Kaufman County May Ban Exotic Animals

For years, Kaufman County has cultivated a reputation as something of a haven for exotic wild animals and their owners, a place where elephants, monkeys and big cats might be as at home on the range as cattle, pigs and dogs.

But after a tiger mauling and the discovery of dead and mangled livestock, this East Texas gateway is reconsidering its historically relaxed approach to regulating exotic -- and some say dangerous -- animals.

While more than 70 percent of Texas counties prohibit keeping dangerous wild animals as pets, Kaufman County is among the few in the state that lets its 89,000 residents keep a giraffe or bear with the right paperwork. .