Strange

Zanesville, Ohio: Wild Animals on the Loose after Owner Suicide

by NowPublic Staff | October 19, 2011 at 07:03 am

798 views | 4 Recommendations | 2 comments

Zanesville, Ohio Animal Preserve Owner Terry Thompson Frees Animals, Kills Himself

Terry Thompson, owner of Muskingum County Animal Farm, opened the fences and set free the wild animals, including 18 Bengal tigers. The animals set loose included:

wolves
grizzly bears
black bears
monkeys
cheetahs
tigers
leopards

Terry Thompson then killed himself. Thompson, who had recently been released from prison after serving a term for weapons charges, had frequent legal troubles over licensing for his animals, as well as charges of animal cruelty and possession of illegal firearms.

TV animal expert Jack Hanna said that it's not safe to tranquilize animals at night; do any of our readers have any idea why that would be true? The deputies have shot and killed most of the animals; only three remain at large in Zanesville.

Roughly 50 animals were set free, as Zanesville sheriff's deputies tried to hunt them down.

Sheriff Matt Lutz said that his office started getting calls of wild animals on the loose at around 5:30pm local time on October 18. [Update: all but two of the 56 animals are accounted for. 48 have been killed. A wolf and a monkey remain at large.]

"These are wild animals that you would see on TV in Africa," Sheriff Matt Lutz told a news conference on Tuesday. "We don't know how much of a head start these animals had on us."

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YankeeJim

at 07:29 on October 19th, 2011

You have to wonder how the guy got a permit for the animals. Surely, killing such a large number is an extreme measure. However, if you know the area as I do, the animals could disappear quickly in the woods and along the Muskingom River where they could travel North and South covering a wide part of the Ohio undergrowth. It would take a long time to find them.

Then again, for the bears and wolves, it would simply be "Welcome Home."

The 1

at 12:57 on October 19th, 2011

It's a shame hearing all those exotic animals had to be reportedly killed..Totally irresponsible of the ones in control of them..Some very rare species involved.