Exotic animals escape Ohio farm, owner found dead

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mechanicx

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I wonder how the owner died and all the animals escaped. I wonder if he was killed by some wacky activist and the animals were released? There's bears, big cats and wolves at large and the police are shooting them tonight.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti...0c570aeec22b691

"Dozens of animals escaped Tuesday 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."
 
Reminds of the book by George Orwell "Animal Farm"

shocked2.gif
 
Hmmmmm. I ride my bicycle to work and I'm only a few counties over. If you all dont see me post in a while, you know what happened. And to think the coyotes I encounter at 5am was something.
 
I'm only a few counties over too. I'm west so luckily there are plenty of other people between me and there that the animals can eat.
 
Seems odd that all the cages were open and the police not saying what the cause of death was. I hope it wasn't some radical group that don't think animals should be caged or the like.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Let's state the obvious. This would not have happened with a well armed citizenry.


The only thing that's obvious is that no one yet has all the facts, including why or how it happened.
 
Staffers from the Columbus Zoo are helping... that's Jack Hanna's zoo! He's the animal wingnut on "Letterman"...
 
Ha- I love OH, I grew up there and my parents are still there. Hey guns laws are not too bad there. I live in NY, and gun laws stink here and taxes stink too. I miss OH, great place to raise your kids.
 
Originally Posted By: joaks
Why can't we be in the news for something positive for once? I feel bad for the animals :-(


Well, the Bengals look pretty good. The football ones, not the ones running loose on the highway....
 
Poor animals. The news now report that the owner let the animals out and then committed suicide.
 
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Poor animals. The news now report that the owner let the animals out and then committed suicide.


Jeez that's even crazier than the theory that wacky activist did it. The only reason I came up with that possibility was from the last paragraph in the news story I linked. I guess truth is stranger than fiction. Poor animals.
 
So Thompson and his wife collect animals for a period of time. Obviously they like the animals. He then proceeds to disable all of the cages and set the animals free...and then takes his own life...

Both Thompsons know if the animals are free they would be running wild causing problems and probably not treated nicely by law enforcement if caught roaming as some are a public safety risk. Hence the cages. The main part of the story being reported is how the law guns down and captures the animals and this is what they got for motive for human death?

I am not a profiler but nothing fits that story. They live in a state where there are no laws against keeping exotic animals. The Thompsons live together (no mention of prior issues between the married couple) and collect these animals together...obviously happy to have them considering them to be family....and one day Mr. Thompson decides..."what the heck, I am going to free the animals which I know will be treated poorly or killed if on the loose and cause my wife considerable amount of pain for my death and endangering the life of the animals"

Really?!?
 
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Originally Posted By: 65cuda
Seems odd that all the cages were open and the police not saying what the cause of death was. I hope it wasn't some radical group that don't think animals should be caged or the like.


They now say it was a self inflicted gunshot: Suicide.
 
Zanesville, OH - Preliminary information indicates the owner of an Ohio animal farm may have committed suicide after dozens of animals were released from his farm.

The Muskingum County sheriff says it's possible that Terry Thompson opened the animal cages himself.

Thompson served one year in jail on fire arm charges and was released about three weeks ago. He also had a prior conviction of cruelty to animals.

Sheriff Matt Lutz says Thompson was on their radar.

Dozens of the animals were killed overnight. Sheriff Lutz says daybreak will help them get a better account of the situation.

"Once day break hits here we're going back in to get an accountability of how many animals have been put down, how many animals are still penned up. And once we get that number, and we have what we think is a pretty credible number of how many animals were here at this scene, once we get that number we can brief our citizens on a little bit more," said Sheriff Lutz. "We are aware of Mr. Thompson's criminal record. That is one of the issues that has been debated here as far as having these compound type places for animals in the state of Ohio."

Deputies found Thompson's body on Tuesday when they went to the farm on Tuesday on reports of wild animals running free.

Officials spent the night hunting down and shooting to death most of the nearly 50 animals.
 
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