Exotic Animal Farm Owner Sets Animals Free & Kills Himself

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lauralynne

Chinnie Maid
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
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Location
Tornado Alley aka KS
http://www.kake.com/national/headli...ape_Ohio_Farm_Owner_Found_Dead_132109723.html

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A sheriff says exotic animals on the loose in eastern Ohio were set free by their owner, who apparently killed himself on his farm.

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said at a news conference Wednesday that investigators feel Terry Thompson died from a self-inflicted wound. Lutz says authorities are awaiting autopsy results on the cause of death.

The sheriff says it appears Thompson left the animals' gates open and even cut open their pens so they would get out. The animals included lions and bears.

Deputies found Thompson's body on Tuesday when they went to the farm on Tuesday on reports of wild animals running free.

Officials spent the night hunting down and shooting to death most of the nearly 50 animals.

Schools closed and motorists were warned to stay in thei vehicles as officers with assault rifles hunted Wednesday for bears, big cats and other beasts that escaped from a wild-animal preserve after the owner was found dead and cages housing dozens of dangerous animals were left open.

Officers were under orders to shoot to kill because officials said it wasn't safe to tranquilize the animals in the dark.

Authorities were investigating whether Muskingum County Animal Farm owner Terry Thompson killed himself after freeing the animals, and officials spent the night hunting down and shooting to death nearly 30 of the 48 animals.

As officials warned that more animals still were on the loose, three school districts in the region and some private and special schools canceled classes as the remaining bears, big cats and other beasts from the Muskingum County Animal Farm were hunted down.

Flashing signs along area highways told motorists, "Caution exotic animals" and "Stay in vehicle."

The animals' cages had been opened and the farm's fences had been left unsecured, police said. It was "very possible" that Thompson left the cages open, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said.

Lutz told NBC's "Today" show that authorities were awaiting autopsy results on the farm owner. Lutz had said earlier that the death was not suspicious.

"Once daybreak hits here, we're going back in to get an accountability of how many animals have been put down, how many animals are still penned up," the sheriff told NBC.

The preserve in Zanesville, about 55 miles east of Columbus, had lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, giraffes, camels and bears. Police said bears and wolves were among the escaped animals that were killed and there were multiple sightings of exotic animals along a nearby highway.

Lutz called the animals "mature, very big, aggressive" but said a caretaker told authorities the animals had been fed on Monday.

Tuesday night, more than 50 law enforcement officials -- including sheriff's deputies, highway patrol officers, police officers and officers from the state Division of Wildlife -- patrolled the 40-acre farm and the surrounding areas in cars and trucks, often in rainy downpours. Lutz said they were concerned about big cats and bears hiding in the dark and in trees.

Neighbor Danielle White, whose father's property abuts the animal preserve, said she didn't see loose animals this time but did in 2006, when a lion escaped. "It's always been a fear of mine knowing (the preserve's owner) had all those animals," she said. "I have kids."

Lutz said his office started getting phone calls at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday that wild animals were loose just west of Zanesville on a road that runs under Interstate 70.

He said four deputies with assault rifles in a pickup truck went to the animal farm, where they found the owner Thompson dead and all the animal cage doors open.

He wouldn't say how Thompson died but said several aggressive animals were near his body when deputies arrived and had to be shot.

Thompson, who lived on the property, had orangutans and chimps in his home, but those were still in their cages, Lutz said.

The deputies, who saw many other animals standing outside their cages and others that had escaped past the fencing surrounding the property, began shooting them on sight.

Staffers from the Columbus Zoo went to the scene, hoping to tranquilize and capture the animals after daybreak Wednesday. The zoo's director emeritus, TV host Jack Hanna, said that was something that could not be done in the dark.

"You cannot tranquilize an animal like this, a bear or a leopard or a tiger (at nighttime)," Hanna told ABC's "Good Morning America on Wednesday. "If you do that, the animal gets very excited, it goes and hides, and then we have his (Lutz's) officer in danger of losing their life, and other people."

