Dangerous animals on the loose in Ohio
- 13 years ago
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Dangerous animals on the loose in eastern Ohio - after the owner of a farm opened the cages of dozens of wild animals - before killing himself.
Officials responding to reports of animals running outside of preserve Tuesday night, found farm owner Terry Thompson dead from a self-inflicted wound.
They discovered almost of the over 50 exotic animals living on the farm were missing -- including lions, tigers and bears --- and ordered residents to stay indoors.
Authorities tried to use tranquilizer guns to subdue the animals, but ended up shooting most of them dead.
Sheriff Matt Lutz.
SOUNDBITE: Sheriff Matt Lutz
"When we got here, obviously, public safety is my number one concern. I gave the order on the way here that if animals looked like they were going out, they went down. We cannot have animals running loose in this county."
Officials said they had received complaints about the farm before.
SOUNDBITE: Sheriff Matt Lutz
"I am going to say we've got about 35 calls since '04-'05 that we ran on our computer, that we've been to Mr. Thompson's house for some sort of problems with the animals, anywhere from animals running at large to not being treated properly and such. So this has been a huge problem for us for a lot of years."
Authorities searched for missing animals on Wednesday - and asked residents to remain vigilent.
Sarah Irwin, Reuters
Dangerous animals on the loose in eastern Ohio - after the owner of a farm opened the cages of dozens of wild animals - before killing himself.
Officials responding to reports of animals running outside of preserve Tuesday night, found farm owner Terry Thompson dead from a self-inflicted wound.
They discovered almost of the over 50 exotic animals living on the farm were missing -- including lions, tigers and bears --- and ordered residents to stay indoors.
Authorities tried to use tranquilizer guns to subdue the animals, but ended up shooting most of them dead.
Sheriff Matt Lutz.
SOUNDBITE: Sheriff Matt Lutz
"When we got here, obviously, public safety is my number one concern. I gave the order on the way here that if animals looked like they were going out, they went down. We cannot have animals running loose in this county."
Officials said they had received complaints about the farm before.
SOUNDBITE: Sheriff Matt Lutz
"I am going to say we've got about 35 calls since '04-'05 that we ran on our computer, that we've been to Mr. Thompson's house for some sort of problems with the animals, anywhere from animals running at large to not being treated properly and such. So this has been a huge problem for us for a lot of years."
Authorities searched for missing animals on Wednesday - and asked residents to remain vigilent.
Sarah Irwin, Reuters