Authorities worked overnight and through today in Zanesville tracking the some 58 tigers, lions, bears, wolves, and other exotic animals that made their way into public after Terry Thompson opened their gates last night before killing himself.
Yes, in almost all cases, that meant shooting the animals instead of attempting to tranquilize them. Plenty of folks are upset about that fact, though authorities have tried to explain their rationale.
A small handful were relocated to the Columbus zoo. The rest were killed.
After the jump, a picture someone in Muskingum County sent to the Columbus Dispatch of many of the dead animals that were shot. Warning: the picture is pretty graphic. And sad. (More photos can be found at this Dispatch slideshow.)
This article appears in Oct 19-25, 2011.
Sad and very sick all at the same time….
Omg! Are you fucking kidding me!! There had to have been a better way to get these animals back safely!
wtf is wrong with these people
I suppose if a grizzly bear were ripping your front door off you’d think otherwise.
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THESE ANIMALS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN TRANQUILIZED. WHAT A WASTE!!!!
the point is they were not ripping anyones front door down,so why not try and tranquilize them first, they had the city on lock down,if they could find em to shoot them, they could have just as well tranquilized them.
Jesus Christ. All people would have had to do is stay in their stupid houses for a day. A bear that’s been in captivity would be scared and hiding in the woods, not hulk-smashing through someone’s front door in a fit of rage. Get a grip. THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THIS.
Why did he do this to those animals?
All of theses people were trying to protect you an your children!!An this is how they are thanked? they risked their lifes ,just to hear this,how Sad..Thank them!,an hope they take the same swift action next time for you!! Yes it looks bad,but you wouldnt be saying theses mean things if one of them had your child by the throat!
1 animal killed per 1 human still wouldnt be enough
I can tell you this.. the Zanesville sheriff himself and the cops that followed his orders have lost all of my respect or caring for their dept. Thank them?? Are you serious? If these were animals out terrorizing people or pets that would be one thing but they weren’t. they were domesticated animals that were scared and didnt know what was going on. This is not only sick it is a perfect example of stupid people jumping the gun and overacting and basically using very little appropriate judgment to handle an emergency situation. They are a disgrace and if I ever come across and Zanesville police officer involved in this or the sheriff it will be TOO SOON!
very unnecessary and very sad they could have tried so much harder ta save them…
this is what happens when u put a redneck with a gun
Zanesville isn’t Solon. People there are into hunting, so when the word comes down from the sheriff and a his deer huntin’ deputies….well…its open season!
Are you kidding me Brandi ???? These were NOT domesticated animals.. THese are wild animals !! I understand that there could of been a different way of handling this but if any of those animals were in your yard or terrorizing your family would you of felt the same way? Probably not, they stated that some of them went to the Columbus Zoo but not how many. I seriously do not feel they were overreacting at all. These are dangerous and wild animals who were last fed on Monday. I still do not quite understand why tranquilzers were not brought in but I am not in charge. We live in OHIO not Africa where most of these animals belong !
It is a shame that they killed these animals, like the Bengal tiger and Lion which are endangered animals. they should have moved these animals to zoos long time ago!!
Only on TV does every city have every thing it needs with money the way it is for city’s the cops are lucky they get cars and guns much more any thing else any Animal that is a possible threat to Humans has to be dealt with if that means putting the animal down then that’s that it’s simply the way it is.
Even if they had tranquilizer guns and enough not out of date drugs to deals with many large animals then they need large cages trucks to haul them a place to take them people to do all this on on and on.
A bad thing caused by a mentally ill care taker and handled the only way possible at the time I don’t like the over all out come but some things just happen that way at least at the moment no persons where injured or killed.
It’s amazing how many folks think tranquilizing these animals was even an option. Do you think a sheriff department in the middle of Ohio should have the appropriate equipment, sedatives, and training to equip dozens of officers to sedate wild animals from Africa in the dark? The animals in cages were transported to the Columbus Zoo, it’s not like they killed anything that wasn’t roaming free.
The blame belongs on the nutjob who released the animals and killed himself, nowhere else.
Tranquing animals takes a LONG time. They don’t get darted and go down. They get darted and do unexpected things and eventually fall down. If you let them roam free, they will eventually kill people, they are wild animals.
to answer the tranquilizer supply question: helicopters/planes could have flown the sedatives in.
to respond to the knee-jerk reaction by the woman who was thinking these so-called law officials did the right thing ‘because a child could have had their throat ripped” … then stay in your house and don’t let your kids outside, either.
