ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Authorities in Muskingum County say they have recovered most of the exotic animals that were running loose since they were set free, apparently by their owner, last night.
The owner of the exotic animal farm, Terry Thompson, was found dead yesterday in his house. Sheriff Matt Lutz said Thompson apparently opened the cages to release all of the animals, then committed suicide. He wouldn’t say how Thompson killed himself. He did say the body was “bothered” by the animals.
Thompson not only opened the cages, but cut the cage wire so the animals would escape again if returned to their cages.Lutz announced that authorities believe only three animals remain missing this morning — a mountain lion, grizzly bear and monkey. A cat of some sort was struck and wounded on I-70 this morning, Lutz said. The State Highway Patrol was expected to kill the animal, he said.
Lutz defended the shooting of the escaped animals. He said when deputies arrived at the house, there were large animals trying to escape. The deputies had to shoot them with their sidearms.
“We are not talking about your normal everyday house cat,” he said. “We could not have animals running loose in this county.”
Cripes!!! Run away, Run away!!!!!
bothered=eaten
Yes. He was nuts, after all. 🙂
3 are left, they had to shoot a tiger today.
“He was a piece of work.”
A MONKEY IS STILL ON THE LOOSE!!
RUN!!!!!!!!!!!
The canines on most primates especially the males are down right impressive and can do a real number on you. That is one of the reasons the don’t make real good pets.
Sorry I’m late. I just spent four hours burring the cat!
Four hours buryin’ the cat?
Yes, it wouldn’t keep still; kept wriggling about, howling…
Oh it wasn’t dead yet…
Insane in Zanesville.
It had to be said.
“We could not have animals running loose in this county.”
While I (sorta) understand the sentiment it is kinda interesting how we’ve become so… I don’t know, soft, since we’ve extirpated big predators from most of our lands. Out west they still have cougars and bears and such but so few anymore…
I kinda like the idea of reintroducing cougars to, say, Indiana. Either parents would learn to keep an eye on their kids or the kids would just, y’know, get mauled and/or eaten.
But then I’m not a fan of kids. And to be fair, I don’t want to see kids eaten, but I am pretty dismayed at what passes for parenting nowadays.
/curmudgeon
There are big cats in lower Michigan. The DNR refuses to admit it, but plenty of people have seen them.
If the Zanesville mountain lion has any sense, is healthy and not too old, it will not be caught.
It was the “Army of the 12 Monkeys”!
Personally, I think that releasing Bengal tigers and other feral critters in an urban environment is a wonderful idea.
It would either weed out the slower running elements (of which I am definitely one,) or it would lead to increases in marksmanship among the speedier elements. (BTW I can snipe 40 out of 40 thrown bottles at 50 paces. I am armed and deadly dangerous. I am not worried. MS gives you hyper-fast reflexes. [I’m snapping another fast loader with six cartridges before your body has a chance to kiss the dirt. I’m a Pacifist but I’m not stupid. {I’d feel bad about it for a day or two. :-}])
I’m a Pacifist but I’m not stupid
Stealing that . . . .
He loved his animals and he didn’t want them to die so he freed them in a location that almost guaranteed that most of them would be shot and put others in great danger.
Okay so he most likely had clinical depression and when you have that you want to die and you aren’t thinking very clearly. Unfortunately it can happen to anyone.
God bless the beasts and the children.
No NA producer comments yet how the more plausible explanation is that some PETA fraction killed the man and released the animals (after all there was very recent articles of mass ferret release under that scenario with similar consequences for the animals)…
Just goes to prove that anyone who owns deadly wild animals are crazy.
lions and tigers and nut jobs, oh my!
Labeling the exotic animal farm owner, Terry Thompson. as a “zookeeper” is being far to kind. He was basically a hoarder. As well as being nutz in other ways. I was announced he had five illegal machine guns. As a ex-Vietnam vet (why is it “ex-“? He either was or wasn’t in Vietnam, and is or isn’t a veteran), he has been in trouble with the law on many occasions. But apparently the state of Ohio, have allowed him to carry on as he see fit. And collect dozens of very dangerous animals. Without the kinds of proper safety and health standard that a state run Zoo would have to meet. Very likely the intent of collecting so many such animals was to provide live game for trophy hunters. If not tethered or doped up, to make them easier prey. And the laws for owning a dog are often more stringent, than for owning a tiger or lion.
So Ohio can bask in the glory of solving a very dangerous problem, that Ohio allowed to develop in the first place. And isn’t that what government is all about?
Remember the guy from Annie Hall who said when it came to dying he’d like to get torn apart by wild animals?
Looks like the dream came true for Terry Thompson when his body was “bothered” by the animals — the gunshot was just to draw some blood & get the party started! 😉
If I worked for the Ohio highway department, I would like to put up a warning message on the overhead signs of freeways near the area. They would say “Caution. Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh my!”. And for once, it would be the truth.
This supports the NRA claims that we must carry assault weapons at all times.
It seems that 15,000 years ago America had quite a spectacular variety of wild game in it’s own right … http://t.co/BdlhZJfP
What an awful news!
This is sad. People have no choice but to kill those creatures.