Ohio Animals That Escaped Are All Dead....

I know they couldn't have tranquillized them all...but it's still so, so sad.

http://gawker.com/5851560/all-the-ohio-animals-are-dead

Photo is graphic.

I hear yah on the not being able to save them all but dam 18 bengal tigers!!! thats a big hit on the world population of an already endangered animal :mad:

Who does stuff like that?

That man had mental issues and the animals suffered for it sad. :tears:

18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, a pair of grizzlies, three mountain lions, two wolves and a baboon is the final count for what they killed :mad:

three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys — were shot with tranquilizer darts and sent to the Columbus Zoo

Why the hell werent all 56 done the same way, Pisses me off to see officials taking the power to kill endangered species that could have been relocated to a refugee to keep the population going.

I do alot of bowhunting in licking county and muskingum counties in ohio and i called my outfitter tonight and asked him what kind of circus was going on up there and he told me that they are still looking for a couple animals. He also said that the police had a shoot first policy on this. The only animals that got tranqulized were the ones still on site around their enclosures. He said it was like the wild west and because they are still looking for animals the regular hunting season for muskingum county has been closed till they know for sure that all the animals have been taken care of.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys — were shot with tranquilizer darts and sent to the Columbus Zoo

Why the hell werent all 56 done the same way, Pisses me off to see officials taking the power to kill endangered species that could have been relocated to a refugee to keep the population going.

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That is of course if these tigers were on record to be suitable breeders. Not all bengals in captivity are used to reproduce. The kind of tigers a guy can buy for his backyard arent exactly sought after to help the species.
Not sure if its the same way for other cats and bears though.

Sad story anyways...sad

they said they cant tranquilize in the dark but they sure in hell didnt try the next morning! god dang I hate idiots thats a whole lot of tigers they could have kept to help rebuild the population instead of killing then complaining about the lack of them even in captivity

It's so sad to me that these animals have to pay for the idiocy of humans. :(

People are so mad because the animals were killed. How about being mad about the dumb guy who let them go? How about being mad because "WE" put these poor animals into these positions? We kill them for sport and pleasure. We bulldoze their homes. We burn down their forests. We sell them for profit so that people can keep them in sub par conditions in way to small of enclosures.

This from Jack Hanna. I think if he thinks it was the right decision then no one should be downing the sheriff or the people involved in this massacre for doing what had to be done. I am sure the animals are in a way better place than where they have been their whole lives. These animals that are so abused deserve so much more than what they get from us.

There was no choice but to kill 49 animals, including tigers, lions and bears, that were released from their enclosures in Zanesville, Ohio, wildlife expert Jack Hanna told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer.
“I’m sorry to say, but what the sheriff did had to be done,” Hanna said. “Otherwise, we would have had carnage out here in Zanesville, Ohio.
“Tragedy-wise for me,” he added, “[it's] probably the worst thing in 45 years of history of working with animals. … I’ve seen poachers kill in the wild. I’ve seen animals killed right in front of me with their horns cut off. I’ve seen a lot of things happen in my career, but nothing like this have I ever witnessed.”

Hanna said tranquilizing wild animals is not as easy as many people believe.

“I’ve been out all over the world tranquilizing animals,” he said. “Can you imagine trying to tranquilize an animal in the dark. Fine, we have a spotlight. We hit it. You don’t know exactly: Did you hit a muscle? Did you hit a bone? If you hit the bone, the plunger might not work and put the medicine in. So what do we do? Then we send a veterinarian or the sheriff up there to see if the animal is down, right? What’s gonna happen if the animal is just sitting there not even asleep? You’re dead.”

Hanna told Sawyer that when the wife of Terry Thompson, the man who released the animals and then committed suicide, arrived on the scene, she was shaking and angry.

“She said she was coming to rip me apart because I was taking her animals,” said Hanna, who is helping move the remaining animals to the Columbus Zoo in Powell, Ohio. “When she came in there, she was totally not – just nothing was left. Her husband had just committed suicide. … She has 30-something animals laying there in her driveway that are gone. … She was shivering. I hugged her. I started crying with her.

“I could have yelled at her – you know … to lose 18 Bengal tigers in the world today is beyond a tragic loss,” Hanna said. “I can’t describe what that does to me, along with all the other creatures. But when you see a woman that’s lost everything, what do you do? Do I sit there and yell at her? … I sit there and console her and tell her I’m going to try to help her with her animals that’s left, which is nothing, basically. That’s all I could do.”

Sawyer asked Hanna how long the event would stay with him.

“It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life,” Hanna said. “What happened here last night had to be done or else we would have had some major losses of human life here this morning. And I won’t forget what happened here today as long as I ever live.”

ABC News’ Christina Caron contributed to this report.

http://www.change.org/petitions/gov-...oId_FhcUpwktBk

Change.org is really pushing for this petition. Talk about a bunch of stupidity.
I really hate it when they use these sort of situations to push in a stupid, knee jerk reaction law.

