Comments on: Zanesville: Heartache and Humor

By: kittenz

kittenz — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:37:08 +0000

Just want to clear something up:

This was NOT a “rescue facility”. They had acquired a few of the animals as adoptees when someone else no longer wanted them, but the vast majority were either bought at auction or traded for guns or other goods.

If someone in Ohio had 50+ housecats or dogs, they would be investigated as hoarders. But Ohio had, until after this horrific incident, basically NO laws regulating the sale and ownership of exotic animals, other than requiring permits for wildlife considered native to Ohio. It’s easier and cheaper to buy a lion or tiger cub in Ohio than it is to buy a purebred puppy, and most communities don’t even require that an owner notify authorities or neighbors that they are keeping such animals.

Nobody knows how many big cats are kept in private facilities and backyards in Ohio. But the number is probably at least in the several hundreds.

By: Raven Meindel via Facebook

Raven Meindel via Facebook — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:28:46 +0000

I agree with Zachary. This whole situation was preventable. It’s a complete tragedy in every way. And some of it comes back to lack of funds to have the right people in place to regulate and monitor what is going on with these animals. Something has to change.

By: pumpkinlettuce

pumpkinlettuce — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:40:47 +0000

fooks: yesterday Animal Planet ran a lot of shows about people who own exotic animals in the US and I learned that tigers are worth more, MUCH more, dead than alive. I find that fact very sad. The heads, the pelts, the bones, the teeth, the gallbladder and other organs…they can be worth thousands dead and purchased for maybe ONE thousand alive. People do farm them from cubs just to separate them into multiple revenue streams, as it were.

By: coelacanth1938

coelacanth1938 — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:03:44 +0000

The one thing that bugs me is that the owner was found on top of/close by the heap of chicken parts he was feeding his animals.

Did this guy want to be eaten by his animals after his death, or was somebody trying to get rid of the evidence?

By: fooks

fooks — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:39:24 +0000

that was a terrible tragedy all around.

they say he was in debt for about $70,000.00! 70k. which might have been a factor but that is really nothing.

he had 18 bengal tigers! how much are they worth? alive of course.

and what was his food bill for all these animals?

it really is too bad about the animals but nothing else could have been done.

By: dawgdoc

dawgdoc — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:54:41 +0000

As a veterinarian, my first reaction to all the dead animals was shock also. At first I was cynical about the need to kill the animals. After a few days of reflection, I can understand the actions of the sheriff’s department.

I am not sure that even if the Columbus Zoo was there from the beginning and if had been daylight, that there would have been a much different outcome. I wonder if they even had enough drugs, darts, and guns to tranquilize that many animals over a short period. Some of the drugs used are quite dangerous (a small amount could kill a human), and most of the effective drugs are controlled substances. In other words, it is not like they could just hand out dozens of dart guns to untrained people and expect everything to go smoothly.

I would have hated to be in the sheriff’s position. If they had tried to capture the animals and even just one person got killed, then people across the country would be crticizing him for not killing them all.

I think the characterization as a murder-suicide is accurate. Even if Ohio had passed laws to deal with this type of place, how fast could they have really shut it down and sent this many animals to other facilities? If this guy was disturbed enough to do this now, he might have done the same thing at any point in the long process to shut down his sanctuary.

By: jayman

jayman — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:56:48 +0000

I guess I do feel a little relief in that this was a “situation” and a quick decision had to be made, rather than the cold-blooded killings that would have likely taken place if the property had been taken over by the authorities.

By: rozum

rozum — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:05:30 +0000

Why did he have to release the animals before he took his own life? I feel sorry for all of the animals that had to be killed to protect the public.

By: recurve

recurve — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:00:39 +0000

I begrudge no one their coping mechanism I’m sure I’ve poked fun at things others have not found funny in the past and probably will in the future. I don’t think i come across the way i want on the net I wish the grays would hurry up and give us some mind transference internet technology.

By: omne51

omne51 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:43:33 +0000

pumpkinlettuce,

Thank you for your post. It is very much appreciated.