Lutz said his main concern was protecting the public in the rural area, where homes sit on large lots of sometimes 10 acres.White, the preserve's neighbor, said Thompson had been in legal trouble, and police said he had gotten out of jail recently.

"He was in hot water because of the animals, because of permits, and (the animals) escaping all the time," White said. A few weeks ago, she said, she had to avoid some camels which were grazing on the side of a freeway.

At a nearby Moose Lodge, Bill Weiser remembered Thompson as an interesting character who flew planes, raced boats and owned a custom motorcycle shop that also sold guns.

"He was pretty unique," Weiser said. "He had a different slant on things. I never knew him to hurt anybody, and he took good care of the animals."

Weiser said he regretted that the escaped animals had to be killed. "It's breaking my heart, them shooting those animals," he said.

Bailey Hartman, 20, a night manager at McDonald's, also said it saddened her that the animals were being shot. But, she said, "I was kind of scared coming in to work."

Hartman said Thompson's wife, who no longer lives with him, was her teacher in middle school and used to bring small animals such as a monkeys, snakes and owls to school. "It was a once-a-year type of thing, and everyone would always get excited," she recalled.

Thompson had permits to keep four black bears, said Laura Jones, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The department licenses only native species, Jones said Wednesday.

Ohio has some of the nation's weakest restrictions on exotic pets and among the highest number of injuries and deaths caused by them.

In the summer of 2010, an animal caretaker was killed by a bear at a property in Cleveland. The caretaker had opened the bear's cage at exotic-animal keeper Sam Mazzola's property for a routine feeding.

Though animal-welfare activists had wanted Mazzola charged with reckless homicide, the caretaker's death was ruled a workplace accident. The bear was later destroyed.

This summer, Mazzola was found dead on a water bed, wearing a mask and with his arms and legs restrained, at his home in Columbia Township, about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland.

It was unclear how many animals remained on the property when he died, but he had said in a bankruptcy filing in May 2010 that he owned four tigers, a lion, eight bears and 12 wolves. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had revoked his license to exhibit animals after animal-welfare activists campaigned for him to stop letting people wrestle with another one of his bears.

Mazzola had permits for nine bears for 2010, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said. The state requires permits for bears but doesn't regulate the ownership of nonnative animals, such as lions and tigers.

The Humane Society of the United States on Wednesday urged Ohio to immediately issue emergency restrictions on the sale and possession of dangerous wild animals. "

"How many incidents must we catalogue before the state takes action to crack down on private ownership of dangerous exotic animals," Humane Society Wayne Pacelle said in a statement.



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Tragic....I have not had a chance to read the whole story yet. I knew he was found dead, did not know he had killed himself. Sad...what he thought was a good thing to do, setting animals free put the community in danger.
 
While I understand the "danger" factor.......I find it really sad that these poor animals were sitting next to their cage and still got shot. Makes me sick to my stomach. RIP poor little innocent animals.
 
This is so incredibly sad.... All of those poor animals lost their lives because of a situation they had no control over.
 
Agreed with the above.
I love how everyone (elsewhere) is talking about this like an innocent humans vs innocent animals trip.
The innocent humans were told to stay inside. The innocent animals can only do what their instinct tells them to.
What a mess.
 
I'm not so sure he had the animals best interest at heart when he set them free. They were dangerous and wild animals and if they are perceived as a threat to the community, the first thought is that they would indeed be shot on sight. It is tragic that the owner felt he had to take his own life, but if he truly loved these animals, they shouldn't have been let loose this way. In any case, a total tragedy.
 
At first I thought that maybe he let them out so they wouldn't starve if he was not found, but then there was a caretaker that came and helped?

Kind of reminds me of animal rights people sort of deal though honestly.
 
At first I thought that maybe he let them out so they wouldn't starve if he was not found, but then there was a caretaker that came and helped?

