Editor’s Notes: Yes, it’s a jungle out there
Trending
It's the nature of my job to have access to lots of different news feeds all day, every working day. It can be overwhelming, especially during weeks like this one. But it also means I get to see some of the quirkier stuff, too. There's been a spate of animal-related headlines lately that remind me it's a jungle out there.
"Great Dane has 21 puppies in 27 hours," reads one. Gosh, she must be dog tired.
"Mountain lion claws man's head while he sits in hot tub, officials say." This one from CNN made me wonder whether the big cat was thinking to itself "Why in the world are those humans boiling themselves?" before it put a paw on the man's head. I picture it batting at the man's head like a house cat bats at something that confuses it. The guy reportedly had only a few scratches on his head -- nothing that required treatment. Imagine the scare, though -- you're relaxing in a hot tub in the woods at night, and a creature sneaks up on you. I'd never get in a hot tub again.
Ohio's had its share lately, too. "Serval found in Cincinnati tree tests positive for cocaine." Yep, a cocaine cat. Multiple reports said Cincinnati police were arresting a man when a large cat jumped out of the man's car and ran up a tree. Those poor cops. Again, imagine the scare.
But once the cat was retrieved, it was determined to be a serval … and it had cocaine in its system. It is now recovering at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
That story came shortly after a story about a man whose arm was chomped by an angry male zebra … also in Ohio.
This one was in Pickaway County, where the man was keeping several zebras.
"They're definitely wild animals and still have, like, kind of all those wild instincts and behaviors," Dan Beetem, director of animal management at The Wilds, told WCMH. "Male zebras are territorial. Their job is to get and hold a group of females that he wants to breed, and he'll be very protective of those against any kind of challenger."
In this case, the man was treated at a medical center and will not, contrary to early reports, lose his arm. Sadly, the territorial male zebra was put down.
The reminder from The Wilds that these are, in fact, still undomesticated creatures that too many ordinary people are trying to keep in unfamiliar habitats is an important one. It's a problem Ohio has had for years. (Remember the time 18 tigers and 17 lions were set loose near Zanesville? That was before a law against owning exotic pets went into effect, in 2014).
On the other hand, some very well trained and educated folks are back in good standing in Ohio, as the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has regained its accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It had already gained a new accreditation from the Zoological Association of America, last year.
"We have a new governance model, which joins our elected and appointed members into one cohesive and engaged board," Columbus Zoo President and CEO Tom Schmid told WCMH. "During the zoo's AZA inspection in December, the inspection team noted no major concerns and no concerns remaining from the previous inspection. The inspectors recognized 12 points of particular achievement, including the zoo's animal acquisition and disposition policy."
Maybe that kind of recognition will remind a few people that if a wild animal is to be kept in captivity at all, it should be only a very few of them, and in a place such as the wonderful -- accredited -- zoos Ohio has. There are establishments equipped to handle servals and zebras and the like; and then there are attempts that wind up sounding like a made-for-streaming movie. Let's avoid the latter.
Here's hoping lessons have been learned, and folks will leave the care and keeping of these beautiful creatures to the experts.
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com