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10-19-2011, 03:43 AM | #1 |
Donating YT 10K Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: S. W. Suburbs of Chicago, IL
Posts: 12,235
| Exotic Animals Escape from OH "Park"! This story is just unbelievable and frightening! How is this even possible or allowed to have occurred? Exotic Animals on the Loose in Ohio After Park Owner Found Dead Read more: Exotic Animals On The Loose In Ohio After Park Owner Found Dead | Fox News ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Dozens of animals escaped from a wild-animal preserve that houses bears, big cats and other beasts, and the owner later was found dead there, said police, who shot several of the animals and urged nearby residents to stay indoors. The fences had been left unsecured Tuesday at the Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, in east-central Ohio, and the animals' cages were open, police said. They wouldn't say what animals escaped but said the preserve had lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, giraffes, camels and bears. They said bears and wolves were among 25 escaped animals that had been shot and killed and there were multiple sightings of exotic animals along a nearby highway. "These are wild animals that you would see on TV in Africa," Sheriff Matt Lutz warned at a press conference. Neighbor Danielle White, whose father's property abuts the animal preserve, said she didn't see loose animals this time but did in 2006, when a lion escaped. "It's always been a fear of mine knowing (the preserve's owner) had all those animals," she said. "I have kids. I've heard a male lion roar all night." Lutz called the escaped animals "mature, very big, aggressive" but said a caretaker told authorities the preserve's 48 animals had been fed on Monday. He said police were patrolling the 40-acre farm and the surrounding areas in cars, not on foot, and were concerned about big cats and bears hiding in the dark and in trees. "This is a bad situation," Lutz said. "It's been a situation for a long time." Lutz said his office started getting phone calls at about 5:30 p.m. that wild animals were loose just west of Zanesville on a road that runs under Interstate 70. He said four deputies with assault rifles in a pickup truck went to the animal farm, where they found the owner, Terry Thompson, dead and all the animal cage doors open. He wouldn't say how Thompson died but said several aggressive animals were near his body when deputies arrived and had to be shot. Thompson, who lived on the property, had orangutans and chimps in his home, but those were still in their cages, Lutz said. The deputies, who saw many other animals standing outside their cages and others that had escaped past the fencing surrounding the property, began shooting them on sight. They said there had been no reports of injuries among the public. Staffers from the Columbus Zoo went to the scene, hoping to tranquilize and capture the animals. The sheriff said caretakers might put food in the animals' open cages to try to lure them back. Lutz said people should stay indoors and he might ask for local schools to close Wednesday. At least four school districts in the area canceled classes. Lutz said his main concern was protecting the public in the rural area, where homes sit on large lots of sometimes 10 acres (four hectares). "Any kind of cat species or bear species is what we are concerned about," Lutz said. "We don't know how much of a head start these animals have on us." A spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which usually handles native wildlife, such as deer, said state Division of Wildlife officers were helping the sheriff's office cope with the exotic animals in Zanesville, a city of about 25,000 residents. "This is, I would say, unique," spokeswoman Laura Jones said. White, the preserve's neighbor, said Thompson had been in legal trouble, and police said he had gotten out of jail recently. At a nearby Moose Lodge, Bill Weiser remembered Thompson as an interesting character who flew planes, raced boats and owned a custom motorcycle shop that also sold guns. "He was pretty unique," Weiser said. "He had a different slant on things. I never knew him to hurt anybody, and he took good care of the animals." Ohio has some of the nation's weakest restrictions on exotic pets and among the highest number of injuries and deaths caused by them. In the summer of 2010, an animal caretaker was killed by a bear at a property in Cleveland. The caretaker had opened the bear's cage at exotic-animal keeper Sam Mazzola's property for a routine feeding. Though animal-welfare activists had wanted Mazzola charged with reckless homicide, the caretaker's death was ruled a workplace accident. The bear was later destroyed. This summer, Mazzola was found dead on a water bed, wearing a mask and with his arms and legs restrained, at his home in Columbia Township, about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland. It was unclear how many animals remained on the property when he died, but he had said in a bankruptcy filing in May 2010 that he owned four tigers, a lion, eight bears and 12 wolves. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had revoked his license to exhibit animals after animal-welfare activists campaigned for him to stop letting people wrestle with another one of his bears. Mazzola had permits for nine bears for 2010, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said. The state requires permits for bears but doesn't regulate the ownership of nonnative animals, such as lions and tigers. Read more: Exotic Animals On The Loose In Ohio After Park Owner Found Dead | Fox News
__________________ “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” Mark Twain |
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10-19-2011, 04:33 AM | #2 |
Jada + Bogie = ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mayberry AKA smalltown usa
Posts: 24,078
| OMG!! What a scary situation
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10-19-2011, 06:03 AM | #3 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Where the deer and the antelope play
Posts: 7,069
| I watched this story on GMA this morning. It is so sad that these beautiful animals are paying with their lives with shoot to kill orders. I understand we have to keep people safe, but I am also glad Jack Hanna and his people have come to help save as many as possible. I hope the authorities are letting him help before they get too anxious to shoot if no one is in danger.
