Until Michigan lawmakers intervened, incidents at Michigan zoos involving a raccoon-turned-trespasser and an aggressive pygmy hippo threatened breeding programs zoo leaders describe as critical to animal conservation

Legislation recently signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer changes the state's large carnivore breeding licensing requirements. Now, a citation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will no longer jeopardize a license. The move fixes what zoo leaders dubbed an "unintended consequence" of Michigan's Large Carnivore Act.

Whitmer's office in a news release celebrated the new law as eliminating "unnecessary red tape" for zoos.

The large carnivore licenses allow for the breeding of lions, leopards, jaguars, tigers, cougars, panthers, cheetahs, hybrids of those large cats a

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