Regulate exotics. Make it so you have to have permits to own them. Heck, ban private ownership of DEFINED dangerous animals (like tigers and lions), but don't just "ban exotics."

Stupid stupid stupid stupid. :colbert:

As long as we continue to let irresponsible people own these types of animals or any "exotic" animal, we will continue to have to fight these types of people. Stuff like this is the perfect fuel for stoking the fires of organizations such as PETA.

We live about 20 minutes from this farm and we are embarrassed to be residents of Muskingum county right now. Just to clear something up the majority of these animals were shot by plain clothed, off duty officers who arrived in a pickup truck and used their personal firearms. And the greater majority of these animals were laying or standing INSIDE their enclosures. NOT EVEN LOOSE!! There are truly no words to describe the level of redneck, backwoods ignorance shown by our local law enforcement in the way this was handled. This wasn't a "protect the public" situation, it was a "good old boy once in a lifetime chance to bag a tiger" situation. I can begin to describe to you how angry this makes us.

Also, as far as Jack Hannas support of law enforcement in this situation. BS! He is a politician above all else he says what he's told to say. I worked at "The Wilds" locally which for those of you who haven't heard of it is a wildlife preserve about 30 minutes from Zanesville. During my time there Jack Hanna came down from time to time for different publicity things. It was widely known throughout the staff that "on camera Jack" was a totally different person from "off camera Jack." He had zero interest in animal contact unless he was being recorded. He was an absolute jerk to everyone, every time he was there. So I'm not putting much stock in his so called support.

Amon -if that is the case - that puts the WHOLE thing in a different light and it absolutely makes me sick and ANGRY at the same time. I was willing to give LEO the benefit of the doubt - but if that is true its borderline criminal behavior.

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Originally Posted by Amon Ra Reptiles

We live about 20 minutes from this farm and we are embarrassed to be residents of Muskingum county right now. Just to clear something up the majority of these animals were shot by plain clothed, off duty officers who arrived in a pickup truck and used their personal firearms. And the greater majority of these animals were laying or standing INSIDE their enclosures. NOT EVEN LOOSE!! There are truly no words to describe the level of redneck, backwoods ignorance shown by our local law enforcement in the way this was handled. This wasn't a "protect the public" situation, it was a "good old boy once in a lifetime chance to bag a tiger" situation. I can begin to describe to you how angry this makes us.

Also, as far as Jack Hannas support of law enforcement in this situation. BS! He is a politician above all else he says what he's told to say. I worked at "The Wilds" locally which for those of you who haven't heard of it is a wildlife preserve about 30 minutes from Zanesville. During my time there Jack Hanna came down from time to time for different publicity things. It was widely known throughout the staff that "on camera Jack" was a totally different person from "off camera Jack." He had zero interest in animal contact unless he was being recorded. He was an absolute jerk to everyone, every time he was there. So I'm not putting much stock in his so called support.

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I agree on what you said about Jack Hanna. I live in Columbus, Ohio and constantly hear nothing but bad news about this guy. There's a laundry list of information about this man's true motives circling around! I'm not one for gossip or to slander the name of a man that I've never personally met, but if it looks like a phony, smells like a phony, and everyone and their mother in the neighborhood call it a phony.....

What it comes down to is exotics like these can just be owned by anyone (state law allowing of course) in this case it was an individual who was obviously having mental issues. And not only that was involved in crimal behavior with just being let out of prison.
As long as un-fit irresonsible people have animals news stories like these are going to go on.

Now weve got surveys using the term "exotic" animal. That covers a lot of creatures.
An exotic animal would be anything not native to our country. I wonder if anyone that voted no on that survey had a tropical fish or a budgerigar or even a hamster for that matter. I guarantee the people that voted no only thought of big cats and bears like the situation in this story. But its not going to help the media freak at all.

If people FREAK OUT and pass some exotic animal bill it will affect everyone that a pet thats not native to the country.

Jack hanna is a joke and should not be allowed around ANY animals.

I don't actually know how to comment on this. The whole thing is a mess and I am sure the media circus is just beginning. I hope the fall out of this mess isn't as big as I fear it will be.

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Originally Posted by TessadasExotics

People are so mad because the animals were killed. How about being mad about the dumb guy who let them go?

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Geez...I'm sure none of us thought about that! Really??? I think it's beyond obvious that this guy was an idiot and in no way should have had these animals. Sure, he was the cause of this problem, but I don't think all options were exhausted before the guns came out.

Sounds to me like a bunch of rednecks saw a chance to go on a free big game hunt. What a terrible loss in the animal world.

As for Jack Hannah...I've heard pretty much what everyone else has stated. He doesn't impress me.

Front page of the newspaper today was a picture of a tiger cub dead.... So you want to tell me how in the heck you thought that little guy was going to hurt you and had to be killed. Like Scott posted above, most of the animals were shot from inside of their cages .... All they had to do was close the door. Most of the others were shot while they were just walking around the property. So what they couldn't have rounded them up into a pen or something. This whole situation just makes me so mad. Those animals could have been sent to the zoo or a sanitary. But I will shut up now lol. Me ranting won't fix it. As much as I'd love to go face to face with the red neck trash that did this...it would just lead to me getting arrested lol.