Even Jack Hanna said on the news the animals were ‘hunkered down’ because of the rain.
This could have been handled better and the fella who had these animals should have been stopped long ago. … jus my two cents.
Morons: Jack Hanna said killing them was necessary. The police were not trained to deal with African animals and needed to keep the town safe. It always take a few dead animals to get women riled up. Dead people they don’t give a crap about though.
one was tranquilzed went nuts and had to be killed an other killed and ate one of the escaped monkeys O and your house is not safe from tigers lions and bears if they want to get in they will and how far would have these animals been able to roam as people were waiting these Animals were a threat to People and the nessary actions were taken period.
you people are all fucking idiots. by the time they could of got the resources together to safely tranquilize and catch these animals there would of definitely been some sort of attack. so as to protect the community they had no choice. im liberal too but you people are bleeding hearts. there just fucking animals theres tons of them in the world. get over it. and clearly the guy let them out to cause terror,panic or harm. but we dont wanna think about that now do we. fucking assholes.
Hehe listen to your self domesticated bear domesticated tigers ?? Nuff said ,cops good work but next time send the corpses my way It’s winter an I can use a new bear fur or tiger fur coat bwahahaha
I’m not upset at the animals or the cops. Animals do what animals do, cops have to protect public safety. I’m mad at the dumb ass that killed himself setting them free who was too stupid to not realize they would kill them due to no law enforcement agency in America carries tranqualizers. If they would shoot an injured deer that’s threatening public safety on a highway or street and stable owners shoot horses with broken legs. How damn dumb can you be to think someone is going to wait on a tranqualizer delivery while little Tommy is out back on his swing set around carnivores? Come on people, it’s the dummy who lead them to their death fault, not the animals or the police.
the only comment i can make is that the news said it was getting dark. doesn’t look too dark to me. so why not try and tranquilize these animals . maybe by someone who knew something about it. cleveland zoo keepers , columbus zookeepers, pittsburg zoo keepers, cincinnati zoo keepers. come on there were some other options
This just in….the muskingum county sheriff says a monkey is still on the loose and has herpes. So if you live in zanesville and feel particularly randy…
It’s really not worth arguing about. The people who think the police were in the wrong are just ignorant buffoons who are just being swayed my the horrific picture. It really is horrific. But do some research and don’t comment on a story based on the picture. Hey Sarah, your two cents would make more sense if you actually listened to Jack Hannah’s entire interview. He said shoot-to-kill was indeed the only way, and I’m certain he knows more than anyone in this thread. As for you, Chrissyard marc ellis, the only reason bears weren’t knocking on people’s doors is because the police killed them first. They showed up around dusk and a stampede of man eating carnivores were making there way off the property toward the neighborhood. They only had handguns so they made the logical choice of choosing human life over animal life. Oh and for the record, at this time bears and lions were chasing the horses from the barn and I don’t think they were playing tag. Should they of let them kill the horses? Or do you people only support animals that have the capacity to tear a human’s head off with one swipe of their claw?
hopefully the laws will be reconsidered about hoarding up exotic animals just for peoples entertainment.. and exotic animals can stay in their native environment…this might have happened for a reason…i hope some good comes out of this..:-(
So that wasn’t me, how the fuck do i delete my comment and my account my friend created
How could they shoot these innocent exploited victims? How hard could it have been to gather help from Aspca, zoo authorities to tranquilize and contain the animals. My heart aches at the sight of this massacre!!
i feel both ways….i feel sorry tht the animals had to be killed because of the idiot that set them free, but as a parent i would rather them be killed b4 they attacked sumone..it would of taken time to gather tranquilizers n the zoos to come in to help, these animals move very fast n could cover lots of ground if not stopped …just sad tht they couldnt save more thn they did….n as a person tht doesnt watch much tv it was over a day b4 i even heard about it so tht means tht sumone else may not of heard about it in zaneville n could of been outside with their children n could of been attacked….wether domesticated or not if any animal feel treatened they will attack
Mary,
What you’ve just said
is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard.
At no point in your ridiculous, incoherent response
were you even close to anything that could be considered
a rational thought. Everyone on this post is now dumber for having read it.
