COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to protecting wildlife in the state, a recent study found.

SmileHub, a nonprofit organization that helps users find and donate to charities, compiled data to discover which states are the best and worst when it comes to protecting wildlife. The company analyzed 17 metrics, including each state’s number of animal and environmental protection agencies per capita, as well as the presence of wildlife protection laws and charities.

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the highest level of wildlife protection. SmileHub determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate an overall score.

Ohio ranked as the seventh worst state for wildlife protection, earning a score of 29.60. The Buckeye State ranked particularly low in legal protection for wildlife, where it came in as the sixth worst state. Ohio also ranked as the sixth worst state when it comes to the threat of invasive species, the ninth worst state for state wildlife grants per capita, and the ninth worst state for the share of state land designated to parks and wildlife.

Taking the No. 1 spot as the worst state for wildlife protection was Nevada (26.80), followed by Mississippi (28.12), South Carolina (28.52), Alabama (28.59) and Kansas (28.87). The best states for wildlife according to the study were Vermont (63.74), Wyoming (61.58), Colorado (60.33), Oregon (60.29) and California (59.42). 

Data to create the rankings was collected from sources such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Caucus of Environmental Legislators and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.