Some of the information that is being posted about this event is not true, but oh well. One day we will all loose our rights to own "exotics".

...Or those of us who live relatively nearby are getting a more accurate report on the situation by speaking with people first hand? Not that the media scews facts though.

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Originally Posted by DemmBalls

...Or those of us who live relatively nearby are getting a more accurate report on the situation by speaking with people first hand? Not that the media scews facts though.

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Thank you

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Originally Posted by 3ofSwords

Who does stuff like that?

That man had mental issues and the animals suffered for it sad. :tears:

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Are you kidding me?! It has yet to be proven that he even comitted suicide! let alone released those animals.

It has been noted that locks were cut on some of the enclosures.

What sheriff CLUTZ did was 1000% wrong!

I know for a fact that this past January arrangements were being made to transport the animals to another facility, but sherrif Clutz wouldn't allow it.

Personally I DO NOT buy the idea that the guy cut the pens open instead of opening the access to the pens. There's no reason for the OWNER to cut the fences, instead of opening the gates and access panels. That would have been the easier thing to do, right? Why would he go through the extra time of cutting through pens instead?

Maybe he did kill himself... perhaps he killed himself after discovering all his animals set loose? Maybe he was killed trying to stop people from cutting open his pens? I'm certain the public will never hear the truth.

If people did kill animals that were not only still ON the property but also still INSIDE their enclosures, then that's a whole different story that the media will never show. No, the sherriffs or deputies should NOT have "rounded up" or captured the animals. They are not trained to handle the animals. But if it's INSIDE it's enclosure, it's not loose and there was no danger. Closing a gate or pen door is not dangerous.

ANY of the animals mentioned(I don't know if there were more species not listed) that were OFF the property and killed, yes, I suport them killing those. A tiger is too dangerous to allow it to roam around, or expect ANY inexperianced person to capture. If someone experianced can get there to try tranqualizing or capturing it, then great. But when a tiger, bear, lion or babboon is loose and around people, it does need to be stopped. No, you can't just tranq a tiger without training. No, you can't "shoo" a lion back home.

I absolutely lost any respect I had for Hanna when he went on TV immediately saying that because of this situation, they need to outlaw exotics and the sales, etc. Really?? Jack, when will you outlaw dogs? How many people were killed in this incident? None? How many killed by dogs this year? Yeah... thought so.

Also, if the guy had so many instinces of abuse, neglect etc... then why was he still allowed to have the animals? They would have taken the animals, wouldn't they? Or was it complaints that they couldn't do anything about because there was no legitimate reason to take the animals?

I saw Jack Hanna say outright several times that he had NEVER been on the property or visited it. Then he's saying how bad the conditions were, in details that he never saw himself, since he never had been there! Come on! And of course the media will be up in arms about "exotic" ownership, since they're all on PETA and HSUS side anyway.

It's infuriating. I would like to thank ANYONE who is local who has more first hand info rather than the media junk being blown out of proportion.

Well I wasn't talking about the deputies rounding up or capturing what animals were lose. But they could have called the people from The Wilds to help. They have experience with those kinds of animals.

Such a sad story, although who knows what really happened. At the end of the day, those poor animals have suffered because of human ignorance. As a resident of Ohio, it's especially a sad day in the world of exotics. I am surprised that the Cincinnati zoo wasn't involved, as they have experience with these animals and I wish they would have helped.

I don't live in Zanesville, but I would like to hope that the local law enforcement did what they felt was necessary to prevent people from being injured or killed. Better to act quickly, than to act too late. I think people are very quick to point fingers at police officers when bad things happen, but just remember, there are a lot of cops out there on the streets every day protecting YOU. And there are a lot of wives and husbands of officers, including myself, who have to live with the fact that their loved one is on the streets risking their lives for strangers, when they could be home with their families working an easy 9 to 5 desk job making more money instead.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to point fingers, but its nobodies fault but the man who owned the animals. Such a tragedy...:tears:

For the record I want to say that I am in no way downplaying the importance of law enforcement or the heroic efforts of the men and women who choose to put their lives on the line each and every day to protect us. I have three brothers one is a city police officer in Zanesville and the other two are deputies in muskingum county, I am the only non peace officer of the family (I chose fire and Ems and became a paramedic). So I too understand the fear of getting a phone call telling me I have lost a loved one. However, that does not make these people infallible and what sheriff Lutz did was flat out wrong. I posted what I posted because I KNOW what happened on that farm and I KNOW several of the animals killed were NO threat. They shot tiger cubs! CUBS! Good thing they protected us from those huh? I also am not down playing Terrys part in this he is where the blame lies first and foremost but as my mother always told me "two wrongs dont make a right".

There were qualified people that came to help, but cLutz said he had the situation under control. I hope he fries in hell for what he did.

I think that sheriff has just been waiting for an excuse from the sounds of things.