Balderson Proposal To Regulate Animals Delayed

State Senator Troy Balderson says his proposal to regulate exotic animals in Ohio is not ready to be introduced this week. The Republican from Zanesville sent a letter to fellow Senators last week, asking them to sign onto his bill. He had planned to introduce it Tuesday and hold the hearings this week. But Balderson says that parts of the legislation are still being worked on. He says legislating on a "knee-jerk reaction" is unwise, and that he does not want to introduce an unpolished bill.  He could not say when the bill would be introduced or when hearings would be scheduled. Efforts to strengthen the state’s law too new urgency in October when authorities were forced to kill 48 wild animals including endangered Bengal tigers after Terry Thompson freed them from his Kopchak road farm and then committed suicide.