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: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011...-dead/#ixzz1bE966ZMi

I'm really hoping some dangerous game comes by my farm. Perhaps I should start offering dangerous game hunts?

Last I heard was that a mtn lion , grizzly and monkey were the only ones not put down.I'm sure that the cat can survive fairly easily.
Cops shot the animals with their rifles and handguns .I would assume that means 223 ,maybe 7.62 and handguns.I wonder how efficient that was .

I'm guessing more like a 12 gauage with slugs.

Brought to you from sunny Mazatlan, Mex.....

From the Outdoor Wire:

Unfortunately NOT A Hollywood Movie

Initial news reports read like a script from a Hollywood movie: the owner of an exotic game farm is found dead, the cages opened and dozens of dangerous exotic animals on the loose.

Unfortunately, Zanesville and Muskingum County, Ohio aren't movie sets; and the story wasn't fiction.

Just before dark Wednesday evening, the sheriff's department in Muskingum County received reports of wild animals on the loose. When they investigated, they found their worst fears confirmed: the fences were open on the Muskingum County Animal Farm -and the animal cages were open.

That meant several big cats, bears, and other animals were loose somewhere outside the confines of the Game Farm.

To further complicate the situation, game farm owner Terry Thompson was found dead on the scene.

Wednesday night is one the area will remember for some time to come.

Sheriff Matt Lutz called out the SWAT team. They used their night vision equipment to go big game hunting.

By Thursday morning, 40 exotic animals had been put down by officers, some only after attempts to anesthetize them failed or they charged officers.

Someone even tried to take advantage of the situation and steal one of the big cats. That animal was recovered and a suspect arrested. Officials say charges will be filed.

Recognizing the potential threat couldn't be adequately contained overnight, officials cancelled school rather than risking area children being endangered by the escaped animals while waiting for school buses.

Even as they were moving to contain the animals, officials were doing everything they could to prevent killing them if possible. Animal experts from the Columbus Zoo and ODNR rushed to the scene, hoping to tranquilize as many animals as possible. Caretakers put food in the animal's cages, hoping to lure them back. Those efforts were successful in a couple of instances.

TV-host, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Director Emeritus Jack Hanna came to offer his assistance. During a morning press conference, Hanna defended the sheriff's office actions in putting down the most dangerous animals located by SWAT officers overnight.

"The last thing I wanted to see was what happened here," Hanna told reporters, "We all love our animal world. And we love the people world, too. People's safety is first, and then we have animals to protect."

"You can train a wild animal," Hanna said, "you can't tame a wild animal."

The potential for danger, he said, simply prevented their recapture.

"You can't run," Hanna said, "tigers think you're something to catch, either prey or something to play with. If you stand and scream, most of the time, the animal will run from you."

But, he said, that's never a certainty, any more than shooting a big animal at night with a tranquilizer dart assures you that it's not still able to attack.

Yesterday, calls poured in from around the country with offers to place the remaining animals. Apparently, primates and some remaining animals were not released in what officials are calling the apparent suicide of owner Thompson.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued an advisory Wednesday asking outdoor enthusiasts to avoid "outdoor activity" in Muskingum, eastern Licking, northern Perry, northern Morgan, southern Coshocton and western Gurnsey counties due to the wild animals still unaccounted for.

Even after the current situation stabilizes, one thing is obvious: Ohio has a problem caused by the existing lack of regulations covering exotic pets or exotic game farms.

In a teleconference to update the situation, the questions about the situation itself were upstaged by the glaring gap in Ohio law.

Today the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has no authority over exotic animals. In fact, only "exhibitors or breeders of exotic animals" covered under the USDA's enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) regulations are regulated in any way Ohio. No state laws exist to address the problem.

The Zanesville facility was not subject to CITES regulations.

Ohio officials aren't unaware of the problem. The previous administration issued a last-minute executive order calling for ODNR regulation of exotic animals.

That order was allowed to expire because, simply put, ODNR has no authority to enforce regulations for exotic animals. Their expressed authority, according to ODNR Chief Legal Counsel Bill Damschroder, "covers only native Ohio wildlife.

"It's something that's overdue to try and address," said acting ODNR Director Scott Zody, who heads a group of "stakeholders" which has already been working on drafting regulations to address exotic pets in Ohio.

"This tragedy," he said, "will help accelerate the efforts."

Plans were already in place to have draft proposals ready by year's end. At that point, they would still require legislative approval. There is a need to act, Zody said, but not out of a sense of fear. "We need to regulate and restrict, not knee-jerk."

If tough new regulations were suddenly rushed into place, Zody explained, "exotic animal owners might simply decide they can't meet the requirements and simply open their cages."

"We do not want to see this situation repeated because of onerous regulations."

There is no provision for ODNR to accept exotic animals should their owners decide to surrender them. The ODNR's only recourse is to contact the Columbus Zoo or other accredited facility and put them in touch with the animal owner.

How big is the problem in Ohio? That's difficult to determine.

Only exotic animal facilities and owners that fall under USDA/CITES regulations are inspected, unless the facility also houses native Ohio wildlife. In those instances, ODNR would make annual inspections, but then only the part of the facility housing native species.

The Muskingum County Animal Farm didn't fall under any of the existing regulations.

The latest accounting of the animals shows a total of 48 were killed, a wolf, six black bears, 2 grizzly bears, 9 male lions, 8 lionesses, 1 baboon, 3 mountain lions and 18 tigers. Only six animals (a grizzly bear, 3 leopards and 2 monkeys) were transported to the Columbus zoo. Only a single wolf and a monkey remain unaccounted for.

And yes, there have been death threats from pro-animal rights groups. The Columbus zoo has added extra security people.

And the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has criticized Governor John Kasich for allowing that unenforceable executive order calling for a statewide ban on buying or selling exotic animals to expire.

As this story continues to evolve, we'll keep you posted.

--Jim Shepherd

****
Ohio Game Farmer Deeply In Debt
Muskingum County (Ohio) Animal Farm owner Terry Thompson was reportedly deeply in debt, owing tens of thousands of dollars in federal income and state property taxes, when the 62-year old Thompson released his collection exotic animals from their cages, then shot himself.

More than fifty animals, including black bears, grizzlies, Bengal tigers, African lions, leopards, mountain lions, a wolf and a baboon left their cages and wandered the countryside outside near Zanesville, Ohio. Despite efforts to contain or recapture the animals, all but six were killed in order to keep nearby residents safe. At this point, only a single monkey is unaccounted for, and officials say one of the big cats may have eaten it. The six remaining animals, three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys were captured alive and taken to the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo. The zoo is asking for donations to help care for them (www.columbuszoo.org

This is certainly a sad situation. However it makes one wonder how a bunch of goodie two shoes tree hugger types can import a bunch of Canadian wolves and let them loose in several western states. These wolves have now multiplied and caused serious problems with elk and deer herds in those states. However when a bunch of carnivors are released in their back yard its shoot first and ask questions later.

I don't care how much you like to hunt or not, this is a truly sad sight. What a waste of life.

In the news they said the bodies were buried on the site. Wonder if they skinned the big cats first. Seems at least someone could have had some nice rugs out of the situation.

There was a news blurb on tv the next day the several men were arrested attempting to skin some of the animals and steal those skins. The newsbabe seemed to infer the animals were buried with the skin on in one mass grave.