Community | October 20, 2011 | 16 comments

At Least Four Dozen Dead in Ohio For No Real Reason Other Than Ignorance and Misplaced Machismo

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In Zanesville, Ohio, sheriff's deputies armed with assault rifles opened fire on dozens of "mature, very big, aggressive" lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, and bears who had escaped from a private menagerie in Ohio after the farm's owner, Terry Thompson, was found dead and the animals' cage doors were left open and fences unsecured. Chimpanzees and orangutans were found locked in cages inside the house. At least 48 animals have been killed, and several more remain at large.

Thompson had a long history of brushes with the law and had just completed a one-year sentence on two federal counts of possessing illegal firearms.

In November 2005, Thompson was convicted of, among other things, cruelty to animals and was subsequently sentenced to six months of house arrest and fined $2,870.

PETA had filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding Thompson's illegal activities, including exhibiting animals without a license and declawing tiger cubs in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

Ohio has no regulations governing the ownership of exotic and dangerous animals. Exotic animals all over the state languish without adequate food, water, and veterinary care.

They eat rotten scraps, drink algae-laden water, and spend their days pacing on feces- and urine-encrusted dirt.

Just last April, Ohio Gov. John Kasich refused to extend an emergency ban on exotic animals in the state, which was put in place by his predecessor.

PETA has campaigned for an outright ban for many years.

Please join PETA in asking the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to exercise its authority to declare emergency regulations to prohibit the keeping of exotic animals and also seize the animals over whom the agency has jurisdiction and see that they are placed in reputable sanctuaries.

http://ohiodnr.com/default/tabid/10750/default.aspx

http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2011/10/19/at-least-two-dozen-dead-in...
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16 comments // At Least Four Dozen Dead in Ohio For No Real Reason Other Than Ignorance and Misplaced Machismo

  • Buddha2112
    • -3
      Buddha2112  

    • Fuck PETA, I'mma go eat a tasty animal just because they're pissed about this.

      I don't get how there's this much outrage, you have a shit ton of WILD, HUNGRY, and ANGRY animals running around... and you're going to take the time to tranq them one by one? By the time you catch them (darting isn't instant or safe), there'd always be more that got away. Plus, once you have them, wtf do you do with them? Put them in a zoo? Set them free in their native areas? The ONLY sane option is to kill them.

      Would PETA be satisfied if someone was slaughtered first?

    • 1 year ago
  • SpecialAgent86
  • Buddha2112
  • crabbyoldguy
    • -3
      crabbyoldguy  

    • Puttin the Tin Hat on.

      This has been an operation planned by Peta and carried out by ELF to get Kasich to pass legislation regarding the keeping of exotic animals.

      Thompson was the victum of a staged suicide, it was hoped that the animals would eat his body making the staged suicide undetectable.

      It worked tho, Kasich is going to pass the legislation that the previous governor proposed and other states are looking at enacting similar legislation.

    • 1 year ago
  • chivideoguy
    • -3
      chivideoguy  

    • This title is misleading. It's made to make you think it's people when it's animals. Once again PETA proves it values the lives of animals over human life. Oh yea, did you know PETA has a huge freezer that they keep dead animals in? and that the Vice President of their organization uses insulin when that was something developed by testing it on chickens? just saying people

    • 1 year ago
  • SpecialAgent86
  • warman1138
    • +2
      warman1138  

    • On a side note to this tragedy, Thompson had cut the fences to the outside enclosures to such a degree that they couldn't be reused. With his previous record and what has happened he was definitely one sick sob, and the state shares responsibillity, for deregulating '' willd animal compounds '' and allowing Thompsons outfit to exist as it was. A sad ending to a bad situation that could have probably been avoided.

    • 1 year ago
  • hombre76
  • dugdog47
  • JustZ
    • +1
      JustZ  

    • According to the report on NPR with the Police Chief on scene, "the police don't carry tranquilizer guns". With that said, the police apparently called animal control to bring in Tranquilizer guns and personnel to deal with the animals but they couldn't get there in a timely manner before these wild animals presented a threat to people in these neighborhoods. The man who did this had 37 previous incidents logged by that police dept where this guy either let animals free or were called over accusations of animal abuse and neglect. Very sad indeed.

      At least, that's their official story.

    • 1 year ago
  • AugusteLumiere
  • HellenaHandbasket
    • +3
      HellenaHandbasket [removed]  

    • There was absolutely no reason that they couldn't have "darted" these animals... Bengal Tigers and other endangered species.

      The fact of the matter is these dickless cops in Bumfuck Ohio wanted to prove their 'manhood' and go on a safari when they had the best experts in the country less than an hour away at the Columbus Zoo.

      They should all end up as dog food.

    • 1 year ago
  • stupid
    • +5
      stupid  
    • HellenaHandbasket:

      let's make one thing clear, unless it's hunting game or survival, i am not a proponent of animal cruelty or shooting them. What little i know about this story, the owner needs to be held accountable for his neglect. I am not aware of the actual threat the animals posed and if there was any other way, I would like to think they would have avoided shooting them but I am not that naive.

      With that said, and this is no direct indication of you, I wish people had the same conviction towards protecting unborn children. Yes...the abortion debate. could spend hrs on it but it sickens me how many people are pro-PETA and pro-abortion.

      makes me sick.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • stupid
  • SpecialAgent86
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