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Pet Store Owner Jailed For Daughter's Box Turtle Pet Owners Required to "Tag" Native Animals

   From the Libertarian Party of Ohio

In Columbus, Ohio, the reported number of violent crimes such as rapes and murders is nearly double the national average.  Thefts and burglaries are well over that.  But instead of focusing on truly despicable and injurious crimes, state law enforcement officials have decided to pursue and jail an unfortunate pet store owner.  His crime: failing to "tag" his daughter's pets.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Terry Wilkins, 51, is the first Ohioan to serve jail time for violating a 2000 state wildlife-preservation law that, among other things, requires owners of Ohio native reptiles to tag them, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials.

A personal-integrated transponder tag slightly larger than a grain of rice must be inserted under the reptile’s skin using a syringe. The chip contains a bar code readable by a hand-held scanner so that the pet’s owner can be identified.

The pet-store owner tangled with wildlife officials twice before. Once he was cited for failing to submit his license application on time. He also was charged for being one animal off in a count he submitted to the state.

Wilkins does not wish to tag his animals.  He believes the process can lead to painful lesions and even infertility.  This is a real problem for Wilkins since he must breed his own animals in order to legally sell them.

According to the Dispatch, "All she (the inspector) was doing was forcing me to torture and kill my daughter’s animals," Wilkins said.

For his disobedience, Wilkins was sentenced to 90 days in jail, obliged to pay for his jail time, and probation.  The judge suspended all but 3 days of his sentence.

His daughter's pets will be sent to Florida with relatives.  Perhaps we need to establish a new "underground railroad" to Florida for Ohio's business owners, pets, and senior citizens so they can avoid the criminal prosecution of a police state gone wild.

The Libertarian Party has an alternative to Ohio's repressive policies against small businesses.  The LPO is fighting for small business owners, the engine of our economic growth, to reduce taxes, reduce burdensome regulations, and allow them the freedom to prosper.

Robert Butler, Executive Director

Libertarian Party of Ohio

700 Morse Rd. Suite 208, Columbus, Ohio 43214-1879 hq@lpo.org (614)547-0290

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