I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
I LOVE seeing all these people cry about the poor animals. The world is over populated. We have to do something about it. Someone do me a favor, make me a nice coat from the animal skin.
The police dept. that was in charge of getting the animals were not equipped to deal with this kind of issue. They didn’t have the tranquilizers needed and they were worried about peoples safety. They did say that they tried to tranquilize a 300 pound adult male tiger and it became very aggressive. When you inject animals like these with tranquilizers they become very disoriented and become extremely aggressive. They had 50-some animals on the loose and were not capable of safely getting them all. They had the well-being of the community in their minds, not the animals. Jack Hanna also agreed that they did the right thing by putting them down. Yeah it sucks that all these beautiful animals were killed, but I think the police did the right thing. Also, just because they were so called “domesticated” doesn’t mean that they aren’t dangerous. Instincts take over in any animal, and they hadn’t been fed in days. Don’t freak out and scream that you hate the police, because if you had a 400 pound male lion coming after you, you would want them to shoot it. All I’m saying is that the police did the right thing and only rational thing given the circumstances.
They tried to tranquilize the animals and it didn’t work so they had to shoot them and the animals were dangous and in a school zone, the animal or the kid. These animals were running loose threw out the night they had to do somthing. Love animals and hated to see it but….. you the rest!
WOW, I got an idea, anyone who seems to think that law enforcement acted in a less than professional manner on this issue should be required to be put in their boots. SEE WHERE THAT GETS YA! If it hadn’t been raining and going dark then I’m sure they would have had more options. These people were not trained to handle wild animals but did what they could with what they had to work with. I’m sure if you had been in any danger you would have a different opinion.
It was dark when this happened, I’m sure rather see this than a (Lion,Tiger,or Bear) knocking down your door and feasting on your family!!! Tell me I’m wrong! Go ahead!
Sickening… they waited until it was daylight out to kill these animals..DAYLIGHT..not at night… senseless that they all had to be slaughtered in this brutal fashion and not tranq’d by someone qualified which probably would have been too much trouble & expense to go to so this route was just easier. Disgusting.
If we lived in africa or india, we would have treated them all much different, like a normal day. Americans need to stop being such wimps!
I guess the publicizing of all of these grotesque pictures we could all do without… it’s just a tragic, sad, state that this nut who kept all of these WILD animals wasn’t stopped a long time ago and punished for keeping WILD animals that are dangerous and should be left in the wild. How the hell did he get away with it? Aren’t there laws about keeping these types of animals in captivity?? Lions, tigers, etc… What a mess.
And we wonder why there is so much violence everywhere. Such a waste – a life is a life – human or animal….this just makes me sick – I understand they were wild animals but they didn’t ask to be where they were – So wrong on so many levels….
I know everyone is mad and I am too. But I blame the state on this one! No one should be allowed to get these types of animals. The police could not tranquilize the animals the amount of posion needed would take to long. The animal would be hit with the dart and then wonder off into the woods and passout. It was at night and they would lose track of the animal. Think about a cheetah being hit with a dart, it still can run 60mph good luck finding him in time to capture. They would break the perimeter and then what? I know this sucks but again I blame the state on this one. The Dispatch said Ex Gov Strickland had a bill to ban exoitc animals and the great Gov Kasich let the bill expire.
Well, you see, Ohio is one of the few states with no laws against keeping exotic animals! So, if exotic animals are released and the owner decides to off himself, I say shoot away! Better than your family getting feasted upon!
The problem is that these animals were taken out of their environment in the first place. They’ve been miserable shadows ever since.
Ohio get some LAWS to protect theses animals!! They do not belong in someones backyard! We as a whole failed these animals!
@JCS Until they get out that is…
@ Katie… Read your state laws closer! The state of Ohio has none on the books!
Animals of this size cannot be tranquilized at night and that is when they were looking for them.
They did what they had to do.
It is sad but it was for the sake of safety. I have no issue with how they handled it. I want to know why the owner had all of these animals.
It was dark out and tranquilizing wasnt an option with so many loose. There was a woman with small children living right next to this property and other homes. He escaped justice here, but he cannot escape divine justice where he’s at now!
