter again.

For me, it's simple.  I don't like the cold, dreary days much myself, but they don't bother me much either.  I like all the different seasons and feel fortunate to live in a part of the country where we have the change of seasons.  It makes us much more adaptable to the different climates out there. Just watch what happens when it snows in Dallas.  Those people don't know what to do with half an inch of snow.  We see half an inch of snow and scoff at it because we've driven through two feet of the stuff on a regular basis.

Heat? Rain? Cold? Snow? Flooding? Tornadoes? Drought? We've dealt with it all to some extent, and while it may not be 110 degrees every day in the summer like it is in Arizona, it still gets pretty damn hot in the summer sometimes.

That all said, if I had to choose, I'd stick with summer.  I like getting outside and while playing in the snow is fun, driving around here can get kind of dicey.  People drive slower in the rain than they do in the snow these days, a result of so many people having all-wheel or four-wheel drive, making them think they're invincible in the snow.

However, this entry isn't really about weather.  It's about something that has struck a chord in a variety of ways with a variety of people.

It's about whether people should be allowed to own exotic pets and if so, what should the regulations be?

This all stems from an incident in Zanesville where the owner of an animal farm was found dead, his collection of wild animals let loose and roaming the area extending from the farm itself.  It's been since determined that the owner, Terry Thompson, let the animals free, then shot himself for reasons unknown.

What followed has incited animal rights activists as law enforcement issues, citing lack of proper equipment, time, and concern for the safety of the surrounding population, shot and killed a majority of the animals.  The animals included tigers, lions, bears, monkeys, wolves, and leopards.  As of this morning, 49 of the 56 had been killed, with 6 being captured by Columbus Zoo workers.  The remaining animal is a monkey believed to be carrying a virus of some sort.

This is one of those stories that's hard for me to simply pick a side on.  I love animals and believe in protecting their rights.  However, I also believe the public safety is important as well, especially since a caretaker described the loose animals as aggressive, leading most to believe that they would attack on sight.  In fact, after the initial call was made and an officer showed up on the property, he was approached by a bear immediately.  Feeling it was a threat, he unloaded his gun into the bear.

Now the outcry stems from people who don't understand why the animals weren't tranquilized and transported to a safe facility.  This is understandable.  In a perfect world, the sherriff's office could wait for the proper equipment to be delivered, zoo officials to arrive, and safely transport the animals out of the area.

Unfortunately, life isn't perfect.  The animals were loose in an area that while not heavily populated, was still populated and within a reasonable distance of four schools.  The animals had been free for quite a while and had time to spread out into more populated areas.  In the end, law enforcement officials determined the safety of the population was more important than preserving the lives of the animals.

Let's look at it this way: if the officials decide not to kill the animals, what do they do?  If they don't have tranquilizers, how do they handle the situation?  Stay back and wait for tranquilizers to arrive and hope no one gets attacked?  What if someone does get attacked?  What if in waiting, a few people get hurt or killed by these animals?  We'd be hearing about how officials should've killed the animals.

You can't have it both ways.

Could it have been handled differently?  Absolutely.  That said, you want to be mad?  Be mad at lawmakers who refuse to pass stricter laws on keeping exotic animals captive in the state.  Ohio has some of the weakest laws in the country regarding the housing of exotic animals and has had repeated incidents.  Remember Sam Mazzola and his wrestling bear act?  People like Thompson and Mazzola have been fined and jailed repeatedly for various violations, yet were allowed to continue to operate their "businesses" for various reasons.

In short, regular people shouldn't be allowed to keep exotic animals as pets.  They shouldn't be allowed to keep them in flimsy containment areas such as Thompson's.  This wasn't the first time an animal had escaped from his property, just the worst and most malicious.  What was he trying to do by letting them free, then killing himself?

Lawmakers need to tighten the rules so that irresponsible people like Thompson and Mazzola aren't allowed to house these types of animals.  What happened to those animals wasn't right or fair, but it's more the fault of people who try to keep these animals as "pets" than those who have to decide whether to try and capture them or kill them in the name of safety.  People like Thompson should have their permits revoked if they get in trouble for any reason, not just slap a fine on them and let them carry on with things.  The animals themselves deserve better, especially since it's come out that he's been fined for abusing the animals he was keeping on his property.

Unfortunately, a lot of people won't see it that way.  All they'll see is the pictures of dead animals and call officers "brutal" and wrong for what they did.  And that's a shame.  Police officers aren't trained to capture large cats, bears, and monkeys.  The only thing that I think should've been done differently is as soon as the officer had an encounter with the bear, someone should've called the Columbus Zoo immediately and had them come out with better equipment to try and capture more of the animals and only kill those that were an immediate threat to someone's life.

That's not what happened and everyone involved has to live with this experience for the rest of their lives.

Let's be honest.  The animals in this case deserved a better fate than they received.

Oh, and Thompson's wife?  She's just as bad as him.

I suppose the only saving grace from all of this is is Thompson was found to have bite marks on his head, apparently from one of the large cats.  To me, it's only fitting.  He mistreated the animals for years most likely, and in appreciation for him letting them out, they decided to take a bite out of him.

Too bad they didn't finish the job.

Okay, so that's morbid, but seriously.  I hate people who mistreat animals and a majority of the people who run these "farms" mistreat their animals.

That's my two cents worth on the matter.