Following a meeting conducted by the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) concerning the county’s dangerous wild animal response plan, the commissioners voted to approve the plan during their regular meeting Thursday morning.
Citing the 2011 Zanesville incident in which 56 exotic animals were released from a farm in Muskingum County, Commissioner Ed Olson stated, “It was one of those incidents that nobody ever thought of before, and now that it happened once, every county was to develop this response plan.”
Members of the LEPC helped formulate the plan, which details the protocol concerning a dangerous wild animal reporting.
Olson stated that the local law enforcement agencies and fire departments have jurisdiction if a case is reported. They then assess the situation and determine whether or not additional back-up is needed. If so, the Richland County Emergency Management Agency is called for assistance and will serve as a support system, said Olson.
Currently, there are three registered owners of dangerous wild animals in Richland County, who were required to register their animals through the state.
The issue is, Olson stated, that local agencies may not always know who registered with the state. He continued, “We have a mandate that if you have dangerous material on your property, it has to be registered with the county EMA, and that’s put into our database, so that if there’s a fire, the 9-1-1 operator dispatching the fire department can tell from the screen what to expect when they get to the site.”
Following this same system, wild animals are to be registered with the county EMA, as well. The EMA, then, will forward one’s registration to the owner’s local enforcement agency and fire department so that those agencies have that information on file, said Olson.
To see what is considered a wild dangerous animal, go to http://www.agri.ohio.gov/TopNews/DangerousWildAnimalAct/, which has a listing of the animals.