__________________ Shelly and the girls Moka Mylee |
10-19-2011, 06:23 AM | #4 |
Donating YT 10K Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: S. W. Suburbs of Chicago, IL
Posts: 12,235
| I think this just happened last night. How to you even leave your home with wild animals on the prowl!
__________________ “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” Mark Twain |
10-19-2011, 06:28 AM | #5 |
I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Posts: 37,147
| It is very sad. I hope an animal rights person didnt do this that would even be sadder.
__________________ Chachi's & Jewels Mom Jewels http://www.dogster.com/?132431Chachi http://www.dogster.com/?132427 |
10-19-2011, 06:35 AM | #6 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: #4 PRIVET DRIVE
Posts: 1,685
| There's no way I would leave the house!
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10-19-2011, 06:36 AM | #7 |
Donating YT 100K Club Member & Top YorkieTalk Poster! Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: western KY
Posts: 108,935
| That is a scary situation..there is no way for them to know for sure if they have captured or killed them all with the owner dead
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10-19-2011, 06:57 AM | #8 |
Luvs Lulu Donating Member | Very scary situation. Doubt I would be leaving the house. Sad that they are killing the animals instead of trying to capture them.
__________________ Lulu will always be in my heart |
10-19-2011, 06:59 AM | #9 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Lorain Ohio
Posts: 1,882
| I think it is awful that someone would let these animals out. Did they think they would allow them to live if they were free? I pray that they save as many as they can. They do not deserve to die because of some idiot person feeling they were doing the right thing.
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10-19-2011, 07:15 AM | #10 |
Donating YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Posts: 12,693
| Scary scary scary!!! Why are people keeping so many exotic animals on their property?
__________________ Littlest JakJak We miss you Kaji |
10-19-2011, 07:24 AM | #11 |
I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Posts: 37,147
| Well thats what I thought too but it was an animal refuge. The problem was that Ohio has the least amount of regulation on keeping exotic animals and the highest number of deaths because of it. I think that says it all. I dont agree with anyone keeping an exotic as a pet either. They are just asking for it to happen
__________________ Chachi's & Jewels Mom Jewels http://www.dogster.com/?132431Chachi http://www.dogster.com/?132427 |
10-19-2011, 07:30 AM | #12 | |
Donating YT 10K Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: S. W. Suburbs of Chicago, IL
Posts: 12,235
| I found this interesting too: Quote:
__________________ “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” Mark Twain | |
10-19-2011, 07:41 AM | #13 |
I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Posts: 37,147
| He didnt tie himself up obviously. Theres some funny business going on in Ohio
__________________ Chachi's & Jewels Mom Jewels http://www.dogster.com/?132431Chachi http://www.dogster.com/?132427 |
10-19-2011, 07:58 AM | #14 |
Yorkie mom of 4 Donating YT Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: LaPlata, Md
Posts: 23,247
| That is scary. I would not be leaving my house.
__________________ Taylor My babies Joey, Penny ,Ollie & Dixie Callie Mae, you will forever be in my heart! |
10-19-2011, 08:02 AM | #15 |
♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas
Posts: 22,140
| You might not even by safe in a house. I think I'd go to the mall and shop all day until I heard all way clear and all rounded up. Did this guy turn out the animals and then kill himself?
__________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis |
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