Ohio Exotic Animal Escape Results in Dozens of Animals killed

It was a Thursday morning while I was eating some breakfast and skimming through CNN’s website to see what was happening in the world and I stumbled upon something shocking.

On Tuesday, October 18^th, in rural 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 of these animals that were let loose upon the surrounding community. 

Around 5:30 PM, Sheriff Matt Lutz’s office began 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 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.  However, Some of the animals had to be taken down before tranquilizers could take effect because it takes several minutes for them to work 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.   He was allowed to keep all of his animals because the emergency initiative enacted by a previous governor, Ted Strickland, preventing those convicted of animal cruelty from owning exotic animals, expired last April.  The Humane Society said Thompson "would almost certainly have had his animals removed by May 1, 2011, if the emergency order had not expired."

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, was unforgivable."

I then slowly closed my laptop, grabbed my school bag and went left for school contemplating the events that occurred on the Zanesville farm.