If I am not mistaken, they do have laws on the books but they are to protect the animals that are indigenous to Ohio. They need to expand them to include animals not indigenous to Ohio and Luke Evan is right…Kasich let the bill expire, maybe HE should be held responsible for what happened to these animals and not the brave men who were trying to keep the rest of us safe. I heard the story break the night before…so it did begin at night, Laura Libner…it just continued into daylight when this photo was taken. They tried to sedate a few of the animals first…one tiger charged after being shot with a sedative…animals can become extremely agitated and resist sedation. It would have been much too dangerous to sedate an animal, letting it run off and probably hide before the sedation set in, lose track of it, then allow it to reawaken confused, hungry and angry. They handled it the best way they possibly could with what they had at their disposal. Photos like this are meant to inflame and I understand the sadness at the loss of such beautiful creatures but maybe more people should actually get all the facts BEFORE jumping to conclusions.
Human beings are so selfish. These animals have been caged their ENTIRE life for us to look at and as soon as they get a light taste of freedom stupid cops have to gun them down. This is just bizarre! I highly doubt a bear would just randomly rip someones door off. We have tons of black bears out here in our woods, never once has anyone encountered a bear anymore than one picking through their garbage in their backyard. They dont come near humans unless we intimidate them. They stick to their business! People could have stayed indoor for 12 hours until all animals were tranquilized and brought back to the zoo safely! This is murder!!!
I see that most people’s comments support what the police did but just because animals cant talk doesnt mean we treat them any less than we treat humans. They are living things as well. Shooting them with a tranquilizer 2 or 3 times would definately knock them out!
How long was these animals in this town? and NO TRANQUILZED GUN enough said.
They were shot at night and could kill them, but they couldn’t tranquilize them at night because of why? What year is this 1923?
I agree, if they could have been shot at night they could have been shot with a tranquilizer at night too. So what if they ran off? Are you guys telling me that no one can notice an animal roaming the streets and call the police? They would eventually have passed out and evtually been spotted JUST LIKE they were spotted when they were first SHOT!!! All we had to do was to compromise our schedules just a little bit by staying indoors to save 50 lives!! Animal cruelty is equivalent to human cruelty and killing an animal is just like killing a human being, NO DIFFERENCE!!!
Umm, If I may, suggest a scenario? We have aggressive wild wild animals who have been caged for a long time, not fed properly and possibly not handled well. Now they are loose. Do you all seriously think there would have been time to lure these beasts into traps, nets or what not? Nope. Flight, and freedom would be first , then food, and guess what the nearest home with dogs, food, garbage would be targets. Now how many of you would want to be in a house with a 800 to 1000 pound bear, lion, tiger banging and clawing at your door. Not me no sir! As for the silly comments on tranqs, this is the procedure. First you need to know the correct weight of the animal, then you have to have the patience to track them if you get lucky and shoot them and the dart deploys and serves the nighty night cocktail to the animal. With all the adreniline in their systems, it would have to be a lot. Now I don’t know of too many animal control units in rural counties that keep more than 3 or 4 vials of that stuff around. How many of you would like to trip over a slightly tranqued wild beast on your way down the driveway for your morning paper. Oh snap, you’re their next meal. Its frightened its now mis-medicated and dysfunctional, so the only response it attack and yum. Nope those sheriff’s, local cops, who ever they were are HERO’s cause I would be going in the other direction as fast as I can. All those animals also have a normal hunting, living range of over 200 mile radius, think on that. Check your facts folks, we are not dealing with winnie the pooh and the lion king, ‘fraid not. Pat W., SC
fuck off, ohio. just…fuck off.
I think the debate on the tactical issue of tranquilizing Vs. shooting is not very important. Its the strategic point which should rather be debated. Attitude of the staff form incidents like these have since long in past been showing that by and large Zoos are interested in money and not real conservation. Secondly captivating living creatures for entertainment is by no means justifiable. Zoo industry should be shut down for good.
This is so wrong!! There had to have been a better way to handle this. I heard Jack Hanna went down there to help. I guess he was to late 🙁 So sad!!
I am horrified that this man was able to obtain all those animals in the first place! Can not believe that people are actually allowed to own animals like this, i mean what the hell is wrong with this picture. And my blood is boiling that 18 Bengal tigers were killed when it is said that the wild population of Bengal tigers will be extinct by 2020. Someone other than the owners of these animals needs to be held accountable for the fact they were able to get such a large population of animals in the first place!!!
LOL
honestly it’s sad to lose these animals, but I really have to side with those who were concerned about the chance that a person would be killed. As beautiful and important as animals are I believe that human life is priority one in this situation.
