As I stood atop the Earth with the cool fall breeze running across my face, I gazed upon dozens of motionless corpses laid out across the ground.
On Tuesday, October 18th, in Zanesville, Ohio, exotic animal farm owner Terry Thompson, age 62, committed suicide by gunshot but not before letting loose all of his exotic animals. There was a total of 56 exotic animals that Thompson let loose upon the surrounding community.
Around 5:30 PM, Sheriff Matt Lutz’s office started to get swamped with calls from concerned citizens. One 911 caller reported “Yeah, there's a lion on Mount Perry Road. ... I just drove by and it walked out in front of me and was standing there under the street light.” Sheriff Lutz decided to give orders to his deputies to shoot the animals on sight. He said “If this had been a 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock incident, in the middle of the day, odds are high that we may have been able to surround the area and keep everything contained. But our biggest problem that we had was nightfall. We had about an hour, hour and a half of light, and we just couldn't take the chance.” Sheriff’s deputies were sent out to the Zanesville farm in cars armed with assault rifles ready to shoot any animal considered exotic and dangerous on sight. By Wednesday afternoon the next day, the deputies had ended up taking the lives of 50 animals in and around the property.
There were attempts made by Columbus zoo officials to capture some of the animals and give the homes in the zoo. They succeeded in capturing 3 leopards, 2 monkeys, and a grizzly bear. Some of the animals had to be taken down because tranquilizers take several minutes to take effect even when a person makes an effective shot.
The animals’ owner Terry Thompson has been charged before on counts of animal cruelty in 2005 and had just recently been released from prison on felony weapons charges. There was also a civil case pending for the forfeiture of all of his firearms according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Ohio’s Southern District.
Ohio’s laws on exotic pet ownership are more lax than any other state which is why the humane society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have been pushing Ohioan officials to enact stricter regulations on exotic pet ownership. Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society said “In recent years, Ohioans have died and suffered injuries because the state hasn't stopped private citizens from keeping dangerous wild animals as pets or as roadside attractions. Owners of large, exotic animals are a menace to society, and it's time for the delaying on the rule-making to end.” Fritz Douthitt, a volunteer at the Zanesville Animal Shelter Society said “For lions, tigers and bears to die, she said, was unforgivable."
This was an interesting topic, and I enjoyed reading it. I think that because of the subject, the text would be more effective if you took out the narrative. The first sentence was confusing. Was that your narrative? Are the gray words used to imply a quote? To add more content to you writing, you should give more info on Terry Thompson. How did he get a hold of all these animals, and why did the state of Ohio let a mentally unstable person posses so many? More quotations will also give your writing more credibility. Telling your readers about the area of Zanesville will also help your text. The last quote should be reworded. I would take out the "she said" in the middle, since you already introduced who was speaking. Can't wait to read more about this!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Joan on multiple points, such as taking out the narrative at the beginning, and revising the last quote (though I think you have enough quotes in general to make your writing credible). Your article seems very effective without the first person narrative, so when you revise your article make sure to leave it out.
ReplyDeleteAdding background on the event would help lengthen and perhaps even make your text more effective. (Maybe more on the person who committed suicide and reasons why he released the animals?)
I also noticed that some of your text is gray. If it isn’t intentional, perhaps you should change the color to make it match the rest of the article, as it can be potentially distracting to readers.