Police believe the animals' owner, Terry Thompson, 62, freed the animals -- lions, tigers, leopards and grizzly bears -- at his preserve near Zanesville, Ohio, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said.
Ohio authorities were called to the scene Tuesday night. As of Wednesday, 49 animals had been killed and all but one monkey were, according to authorities. But Lutz and conservationist Jack Hanna, who assisted in the effort, said the animal may have been eaten by one of the big cats.
A preliminary investigation showed Thompson had pried open cages and left fences open, Lutz said. Autopsy results on Thompson were pending.
Authorities were trying to use tranquilizers whenever possible in capturing the animals, said Zanesville Mayor Howard Zwelling. But Lutz said some animals were shot at close range by deputies who found themselves in a dangerous situation. A Bengal tiger was put down after it became agitated following a tranquilizer shot.
Muskingum County sheriff's deputies killed 49 of the animals over a 24-hour period after they began receiving calls of wild animals on the loose just west of Zanesville. Authorities were able to tranquilize six animals — a grizzly bear, three leopards and two monkeys, which were taken to the Columbus Zoo. In other instances, however, the increasing risk posed to the public as darkness fell late Tuesday forced deputies to shoot to kill.
"This was a very, very bad situation," Sheriff Matt Lutz says. The deputies had "very close encounters" with the animals.
Although federal laws oversee only the transport or exhibition of exotic animals, state laws often oversee only native species or farm animals, Pacelle says, not exotic ones such as tigers or bears.
"These animals really fall into a kind of regulatory limbo where they go unregulated and are freely allowed," he says. There are "thousands of exotic animal menageries across the nation," he says.
Bears, snakes, tigers and other exotic animals kept by private owners have killed 75 people nationwide during the last two decades, according to the Sacramento-based animal advocacy group Born Free. The group lists about 1,500 related incidents of escapes or attacks by exotic animals in private hands in that time.
Federal laws cover dangerous exotic animals only if they are being exhibited, says David Sacks of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Thompson's collection was private, not exhibited to the public, "so essentially they were pets," Sacks says.
Ohio is one of eight states that have little to no regulation of exotic animals, Born Free says. The state has among the highest number of injuries and deaths caused by exotic pets, 22 since 2003, according to the Humane Society.
In 2010, an animal caretaker was killed by a bear at a property in Cleveland.
On Wednesday, the Humane Society criticized Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, for allowing a statewide ban on the buying and selling of exotic pets to expire in April. The organization urged the state to immediately issue emergency restrictions.
"How many incidents must we catalog before the state takes action to crack down on private ownership of dangerous exotic animals?" Pacelle asks.
The state is working to regulate ownership of exotic animals, says Scott Zody, interim director of Ohio's Department of Natural Resources.
He says a task force plans to propose regulations for legislators to consider in the next 30 days. "We do not want this episode repeated. There does need to be reasonable regulation."
In the meantime, however, preserves such as Thompson's Muskingum County Animal Farm remain unregulated.
Laura Jones, spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources, says Thompson had four permits since 2008 for four black bears, the only species native to Ohio that he possessed.
"At this point, as long as someone keeps non-native species in Ohio, they can own whatever number of them they wish," she says.
Every month brings a new, bizarre, almost surreal incident involving privately held dangerous wild animals," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society, in a prepared statement. "In recent years, Ohioans have died and suffered injuries because the state hasn't stopped private citizens from keeping dangerous wild animals as pets or as roadside attractions. Owners of large, exotic animals are a menace to society, and it's time for the delaying on the rulemaking to end."
Opinion: Wild animals belong in the wild
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also said the lack of an exotic animal ban is to blame.
"The shooting of dozens of exotic animals in Zanesville is a tragic example of just how wrong things can go when people are allowed to keep wild animals," PETA said in a written statement. The organization said it hoped the incident will be a "wake-up" call to current Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who, according to PETA, refused to extend the emergency ban on exotic animals.
"Keeping exotic animals is inhumane and unsafe for both animals and people, and it's time that Ohio did something about it," PETA said.
Ohio Zoo staff on scene to sedate animals
"People have to understand something ... human life comes first," Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, told CNN. He said some had asked why the animals weren't tranquilized by authorities searching for them Tuesday night, but "you can't tranquilize an animal in the dark. It upsets them ... they settle in, they hunker down, they go to sleep. Obviously, we can't find them in the dark. So what had to be done had to be done. Even a bear came after one of the officers last night, and she was just trying to get out of a car. ... No one loves animals more than me, but human life has to come first."
When first responders do have to shoot an animal, "we have found, in some cases, they're just as traumatized as the rest of us," Leahy said, and sometime require counseling. "They don't want to have to shoot these animals."
She recalled a case a few years ago involving a Florida police officer who shot an elephant running wild with children on its back.
"He was so totally upset by that incident that he became a huge elephant advocate," speaking out for stronger laws on their behalf, Leahy said.
No comments:
Post a Comment