Outgoing Ohio governor orders ban on exotic pets

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio's outgoing governor has ordered a ban on new dangerous pets, in one of the last states to allow them to be owned with few restrictions.

Gov. Ted Strickland signed an emergency executive order Thursday. The ban bars private ownership of any new wild animals and comes after the fatal bear mauling of an animal caretaker in the Cleveland area last summer.

The emergency measure is only valid through March 6, but Strickland's successor, John Kasich, says he supports the ban in concept and the state should let it continue.

Strickland says the order fulfills his end of a deal with animal rights groups and Ohio's agribusiness industry. The agreement had kept the Humane Society of the United States from going to the ballot in November with a measure restricting animal cruelty.