If they apparently had the time to fly animal expert Jack Hanna into Zanesville, they should’ve had time to bring in additional sedatives and tranquilizers to humanely sedate and transport those poor endangered animals into captivity. This was an avoidable tragedy for the state of Ohio, and the sherff’s department of Zanesville should be held accountable.
Animal hoarding is a sad horrible life for innocent creatures…authorities should have intervened long ago to shut this farm down. Just another example of our government, on any level, not protecting the vulnerable…be they children, the elderly, the mentally ill, animals….
I think they were just a bunch of trigger happy pussies having target practice. To egger to shoot something rather than think first. These animals could of and should of been tranquilized. Defiantly not a good call on the part of Ohio law enforcement. My heart goes out to the wife.
you guys are worried about being attacked by these animals????? you should be worried about your neighbor , or possibly a family member raping u , or being killed be a serial killer. you know who the REAL animals are. humans!!!!! and if one of those animals did happen to kill some one …o well its a part of life! you can die in a plane, car, train, jogging, smoking, ect ect, but u worried about them. it is possible for an animal to break out of te zoo….right? so when they do they get killed right??? but did they ask to be taken from africa like you say ??? no !!! oh and its funny that u guys think these animals only live in africa, and police suck….they dont do shit. they were having fun playing this wild wild west shoot the BEAST !!! animals were here before us, and will be hear after us, who the fuck do u think u r ???? humans r the sickest CREATURES on earth and thats a FACT !!!
@CLEVELANDaMUSEing…you are absolutely right…you can thank Kasich for letting this bill slide by.
@ David Shuo…Jack Hanna actually agreed that there were no other choices at this point…and without the law to back them up, the sheriff’s dept had their hands tied. the bill to protect these animals should have been passed and it was ALLOWED to expire.
@Charles Tudor…this was not by ANY means a sanctioned zoo. This was a case of an animal hoarder who got away with it because there were no laws against it in place. Sanctioned zoo’s perform an important functions such as preservation of species, public education, saving animals who would have otherwise died in the wild. Let’s not get them bundled in with this messy situation…not even close.
And as far as tranquilizing goes…they (the local police) did the best they could with what they had. They are not responsible for keeping enough tranquilizers on hand to bring down, 50 some, large wild animals…who would have ever thought that that many would escape at the same time, anyway? Even if this were an actually zoo I am sure that scenario would be outside the realm of rational possibilities. And without discussing, again, the process of tranquilizing large animals, maybe it would just be easier if everyone read for themselves the posts of those who know a bit more about this subject…or better yet…look it up for themselves before they write comments like: (“if they could have been shot at night they could have been shot with a tranquilizer at night too” or “They were shot at night and could kill them, but they couldn’t tranquilize them at night because of why? What year is this 1923?”). These comments are just ludacris and place blame on the very people who, in some cases. put themselves in an extreme amount of danger to save the very lives of those who are now condemning them.
The only thing more horrific than this image, and it breaks my heart to have to view the results of this massacre, is the horrific mutilation of the English language in some of the comments above my own.
Would have rather seen Zanesville, Ohio wiped off the face of the map… backwards rednecks. Looking at the pics of these people says it all.
Look at these pics next time you go to a circus or zoo.
Look….God created all of us to live peacefully on this planet. Yes, I understand that the police did not have the resources at the moment and it was getting dark. If people stayed inside their homes for a few more hours, those resources could have been there. On top of that I am sure that there is a vet and an animal control center, both stocked with tranquilizers, especially in horse country. Even if they only had 25 tranquilizers thats 25 less lives lost. The key thing is that some of these are not “regular” animals. Some of them are ENDANGERED SPECIES facing extinction. While the man who cared for them may have been a lunatic for keeping them, he probably had a good heart behind it in trying to save some and help them populate. Who are we to tell God, “Hey, we’re gonna kill your animals because we destroyed their habitats and food sources because we want it for ourselves!” Selfish much? There were alternatives to this situation either way you look at it.
thank you sheriff and staff for keeping all of us safe…ignore those who were not there and claim to know what you should have done…if anyone is at fault here it is the gentleman (RIP) who thought that he should have his own private zoo and the state legislators who rather pick on teachers than see to it that endangered animals do not live in private compounds in ohio
No choice but to shoot them,, they did try tranquilizing them and but tiger kept going. Have any of u tried hunting lions tigers and bears at night,, Didnt think so. Yea nobody got hurt n no doors ripped down because the authorities acted promptly. If they tried takin them alive wed be reading about dead people n children instead and all of u would be saying why didnt they just shoot them, im a animal lover and this is sad and sucks but there is no other choice,,theres only one person at blame and thats Thompson
i dont think they where wrong in killing the animals, did they deserve to die no, but how often do the Zanesvile athourities have to deal with something like this im sure they did not have tranquilizers on hand and they wanted to control the situation as quickly as possible so for the protection of the public they took action.
