The only animals believed to still be at large are a wolf and a monkey, Zanesville police said today.
A grizzly bear and a mountain lion had been believed to be running free, but the sheriff's department discovered both were killed last night.
Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz told reporters he can't be 100 percent sure that those animals are the only ones unaccounted for among the 51 animals, many of them ferocious, who were let out of their cages Tuesday evening.
Lutz and ABC News' wildlife expert Jack Hanna, who will take the living animals at the preserve to the Columbus Zoo, urged the public to remain cautious.
The sheriff said that when his men arrived at the animal preserve in Zanesville, they found grizzly bears, lions, Bengal tigers, black bears and leopards roaming the area. Since it was about to get dark, he feared the animals would escape into the night.
He said his deputies had to kill animals at close range with their sidearms.
"These are 300 pound Bengal tigers that we had to put down," Lutz said, describing that animal as "very aggressive."
A vet shot a tiger with a tranquilizer from 15 yards away and Lutz said it "just went crazy," and started to run, so officers were forced to shoot it with lethal ammunition.
Officials said that, based on two conflicting lists drawn up by caretakers at the compound, 48 to 51 animals were kept there, and that only a mountain lion, a grizzly bear and a monkey remained unaccounted for.
Various species of monkeys found inside a house on the property were not harmed. They had been left inside their cages.
The sheriff described some of the animals that had been killed as “mature, very big, aggressive” with “high potential” for being dangerous to humans.
“Our main priority right now is protecting our public,” he said as the hunt for the remaining animals continued.
The owner of the preserve, Terry Thompson, 62, was found dead on the property. He had been released from federal prison on Sept. 30, said Fred Alverson, a spokesman for the United States attorney’s office in Columbus. Officials said they believed Mr. Thompson had shot himself.
There were no other reports of injuries or attacks on people, the authorities said.
Although many details about the incident remained unclear, the authorities described a chaotic, bloody scene on Tuesday when deputies first arrived at Mr. Thompson’s rambling preserve.
It was not clear what prompted deputies to respond to the property, but Mr. Thompson had had numerous run-ins with local law enforcement officials for years, many involving charges of animal neglect.
As deputies arrived at the property Tuesday at about 5:30 p.m., they observed dozens of animals out of their cages and behaving aggressively, officials said.
Sheriff Lutz said given that it was only about an hour and a half to nightfall — and the prospect of finding bears and big cats under such conditions would have been difficult and dangerous — he had little choice but to give his deputies permission to shoot animals as they encountered them. He said his deputies do not carry tranquilizer darts with them.
In addition to lions, Bengal tigers, mountain lions and various varieties of monkeys, the preserve contained grizzly and black bears, cheetahs, leopards and wolves.
During the height of the bedlam on Tuesday night, the sheriff told reporters: “Right now, we’re shooting to kill.”
On Wednesday, he told reporters how unprepared his officers were for dealing with large, fleeing animals.
“I had deputies that had to shoot with side arms,” Sheriff Lutz said. “These are 300-pound Bengal tigers that we had to put down.”
Once the extent of the danger became apparent, he said, deputies were given high-powered assault rifles and rode in the beds of pickup trucks, where throughout the night they shot the animals as they cornered them.
At one point during the confusion, Sheriff Lutz said, it was unclear how many animals had been killed, saying “when they’re shooting animals in all directions, it’s hard to keep track.”
After receiving criticism from animal rights activists, the sheriff justified his decision.
“We could not have animals running loose in this county,” he said. “We could not have that.”
Law enforcement authorities said they believed Mr. Thompson opened the animal cages before shooting himself.
“We feel he released theses animals,” Sheriff Lutz said. “We are not looking for suspects in this case.”
Schools and businesses in the area were closed on Wednesday morning, and the authorities asked people to remain indoors and to call the sheriff’s office if they saw any animals.
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