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By ANDY BROWNFIELD and KANTELE FRANKO, Associated Press

ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Townspeople hid indoors Wednesday as
deputies with high-powered rifles hunted down and killed lions,
bears, tigers and dozens of other exotic beasts that escaped from a
wild-animal park after the owner threw their cages open and
committed suicide.


      After an all-night hunt that extended into the afternoon, nearly
all of the 50 or so escaped animals had been either gunned down or
captured alive, authorities said. As of midafternoon, the only
animals still on the loose were a wolf and a monkey, according to
the sheriff's office.


      Schools closed in the mostly rural area of widely spaced homes
55 miles east of Columbus. Parents were warned to keep children and
pets indoors. And flashing signs along highways told motorists,
"Caution exotic animals" and "Stay in vehicle."


      "It's like Noah's Ark, like, wrecking right here in Zanesville,
Ohio," said Jack Hanna, TV personality and former director of the
Columbus Zoo. "Noah's Ark filled with tigers and lions and all
leopards and a few monkeys and whatever, and it crashes here, and
all of a sudden they're out there."


      Officers were under orders to shoot to kill for fear that
animals hit with tranquilizer darts would run off and hide in the
darkness.


      The owner of the privately run Muskingum County Animal Farm,
Terry Thompson, left the cages open and the fences unsecured before
committing suicide, Sheriff Matt Lutz said.


      Authorities would not say how he killed himself, and Lutz
wouldn't speculate on why he did it or why he went out with what
appeared to be one last act of vengeance.


      But Thompson had had repeated run-ins with the law, and Lutz
said the sheriff's office had received numerous complaints since
2004 about animals escaping from the property. Thompson had gotten
out of federal prison just last month after serving a year for
possessing unregistered guns.


      "This is a bad situation," the sheriff said. "It's been a
situation for a long time."


      John Ellenberger, a neighbor of Thompson's, speculated he freed
the animals to get back at neighbors and police.


      "Nobody much cared for him," Ellenberger said.


      Neighbor Danielle White, whose father's property abuts the
40-acre animal park, 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 owner) had all
those animals," she said. "I have kids. I've heard a male lion
roar all night."


      The sheriff said his office started getting calls Tuesday
evening that wild animals were loose just west of Zanesville on a
road that runs under Interstate 70. He said deputies with rifles
went to the animal preserve, where they found Thompson dead and all
the cages open. Several aggressive animals were near his body and
had to be shot, the sheriff said.


      Lutz said his main concern was protecting the public in the
area, where homes sit on large lots of sometimes 10 acres. Nearby
Zanesville has a population of about 25,000.


      Hanna defended the sheriff against criticism that the animals
should have been captured alive.


      "What was he to do at nighttime with tigers and lions,
leopards, going out there?" Hanna said. "In the wild this would
be a different situation."


      Hanna told ABC's "Good Morning America" that if an officer
shot a bear, a leopard or a tiger with a tranquilizer at night,
"the animal gets very excited, it goes and hides, and then we have
his officer in danger of losing their life, and other people."


      The preserve in Zanesville also had cheetahs, giraffes and
camels. Lutz called the animals very big and aggressive but said a
caretaker told authorities they had been fed on Monday.


      White, the preserve's neighbor, said Thompson had repeatedly
been in legal trouble.


      "He was in hot water because of the animals, because of
permits, and (the animals) escaping all the time," White said. A
few weeks ago, she said, she had to avoid some camels that were
grazing on the side of a freeway.


      At a nearby Moose Lodge, Bill Weiser said: "It's breaking my
heart, them shooting those animals."


      Bailey Hartman, a night manager at a McDonald's, also said it
saddened her that the animals were shot. But she said, "I was kind
of scared coming in to work."


      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 2010, an animal caretaker was killed by a bear at a
property in Cleveland.


      On Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States criticized
Gov. John Kasich 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?" Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO, said in a statement.


      Associated Press writers Ann Sanner and Doug Whiteman
contributed to this report.

Gallery

Townspeople are cowering indoors as deputies with high-powered rifles hunt down and kill lions, bears and dozens of other exotic beasts.

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

Lion killed after being released from zoo

Zoo owner kills himself after setting exotic animals free

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