Again, Stacey and David. Listen up! Would you volunteer to stand close enough, which is I believe closer than shooting an animal from a tree stand, to a panicky tiger, lion, grizzly bear, to get in a tranq shot, then be willing to wait from the same distance to see if it works.??? I bet not. That’s what one brave soul tried to do, but as he probably didn’t know the exact weight of the tiger, the shot of tranq backfired. Am sure he beat the worlds record for reload and fire again if he had time, or not! So thank God these officers, officials, county workers whoever, were experienced enough in hunting other game and courageous enough to stand their ground and make split second decisions to go after dangerous wild animals at their own risk! Their job descriptions I’m sure don’t say, #42 Will be able to shoot wild beasts running loose under any conditions! I wouldn’t sign up for it and I bet a lot of you crying about the terrible shooting and loss of animals wouldn’t either if pushed. By the time you all got sensible and made a decision, there would have been a lot of danger, damage and loss of human life. Get off the “ohh poor little nice kitties and bears and so on, these are not little pets, they are Wild Animals that were confined for all the wrong reasons. Turn that spite and anger into action and get your state governor to sign a bill into action immediately instead of whining. All those officials who participated in the “Hunt” should be given a commendation for bravery and actions above the call of duty as far as I’m concerned. They really put their lives on the line moreso than usual. I am a Buckeye and I am proud of their actions and bravery and the fact that the process didn’t get bogged down in “Let the committee, council, mayor, etc. decide, and we will wait and see!” That would have been a disaster and you who comment and live in Zanesville may not have lived long enough to post your utterly inane comments. Geez. Get a grip folks, this is not a movie set, its real, it happened in your community and you should be glad there were folks there with enough grit to step up and do what had to be done. I’m sure they were excited, afraid, worried, and unbelieving, but you focus and do what has to be done under any conditions. Nuff said, quit with the whining about tranqing and saving, its over and no one got hurt. Don’t you all in Zanesville, Ohio count yourselves lucky to have lived through this to fight another day? I am glad you all are even if some of your comments are thoughtless, rude and inane. However, point is, GOOD JOB ZANESVILLE, OHIO OFFICIALS. KUDOS.
Endangered animals? Why the fuck not, just kill them all. Seems logical. 3400 tigers left world wide, minus a couple. no big deal right? Fuck you Ohio.
This is obviously a tragedy and I primarily blame the state for allowing an individual to own all these animals in the first place and the owner for letting them go. Once they were free, it was probably inevitable that the police would have to kill most of them, but I feel like at least some of these animals probably could have been saved. In particular, I really wish they had saved the tigers, since tigers are so highly endangered.
There was no need for killing all these animals! They should have tried Tranquilizing them first…The Bangled Tigers are on the endangered species list so lets just be dumb and kill 18 of them. UGH People just don’t use their minds sometimes. This is just flat out animal cruelty!
Something should have been done along time ago to stop the guy who had all these animals. With that said I think the police did the best they could. Thier job is the SAFETY OF THE PUBLIC not animal safety. If one of these animals would have killed someone God forbid you all would be crying that they didnt do their job so when they do the job that they were HIRED to do people are gonna cry foul. I agree this is a very sad thing and a shame that it had to happen but these officers are not trained to handle WILD ANIMALS so they did what they could to keep the public safe!!! Jack Hanna even said that the police did the only thing they could seeing as it was night and tranquing the animals was near impossible according to a vet that was on the scene. I bet if one of your kids had been bitten by the herpes monkey you would be suing the hell out of the cops for not doing their job to PROTECT your child. It was cruel the way these animals were kept alive all these years in small pens not being fed enough but were was the out cry then??? Shame on all of you for giving the police a hard time. They did the job they were hired to do and risked being mauled or worse themselves to keep you and yours safe. I didnt see any of you out there trying to wrangle these animals no you were behind your locked doors and now sit in judgement of those who risk their lives daily for you!!! Such a shame all the way around!!!
