Posted on 10/20/2011 1:31:53 PM PDT by smokingfrog
A Zanesville cop who was hunting down ferocious animals released by their owner came within just a few feet of being mauled by a charging bear, killing the animal with a single shot from his service revolver.
The black bear dropped dead just seven feet from Deputy Jonathan Merry, he told ABC News.
Merry and other deputies relived their efforts to stalk tigers, lions, wolves and bears into a rainy night that at times left them feeling like the hunted. By Wednesday afternoon, 49 of the 50 animals released by Terry Thompson were confirmed dead, ending a potentially catastrophic threat to people in the area.
Merry, an animal lover who grew up on a farm, was the second officer to arrive at Thompson's private preserve in Zanesville, Ohio, Tuesday evening. Thompson had killed himself with a handgun moments after releasing his dangerous menagerie.
Merry, 25, arrived to find a Bengal tiger, two black bears and a female African lion contained by nothing more than a livestock fence along the roadway.
When a wolf started running south, the officer followed it in his patrol car.
"It turned west, which is opposite, even further of the Thompson residence. I was then instructed by my sergeant over the radio to take the wolf down," Merry said.
He pursued the wolf into a hay field, got out of his vehicle and shot it.
But soon, he was facing another, much larger, problem. His commanding officer told him a lion had been cornered back at the Thompson home. He headed back, but instead of finding a lion, he was confronted by an angry bear.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That was my first thought. A 9mm would bounce off a big bear’s skull.
I wonder what kind of logistics it takes just to feed a horde of large animals. Surely that must have been a huge task in itself.
Is that a S&W Model 2900?
A few departments still use the .357 revolver because it is a good man stopper. Maybe it’s good bear medicine.
“I don’t believe for a minute these animals were “charging” these cops. They were semi-tame caged animals, confused and wandering about.”
Next time one of these “semi-tame” lions or tigers gets loose, we’ll have you come and put its leash back on.
Me neither. They could have shown their badges and read them their rights and if that failed they could have given a warning shot to let them know they were serious then if that failed they should have just shot them in the paw.
Some folks substitute self righteous outrage for knowledge. If one of these animals had killed a child, the same people would have screamed about that as well.
If Jack Hanna says these cops did the right thing, I’m taking his word for it. Sounds like he may have made the call himself in at least one case.
I would think anything less than a .357 mag or 10mm would be pretty risky for taking down a bear or large cat. Especially one of those Bengal tigers.
Imagine you're a smalltown cop on a normal day, and suddenly, there's a dead guy in a yard and fifty wild animals, each a deadly predator, suddenly running in fifty different directions. Your small town is full of families and little children and the animals are running towards people's backyards and taking off down the highway.
Shoot everything on four legs at that point. None of them are worth a six year old girl or a human mother of three.
There is no such thing as a semi-tame wild animal. Domesticated animals were tamed by breeding the docile ones and ruthlessly culling (usually killing and eating) the aggressive ones over many generations.
Shot placement is everything. Lucky hit for him, really. A bear’s brain is maybe the size of an apple, I’d say.
Any good defense round will penetrate 12 inches in ballsistics medium, a fair analog for flesh. Getting through the dense bone of a bear skull though is a different matter. An unfavorably angled shot might have bounced off.
I’ve seen cases where shots bounced off human skulls. In two cases, the bullets traveled right under the scalp from forehead to the occiput and out, nothing but a flesh wound.
Of course, this is a news account. Who knows how much of it is right on the facts. The cop may have had a rifle or a shotgun with slugs. Sure as heck that’s what I’d have if I were thrust into a situation of hunting dangerous game, whether it be bipedal or quadripedal.
one shot eh?, ain’t nothing, the bear would’ve broke both front legs slipping in my feces........
Yep, some of the comments on this thread are amazing. Cop Haters just need to hate, I guess.
Zanesville Cop Killed By Charging Bear
Blackies are loose in the woods with people all the time. Things can get ugly if they want the food you’re carrying, storing, etc., but it’s extremely rare for a human injury to result.
I too am suspicious of the “charging bear” claim. I have been in a black bear standoff myself. It huffed and bluffed but did not charge. Usually it’s hard to find black bears in the wild, because their normal behavior is to flee people.
“Next time one of these “semi-tame” lions or tigers gets loose, we’ll have you come and put its leash back on.”
Great reply post! I think you might have set conservaterian a little straight here.. Hey, this is all in good fun, conservaterian.. we all still like you!
THAT.......is the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
Thank you.
RLTW
Who ws taking care of these animals while this guy was in prison??? He just got out of prison.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.