The animal rights terrorism front has infiltrated and subverted the power of the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). Drunk on power, the paper pushing bureaucrats of the ODA are now on a rampage to seize and sell off as many privately owned expensive exotic animals as they can get away with under the false flag of public safety.
The roots of their overreach of power go back to the infamous 2011 Terry Thompson case of Zanesville, Ohio, where animal rights terrorists killed Thompson and opened his cages so corrupt local law enforcement could go on a tiger killing safari. Experts in this case have claimed that almost all of the animals never left their cages and law enforcement deliberately shot the animals while they cowered in terror. The animal rights front has distorted the true facts in the Thompson case in order to pressure Ohio lawmakers into outlawing the ownership of large classes of animals and ramping up the ODA’s power. They succeeded.
The horror that came out of Zanesville has only escalated the ODA’s lust for power and control. The world exploded in outrage when the news of the Tiger Ridge raid occurred earlier this year. The Tiger Ridge animals were stored in concrete cells in the cruel and inhumane Reynoldsburg animal prison while their owner, Kenny Hetrick, fought back in court. Hearts were again broken worldwide when it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that inept employees of the ODA abused and killed the magnificent and majestic Leo the Lion, a beloved elderly pet of Kenny Hetrick. Leo was forced to lay for months in his own feces and urine while ODA records show that state bureaucrats rarely cleaned his cage and didn’t treat his health issues including pressure sores and urine burns from the cold concrete. Animal abuse is occurring on the Ohio tax payer dime conducted by ignorant employees of the state.
Fresh from the horror Leo’s brutal death, the ODA, the Sheriff’s office, animal control, and every law enforcement yahoo around came out in full tactical gear days ago to raid the home of a little girl and steal her father’s four bears. Daniel and Ashley Chambers legally owned four tame bears and two big cats at the time of the Zanesville incident but now the ODA has refused to issue them a permit under the new law. The ODA claims their paperwork simply isn’t correct, a cover story they have used repeatedly to steal valuable animals from Ohioans. Ashley Chambers posted this brutal and heartfelt story on the armed raid of her home and the terrorizing of her five year old daughter by armed thugs of the government. Daniel Chambers has also posted numerous YouTube video’s showing the incompetent and inept actions of the ODA in darting his animals during the armed raid.
“They treated us like criminals, came on our property, barged in, cut the fence. They didn’t go about it the proper way,” Ashley Chambers said. Her husband Daniel said, “They’re terrorists … they come in here at gunpoint and they robbed me.”
Daniel Chambers with one of his beloved animals.
Why did the ODA, Sheriff’s office and others come out to the property in full tactical gear with guns drawn over what the ODA claims is missing paperwork? Why did an officer point an AR-15 at a 5 year old child? Why did they need bullet proof vests to seize bears? Did they think the bear was going to shoot them? Why did at least one of them wear a face mask? A SWAT raid on a meth lab typically has fewer officers than the ODA threw at one lady, a little girl and four bears. Why did they cause multiple property damage at Daniel Chamber’s home to include smashing fence gates that were wide open? Why did they need such a show of force over a simple permit case? A permit that ODA is refusing to issue to anyone they just don’t like. A permit that ODA is refusing to issue to anyone who has value animals that they want to steal. This overkill of authority has come about with the break down in society between law enforcement and the people they are supposed to serve. Now law enforcement are simply armed thugs for the state. There is a time and place for armed raids, and this wasn’t it. Abuse of power where ever it occurs must be reined in by we the people.
Multiple zoos and sanctuaries in Ohio have now lost their businesses and shut down causing massive financial devastation to their owners. Horror stories like the statewide wildfire that is Ohio, will continue until the people rise up and take their governments back from power hungry bureaucrats operating on the tax payer dime. The time is now.
Katharine Dokken is a Public Affairs Specialist at The Cavalry Group and the author of a new book, The Art of Terror: Inside the Animal Rights Movement, available on Amazon.
Follow Katharine and The Cavalry Group on Twitter: @KatharineDokken @TheCavalryGroup