Sad but Understandable.
The “locals” were never trained or prepared for this event.
Had they tranquilized these animals, then what?
They wake up again to what?
There was no transport, No containment and apparently no food back at the farm.
If you want to be outraged, be angry at the dead guy who freed all these animals rather than deal with the bankruptcy.
It is a sad event but the logistics of a humane outcome were outside the ability of the local officials.
Perhaps the outraged advocates would have been better served to to help fund the farm before it came to this.
“I’m not saying its right, but I understand”….Chris Rock
MAYBE ALL OF YOU PEOPLE ATTACKING THE POLICE OFFICERS NEED TO STOP AND THINK!!! They live in a small county and DO NOT CARRY TRANQUILIZERS. It was getting dark and they were forced to shoot the animals to prevent them from dispersing. They attempted to shoot, I think a tiger, but the animal freaked out and started to run so at the risk they had missed had to put the animal down. Fault does not lie with the police officers but with the selfish ignorant “sanctuary” owner. Ohio needs to pass a law that makes owning exotic animals illegal. This man had received on file complaints at least 30 times. Its not right to own these animals, it endagers your neighbors and is cruel to the animals.
Haha to all u animal lovers what did u want to do Go here kitty kitty let me pet you!! Have u ever been up close to a man eating animal?? Shoot to kill was a great idea!! Its a shame all that good meat got waisted!! It could have feed many starving people 🙂 Many people would have paid to hunt these animals!! Pretty sad that a cat ate a monkey and attacked its dead owner but yep they were soo scared…..
The question I have is this…if these animals were so wild then why are they considering giving some of the animals back to the guys wife? I read that they woman considered them “like children”.
Have some people been living under a rock this whole time, having wild animals in home setting first off not a good idea, but to have this many in one area! Honestly you’re going to tell me that the one and only solution to this situation was to shoot some of the world’s endangered species… I couldn’t disagree more with whoever called the shots on this one… pun not intended… “Hear kitty kitty”… more like tranquilizers and moving them to a safer area. A release of this magnitude should have called for more trained or equipped individuals to deal with the situation, there are multiple types of animals involved that have been are or were recently put on the endangered list.
Hey, people, this was a matter that couldn’t wait for an animal expert to get there. These were free roaming wild animals that could have put ANY person outdoors in peril. The pic you see are the dead animals collected in one area AFTER they were shot. Do you think these animals would congregate together as pictured? Jeeze!
I’m not here to beat a dead horse, no pun intended, but I can’t actually believe people are actually debating if the police should’ve killed these animals. It’s not the police fault these animals are dead, but the delta bravo that released them into the wild. The police department’s job is to protect and serve the PEOPLE of their community, not to capture wild animals. I’m sure if it were only 1 or 2 that had been released, then tranquilizing them would’ve been possible. Think about it, there’s no chance in hell the police would’ve been able to capture all those animals. Great Job in ending this ordeal, because if just 1 of those animals attacked someone or their pet, then there would’ve been people debating why didn’t they kill them?
They are wild animals that very much deserved to be in the wild instead of being caged up at some zoo for show. all this kaak could’v been avoided.
From those wonderful folks that brought us May 4…the animal kingdom gets its very own Kent State.
Be proud, Ohio…you’re in the world spotlight for all the wrong reasons…as usual.
Chuckles the Clown
A few years ago in Oslo, Norway a wolf somehow entered the downtown city limits. The police attempted to “catch” it by tranquilizing it, however, the wolf managed to evade the police. Their
first response was to tranquilize it and return it to the wilderness. Even though the wolf “escaped” (so to speak), no-one was hurt. Most wild animals will avoid people contact at all costs. I find a certain respect for animals is warranted by all of us. It was not their fault, in the first place, of being mismanaged by a human, therefor they did not deserve to die. Unfortunately, however, the police department (I have no name who decided that these magnificent creatures were to be killed) choose a method of elimination/termination. As so often, there is an overreaction on the part of police. A method to tranquilize the animals would have been the humane option, and killing only under eminent risk. I am very saddened by this mass killing. Can I trust a police chief who is so quick to kill? I wonder what was going on in his (limited insightful) mind to make such a tragic decision?