Kind of reminds me of animal rights people sort of deal though honestly.

It does. We won't get into that, but I definitely thought it was an interesting read.
 
I'm angry about this on so many levels. The owner did not have the best interest of the animals in mind when he set them loose. It was probably some sort of distorted revenge on his neighbors and the authorities.

Second, I'm upset about how the situation was handled by the authorities. I could be wrong but it is my understanding that most of the animals killed were still on the property. The property was fenced. Why didn't they attempt to secure the perimeter and let things wait until morning? Instead they just went in with guns blazing and slaughtered the animals. They all had to be in some kind of confined area in order for so many to be shot so quickly. This wasn't a hunt through neighborhoods for escaped animals it was shooting fish in a barrel.
 
Because in some states, such as Ohio, shoot and kill is always their first option. Ohio has some of the lamest animal welfare laws in the country. I'm facebook friends with someone that is desperately trying to change this. Look for Nitro Foundation on Facebook. I swear I don't know why certain states still allow dangerous large exotics to be kept by private citizens. I hope and pray that legislation is brought up to stop this but I won't hold my breath.

I'm angry about this on so many levels. The owner did not have the best interest of the animals in mind when he set them loose. It was probably some sort of distorted revenge on his neighbors and the authorities.

Second, I'm upset about how the situation was handled by the authorities. I could be wrong but it is my understanding that most of the animals killed were still on the property. The property was fenced. Why didn't they attempt to secure the perimeter and let things wait until morning? Instead they just went in with guns blazing and slaughtered the animals. They all had to be in some kind of confined area in order for so many to be shot so quickly. This wasn't a hunt through neighborhoods for escaped animals it was shooting fish in a barrel.
 
I read an article on this after seeing this and it said that one of the animals was a white siberian tiger... isn't there any law against that? I thought they were protected or something?

What's sad is the guy didn't just sell or donate them to a zoo or something. I don't know, I still say it seems fishy to me.
 
I don't feel it was tragic at all for this man to shoot himself, I wish more jerks would kill themselves the world is so much better off without them. Of course he did not have the well being of the animals first and foremost as he had them captured and kept in cages on his property. Once again man was responsible for the death of an animal--we are, and will remain to be, our own worst enemy
 
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Like you, I've been reading the reports as they come out and have listened to NPR.

Agreed it's a shame that this man kept those animals in such crummy conditions. Also terrible that they were shot rather than captured/rescued. Though, you know, I wasn't there... I wasn't the officer on scene... the officer who's been trained to deal with human issues... public safety... who is now staring down an uncaged tiger knowing there are other large animals that could eat me lurking about. So terribly sad, but I understand.

Where I worry now is how people will deal with this... the long term consequences. Some of the talk has been very reactionary... highlighting how Ohioans need a permit to keep native species (the bears), but there's no regulation on exotics... And so the discussion centers on how one needs to regulate exotics; maybe ban them altogether.

You see where I'm getting concerned? The ban. I worry that, in light of this tragedy, folks are all whipped up into a frenzy and will be pushing for broad regulations that will make owning little ones like hedgies illegal. They'll be thinking about bengal tigers, wolves, and bears... I'll be thinking about guinea pigs, hedgehogs, and sugar gliders.
 
What a horrible story! On a lighter note if I was driving and saw a sign that says "Exotic Animals on the Loose, Stay in Your Car! I would let out a Squeeeeee and run out to play with them thinking they were chinnies and the like. :rofl:
 
I wish the owner had called the OH zoo or his estranged wife to take over the lives of the animals before he killed himself. I suppose he was mentally impaired? Do they say anything about that?

Or, maybe he thought that the animals would be put down after his death. So, maybe he wanted as many of them as possible to run free?

I am sad about this since this morning.
 
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The whole story was very sad. But then again, those that commit suicide aren't quite thinking about the big picture.

Also sounds like one of the cats took a bite out of his head after his death. They only do what they know to do.

Can't look at the pics.
 
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