Amnesty For Connecticut Owners of Exotic Pets

Since Connecticut has banned the ownership of exotic animals—including gorillas, chimps, orangutans, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, ocelots, bobcats and other big, wild cats, wolves, coyotes and bears—as pets, the state is offering a one-day amnesty program that will allow people to bring in their exotic and illegal pets to a zoo without repercussions. The Connecticut Post reports, "All animals collected become property of the DEP... homes will be found for the animals, though probably not at the zoo. Most of the pets will likely go to wildlife sanctuaries or other agencies equipped to handle them." The director of the Beardsley Zoo, where owners can turn in their pets on July 25, Gregg Dancho said he's seen monkeys hanging out in kitchen and people walking mountain lions, "A lot of times, this is impulse buying." Oh, this reminds us of Ming, the tiger found in a Harlem apartment nearly six years ago.