Comment to East Tech ’97. Sir, your thinking coincides with that of the police. Perhaps you could have joined in killing these animals, if you were so concerned about the “safety of PEOPLE”. Unfortunately, this simplistic thinking has gotten us into trouble before. There are options to every
problem. Ask yourself, would you have liked to see these animals alive? Could there have been other, more humane way of taking care of their safety and people’s safety? I think you will have your answer…Let’s not be so quick to jump the gun (so to speak)…
MAKES ME SICK TO MY STOMACH! IGNORANT bastards!
Yes, it is sad that these animals had to be killed in Zanesville, but for those of you who are shocked, why don’t you address the barbaric human murder in your city before you judge those down the street. In fact, the t-shirt says it all.
makes me sick….we have all these sexual predators FREE in our country…roaming our neighborhoods…stalking our children…and we KILL innocent animals just because they may be dangerous…. ashamed that this happened what a loss…
As a Vet. Tech student, as well as having lots of experience working in different animal rehabs and zoos, I understand why they had to shoot the animals. For all those saying they should have tranquilized them, the police did not have time. Each species of animals would need different doses of sedative, and attempting to find enough for all those animals in Ohio (not to mention in a reasonable amount of time, because the publics safety was at risk) would have been close to impossible. Honestly, this was a bad situation, and the police officers were there to protect the people of their town, they really didn’t have a choice. If it weren’t for the polices action, there would have been who knows how many injuries and even deaths from wild animals. Even Jack Hanna (a well known American zoo keeper as well as animal conservationist who helped try to round up these animas) agreed that it was the right thing to do. As well as for people asking why this guy was allowed to have these animals, it is due to the lack of restrictions on Ohio’s laws (Which I am pretty sure have changed since this incident) The real issue is that he was legally able to have all these wild animals on his property.
Ok it is VERY sad I live in Zanesville and only a few of the animals even left the property. Many of them did not even leave their cages. Some of the cubs were shot in their cages along with a very old lion who had hip dyspasia and COULDN’T leave his cage easily if he wanted to. He was aslo shot IN his cage as were a few other adult animals who did not bother leaving their cage even though they were cut open. Also for those of you who are blaming Terry Thompson how could he have done this think about it. Read the autopsy report. How do you shoot yourself in the head and then throw the gun 10 feet from your body? Why if you were going to kill yourself would you pull your pants down first to humiliate yourself? Why would you let your children out of the cages (they were his children) to get slaughtered because he knew that would happen? Why would you cut the cages if you had the key? If the animals were SO wild then how would you have the chance to cut ALL those cages and still have time to kill yourself before being attacked by them? Why would the sherif say that the animals are affraid of them and were running from them the day it happend, but then change his mind and say that the animals were attacking them the very next day? WHY because most of the crap they fed to you were lies. I knew some friends and some enemies of the Thompson family and BOTH the friends and the enemies agreed that he would NEVER do this or kill himself. I have talked to one of the people who helped on the farm and he said that if he was allowed on the farm to call for the cats that MANY if not most would have come to him when he called their names, and they had been fed the day before which is common to feed every other day with exotics as even in the wild they do not eat every day. These animals were used in music videos ect…. and the actors and singers in those videos were not affraid of them attacking them so why should any of us have been. They even lied about trying to traquilize one of the tigers because no one NOT even Marion or any of the handlers NO ONE but police were even allowed on the property for almost 2 days. By then all of the animals were already dead, so how in the world if NO ONE was allowed up there did a person from the wilds “try” to traquilize one of the animals that they admit was still on the property? People are pretty stupid if they beleive all the crap that was fed to the media. THe only thing I believe is when the Sherif said the animals were scared and running from them. I believe that because who would not run if they were being shot at? SO SAD
The owner at first did purchase some of the animals but many of the later ones he rescued from people who could not care for them anymore and from places that abused them. You all need to look up the Joe Exotic interview about this on youtube. He spoke to Marion Thompson personally and as I did read the autopsy report from our corrupt Muskingum county sherifs office. If you cannot figure out how to shoot yourself in the head and then throw a gun 10 feet away from your body then you wil be interested to know that apparently post mortum Terry was able to somehow get the gun 10 feet from himself. My last comment was supposed to say that one of the lions had hip dysplasia I know I had some typos but that one stood out. I am also not using my real name because I do not want to end up like Terry for pointing out the fact that he was murderd likely by at least some of the people who are being praised for killing all of his animals.