MENU
SECTIONS
OTHER
CLASSIFIEDS
CONTACT US / FAQ
Advertisement
Kenny Hetrick pets Kodiak bear Kody at his Tiger Ridge Exotics in Stony Ridge, Ohio, onFriday. Mr. Hetrick said most of the animals in his care are elderly. ‘They’re happy here.’
6
MORE

State may close down sanctuary for not following rules on exotics

THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON

State may close down sanctuary for not following rules on exotics

STONY RIDGE, Ohio — A Stony Ridge animal sanctuary is in danger of being shut down by the state for noncompliance with state exotic animal laws.

“It’s going to ruin my whole life,” said Kenny Hetrick, owner of Tiger Ridge Exotics. “This is all I know.”

Mr. Hetrick, 69, received a letter Thursday from a special prosecutor on behalf of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The letter gives him 10 business days to voluntarily surrender his animals to the state or face criminal or civil charges in Perrysburg Municipal Court and have his animals seized by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

Advertisement

He began rescuing exotic animals when he was 23 and said he has maintained a license with the U.S. Department of Agriculture with no violations. He has had as many as 30 animals on the five-acre property along Fremont Pike, but is down to six tigers and a black leopard, which are considered endangered animals, as well as two lions, a Kodiak brown bear, a liger, and a bobcat. His wolf hybrid is not included in the exotic animal law.

“Every animal I have has been rescued from somebody that didn’t want them,” he said.

PHOTO GALLERY: Tiger Ridge Exotics

Four of the tigers are former mascots of Massillon Washington High School, a school in Massillon that gets a new Bengal tiger cub each year to travel with the team and greet fans during the football season. Brian Pachis, assistant athletic director, said the tradition of having a live tiger cub mascot extends back several decades.

Advertisement

“We normally get them in early August and keep them just through the football season,” he said.

Ohio’s new exotic animal law was enacted in 2012 after dozens of big cats, bears, wolves, and primates were set loose by their owner, Terry Thompson, near Zanesville in 2011. He committed suicide after releasing the animals. Many of the animals were shot and killed by law enforcement.

PDF: Letter from the state to Mr. Hetrick

The law prohibits ownership of many exotic animals but allows those who possessed them before Jan. 1 this year to get permits for them. The dangerous wild animal permit application was to have been submitted by Dec. 31, 2013.

Groups such as zoos, accredited sanctuaries, and educational facilities that have a single animal as a mascot are exempt.

Erica Hawkins, communications director for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, said Tiger Ridge Exotics is not exempt because it is not accredited through the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. She said Mr. Hetrick had received a number of notices regarding his animals, and a state inspector who visited the property to talk with Mr. Hetrick was refused entry.

“Referring cases for prosecution is the last in a long line of steps we try to take with owners to get them into compliance with the law,” she said. “It’s not a step we want to resort to.”

Kyle Silvers, the special prosecutor from Toledo-based law firm Shindler, Neff, Holmes, Worline & Mohler, said charges could be filed as soon as Oct. 23 in Perrysburg Municipal Court if Mr. Hetrick does not surrender the animals, and the state would have the authority to confiscate them at that time.

Mr. Hetrick said he cannot afford to comply with many of the state’s new regulations in order to get a permit. He said he would be required to replace 3,200 feet of fencing with a stronger gauge fence, construct concrete barriers to prevent animals from digging under fences, and sterilize and microchip every animal. He would need to obtain a $500,000 insurance policy, and the permit itself would also cost him $1,000.

“I’m not a millionaire,” he said.

He receives donations to help care for his animals, and area farmers will give him horses and cattle that need to be put down and can then be butchered for meat to feed the exotics.

Mr. Hetrick said most of the animals in his care are elderly. He has stopped accepting new animals and will be out of the rescue business when those he has now die.

“We’re probably talking five years and I won’t have anything here,” he said. “Give me five years and let them live their lives out. They’re happy here.”

Mr. Hetrick is searching for an attorney to file an injunction to prevent the state from seizing his animals. He said other sanctuaries and rescues are full and fears the state will kill all of them.

Mrs. Hawkins said the state has already begun contacting sanctuaries across the county to find space for Mr. Hetrick’s animals. In the interim, they would be kept in a holding facility in Reynoldsburg that was built specifically for enforcing the new exotic animal law.

“We have not euthanized any animals,” she said. “We’ve rehomed 30-some dangerous wild animals in the last couple of years. Sometimes it takes time, but we’ve found homes for everybody.”

An animal would only be killed for medical reasons, she added.

Contact Alexandra Mester: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.

First Published October 11, 2014, 4:23 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS  
Join the Conversation
We value your comments and civil discourse. Click here to review our Commenting Guidelines.
Must Read
Partners
Advertisement
Kenny Hetrick pets Kodiak bear Kody at his Tiger Ridge Exotics in Stony Ridge, Ohio, onFriday. Mr. Hetrick said most of the animals in his care are elderly. ‘They’re happy here.’  (THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON)  Buy Image
Obie is one of six tigers at the sanctuary, which has housed up to 30 animals. It now has only the tigers, a leopard, two lions, a Kodiak bear, a liger, a bobcat, and a wolf hybrid.  (THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON)  Buy Image
Four of the tigers at Kenny Hetrick’s Tiger Ridge Exotics, including Obie, above, are former mascots of Massillon Washington High School, a tradition at the school for decades.  (THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON)  Buy Image
George Mizer, left, Terry Bonk, and Bob Hollender appeal for contributions to feed Obie. Every year the high school receives a new tiger cub as its football mascot.  ((massillon, ohio) INDEPENDENT/KEVIN WHITLOCK)
THE INDEPENDENT KEVIN WHITLOCK The Massillon Tiger Obie Crew, George Mizer, Terry Bonk and Bob Hollender appeal for contributions to feed Obie, the Tiger mascot. NOT BLADE PHOTO
Obie XXXXII puts on a happy face for the students of Smith Elementary School as the Obie Crew makes stops at all the elementary school during Massillon McKinley Week.  (Independent/GLENN B. DETTMAN)
THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON
Advertisement
LATEST local
Advertisement
Pittsburgh skyline silhouette
TOP
Email a Story