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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Wild Animals Set Loose, Owner Dead
2011-10-19
They're loose, all the cage doors open, and the fence "unsecured". PETA, perhaps?Or hunters...
"It's always been a fear of mine knowing (the preserve's owner) had all those animals," the neighbor said. "I have kids. I've heard a male lion roar all night."

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.

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.
The kook who did this probably thought they'd be humanely captured and returned to the wild - say New Jersey.
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.
Unless they're shot on sight, of course.
Posted by:Bobby

#6  According to NPR, they've got all the animals except a wolf and a monkey. Six were tranquilizer, the rest were shot dead, because sheriffs are not issued tranquilizer guns.
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-10-19 18:19  

#5  More details from Zanesville here:
Jack Hanna from the Columbus Zoo: "It's like Noah's Ark crashed in Muskingum County."
The hunt for the animals began around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when reports were received by the sheriff's office. Sheriff Lutz said the property owner, Terry Thompson, was found dead outside and the animals were free when they arrived. Officers killed about 25 animals on the way up to the house to check on Thompson. This morning the sheriff stated Thompson had committed suicide.
Thompson was sentenced to one year and a day in prison in October 2010 for two federal counts of possessing illegal firearms and recently had been released. Thomas was charged after agents with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives served a search warrant at his home in 2008.

At that time, the ATF seized 133 weapons and a small amount of ammunition. Thompson's conviction centered on eight of those guns -- five fully automatic firearms and three short-barreled firearms without serial numbers. Thompson was former a gun dealer who did not renew his license several years ago.

The guns were discovered in a storage chest in the basement of Thompson's home the day ATF served the warrant. They had been taken from Thompson's father's home before the home was demolished two years ago.

A black bear and a wolf made it to a field near Interstate 70 along with a large mountain lion.

The sheriff's office also found two hunters in the area, but they left the area safely.

Deputies with assault rifles traveled the area in a truck to look for the animals, and the sheriff's office used its thermal imaging equipment. An Ohio Highway Patrol helicopter was unable to help because of weather.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2011-10-19 12:21  

#4  This happened about 15 miles from where I went to college. And this upcoming weekend is alumni weekend at the school. I did not have plans to attend this year and think I'll keep it that way.

Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!
Posted by: eltoroverde   2011-10-19 09:41  

#3  The radio just said, "possible suicide." Opens a whole new host of questions.
Posted by: Bobby   2011-10-19 09:34  

#2  PETA types in Britain have long gone insanely criminal, in one instance exhuming the dead mother of one animal researcher, so the odds that one or more of them turned homicidal in the US is high.

There are only three reasons the police would make no statement about the cause of death of the owner. The first being if there was no obvious cause, the second if it was clearly a homicide under investigation, and the third if the animals had been working on him for a while before they found him.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-10-19 07:50  

#1  [the owner of the preserve] had been in legal trouble, and police said he had gotten out of jail recently.

No, reeeeeeaaally?
Posted by: Steve White   2011-10-19 07:37  

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