Posted on 10/18/2011 8:36:54 PM PDT by quantim
ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Dozens of animals escaped Tuesday from a wild-animal preserve that houses bears, big cats and other beasts, and the owner later was found dead there, said police, who shot several of the animals and urged nearby residents to stay indoors.
The fences had been left unsecured at the Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, in east-central Ohio, and the animals' cages were open, police said. They wouldn't say what animals escaped but said the preserve had lions, wolves, tigers, giraffes, camels and bears. They said bears and wolves were among 25 animals that had been shot and killed and there were multiple sightings of exotic animals along a nearby highway.
"These are wild animals that you would see on TV in Africa," Sheriff Matt Lutz warned at a press conference.
He called the escaped animals "mature, very big, aggressive" but said a caretaker told authorities the preserve's 48 animals had been fed on Monday. He said police were patrolling the 40-acre farm and the surrounding areas in cars, not on foot, and were concerned about big cats and bears hiding in the dark and in trees.
"This is a bad situation," Lutz said. "It's been a situation for a long time."
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
“Army of the Twelve Monkeys”
“Insert FarSide cartoon here ( )”
My first thought!
Im not one to name call but.... Youre an idiot. Jack Hannah recommended the action.
This sounds like a "coal mine canary" for certain...
Perhaps someone was playing Jumanji?
He didn’t lose his federal gun license he let them expire because he was over 60 and didn’t have the gun shop anymore. More likely just decided he was going to keep a few no matter why the government thought.The conviction wasn’t for cruelty as in hurting the animals it was because he didn’t report a lion that had escaped.It was spotted in a suburb outside of Columbus and recaptured back in 2004.
Im not one to name call but.... Youre an idiot. Jack Hannah recommended the action.
I concur. Hey TexasFreeper2009, your posts on this thread so far have been anything BUT helpful and constructive. Please stop. My elderly parents live in Muskingum County and quite frankly I’m a little concerned about their safety and the safety of the neighbors around them. My folks have small arms (.22s) but don’t have the firepower that I have and I’m too far away to be there right now to help protect them – but if Jack Hannah recommended the action the cops have taken then that’s good enough for me.
your right!
I think in the interest of public safety (and especially to protect the children), there should be year round, no license required open season on any wild animal larger than a house cat.
we must save our children!
/s
The mythical Gahanna Lion? To my knowledge, it was never caught.
They should be ok now.The only two animals still loose as reported are a grey wolf and a Macaque monkey.
I heard fox do a phone call with the guy who lives next door he just happened to be my Jr High school science teacher said he spend an hour and a 1/2 in his barn last night after running into a male lion while out with his new horse.He got both him and the horse into the barn and called 911.The sheriff said they had animals coming up to the cars as they approached the property.We heard that the Grizzly attacked the car.I understand why they shot the animals and being only 5 miles away I’m glad we didn’t have to deal with anything in the yard!They closed all of the gates where my husband works last night and only left one to come and go from and had people watching it.School also all closed.
bam=barn
And now these fools are making death threats against Jack Hanna of all people. Over 100 so far.
No, but I can think of a fair number who post here i’d enjoy seeing served up...
Ten years ago my crew and I were on our way to Fire Dispatch to exchange some radios. As we went under on overpass one of my coworkers said he thought that he saw a cow running off of the freeway. We made fun of him, but on our way back to the station we got a call to assist the police with some cows.
When we arrived there were a dozen police cars already on-scene and there were police in full swat gear running around with assault rifles. One of the Herefords had given herself up and was back in the horse trailer that they had managed to get out of. The other cow was in the middle of some blackberry bushes still enjoying the sweet cuisine. The police wanted one of our ladders so that one of their “sharp shooters” could get a clean shot at it.
I grew up with cows so I offered my assistance to the officer in charge. I said, “Let me find a bucket and some gravel and I will get the cow back in it's horse trailer.” I was told that it was too late for that. He said, “These are dangerous wild range cows.” I asked the person who had been transporting them where they came from. She said that they were her neighbor's cows and that they had grown up in her neighborhood on five acres. They were both cows that were easily led into the trailer without any coercion.
About that time the police sharp shooter started shooting the cow with his AR-15 style rifle. He shot it several times before the cow finally fell over and eventually bled to death. Despite the fact that the cows were on their way to the butcher I still think the whole situation was still sad and made our police officers look like a bunch of buffoons.
After my experience I am very skeptical as to whether the slaughter of dozens of these extremely rare and valuable animals was necessary especially those that were killed within sight of their pens. These weren't wild animals... they were animals that were used to being fed on a schedule.
“The cops had no experience, but they were caged animals and had been until someone opened their pins, most of them would have gone back to the place they would normally feed. But I can understand the cops fear. Those zebras have a terrible bite.”
Ping
That is pretty much what the handler said to the news tonight.The only thing was it was the time of day.If it had been light he may have been able to get the wild cats back since most had been raised since they were cubs there.He said though that the bears and wolf had to be put down.
I only know that in the situation I found myself involved in, the police decided to execute a cow that wouldn’t have been dangerous even if it had been dark and it was in a cranky mood. I wasn’t at this slaughter so I don’t know if it was justified or not.
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