# 50 Animals Killed After Zoo Escape



## MJS (Oct 20, 2011)

http://www.policeone.com/bizarre/ar...lice-tracking-wild-animals-set-loose-in-Ohio/



> ZANESVILLE, Ohio  Sheriff's deputies shot nearly 50 wild animals  including 18 rare Bengal tigers and 17 lions  in a big-game hunt across the state's countryside Wednesday after the owner of an exotic-animal park threw their cages open and committed suicide in what may have been one last act of spite against his neighbors and police.
> As homeowners nervously hid indoors, officers armed with high-powered rifles and shoot-to-kill orders fanned out through fields and woods to hunt down 56 animals that had been turned loose from the Muskingum County Animal Farm by owner Terry Thompson before he shot himself to death Tuesday.
> After an all-night hunt that extended into Wednesday afternoon, 48 animals were killed. Six others  three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys  were captured and taken to the Columbus Zoo. A wolf was later found dead, leaving a monkey as the only animal still on the loose.
> Those destroyed included six black bears, two grizzlies, a baboon and three mountain lions. Dead animals were being buried on Thompson's farm, officials said.
> "It's like Noah's Ark wrecking right here in Zanesville, Ohio," lamented Jack Hanna, TV personality and former director of the Columbus Zoo.



I had to do a double take when I saw this on TV.  Obviously the owner has some issues, as well as past run ins with the police.  Of course, this is another damned if you do, damned if you dont situation, for the police.  Some people seem to understand the need to shoot the animals, others think it was wrong.  

What I'm surprised at, is if this guy was having that many issues, I imagine some being the treatment of the animals, why wasn't anything done sooner?


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## Sukerkin (Oct 20, 2011)

That is a very sad tale both for the troubled man and the fates of the 'released' animals .


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## Buka (Oct 20, 2011)

In no other occupation might you find yourself forced to shoot dangerous animals. Tough job being a cop.
What a sad shame the whole thing was.

And the guy responsible ruined it for the normal people who might want to keep fricken TIGERS IN THEIR BACK YARD.


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## Carol (Oct 20, 2011)

Very depressing story


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## jks9199 (Oct 20, 2011)

Buka said:


> In no other occupation might you find yourself forced to shoot dangerous animals. Tough job being a cop.
> What a sad shame the whole thing was.
> 
> And the guy responsible ruined it for the normal people who might want to keep fricken TIGERS IN THEIR BACK YARD.



Outside of a young lad named Calvin (and, in truth, there's serious room to question calling him "normal"), who wants to keep a tiger in their back yard?


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## ballen0351 (Oct 20, 2011)

MJS said:


> http://www.policeone.com/bizarre/ar...lice-tracking-wild-animals-set-loose-in-Ohio/
> 
> 
> What I'm surprised at, is if this guy was having that many issues, I imagine some being the treatment of the animals, why wasn't anything done sooner?



According to Jack Hanna he said he and his zoo had been to the guys place several times and according to Ohio law there was nothing they could do to remove the animals.  he said they are currently working on something but its too late for these animals.  He said you can buy any of these animals at auctions in Ohio with no rules.

I feel bad for the Cops Im sure none of them really wanted to hurt these animals.


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## Carol (Oct 20, 2011)

ballen0351 said:


> According to Jack Hanna he said he and his zoo had been to the guys place several times and according to Ohio law there was nothing they could do to remove the animals.  he said they are currently working on something but its too late for these animals.  He said you can buy any of these animals at auctions in Ohio with no rules.
> 
> I feel bad for the Cops Im sure none of them really wanted to hurt these animals.



Welcome back Ballen!  :asian:


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## ballen0351 (Oct 20, 2011)

Thanks between my classes, work, and my sons football and 1 daughter in field hockey and another playing tennis Ive been really busy.  Just enjoying a little vacation right now.


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## Buka (Oct 20, 2011)

I was living in Honolulu in 1994 when a circus elephant went "on a rampage" killing it's trainer, injuring a bunch of people and running into the streets. The elephant was shot dozens of times by police and, once downed, eventually given a lethal injection by zoo officials(?) (I heard the shots in the distance, but didn't know what was going on)
It was awful. Years later, I spoke to one of the police officers involved. He said it was horrifying. And the look on the face of this veteran cop when he told me the story said it all. It gave me chills. It still does. I don't know why it effects me the way it does, it just does.


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## WC_lun (Oct 20, 2011)

Very sad


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## elder999 (Oct 20, 2011)

Buka said:


> I was living in Honolulu in 1994 when a circus elephant went "on a rampage" killing it's trainer, injuring a bunch of people and running into the streets. The elephant was shot dozens of times by police and, once downed, eventually given a lethal injection by zoo officials(?) (I heard the shots in the distance, but didn't know what was going on)
> It was awful. Years later, I spoke to one of the police officers involved. He said it was horrifying. And the look on the face of this veteran cop when he told me the story said it all. It gave me chills. It still does. I don't know why it effects me the way it does, it just does.



Elephants are very intelligent creatures that often wind up saying, _I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this **** anymore!_. Several videos of them absolutely going off under varying circumstances on youtube.Which I won't embed here, they're pretty horrific: imagine what an elephant would do to a stranger who beat it with a hook, and you get the idea......


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## Big Don (Oct 21, 2011)

I have to wonder if the officers who shot the various animals will be allowed to have trophies mounted.


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## ballen0351 (Oct 21, 2011)

Big Don said:


> I have to wonder if the officers who shot the various animals will be allowed to have trophies mounted.


 The news said they animals were all buried on the property already.  I wondered the same thing myself.


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## Big Don (Oct 21, 2011)

ballen0351 said:


> The news said they animals were all buried on the property already.  I wondered the same thing myself.


That sucks. How many people get a chance to shoot a lion or a tiger in Ohio?


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## Bill Mattocks (Oct 21, 2011)

Big Don said:


> That sucks. How many people get a chance to shoot a lion or a tiger in Ohio?



http://www.ohiolions.org/

It's not that hard.  The trick is not to lead them quite so much.


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## Big Don (Oct 21, 2011)

Bill Mattocks said:


> http://www.ohiolions.org/
> 
> It's not that hard.  The trick is not to lead them quite so much.


That would give the taxidermist fits...


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## SavageMan (Jan 10, 2012)

I work with an officer whose Grandmother lives in Zanesville. She told him that officers had stopped at her home and told her to stay inside and to keep her pets in. They had seen a tiger only about a football field away. It was killed shortly after. The man had just gotten back out of prison. I was told the man suffered mental illness. Sad. And scary. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't think I would want to get close enough to a lion to have to use a 12 ga shotgun. And a 223.cal patrol rifle seems a little under gunned for a grizzly bear. I hunt and that would have me concerned.
Only about 30 miles from where I live there is a privately owned zoo. He has lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, wolves, even a camel and chimps. He gets a little bigger every year, and there are a lot of big cats more than 5 types if I remember. But he is a responsible member of society who is regulated and monitored. Not an ex-con with mental issues. Giving someone like that permission to have a tiger is like giving them a grenade. Sure he might put it on a self and just look at it forever. Or one day he might snap and pull the pin.


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