Lions Tigers and Bears loose in Zanesville OH!

[oneupper]

I think some of you guys are close to here.

Public Urged to Stay Indoors After Exotic Animals Escape From Ohio Preserve


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/19...er-found-dead/

[cumberlandreds]

Where's Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler when you need them?

[oneupper]

Well, Jack Hannah is on the scene.

[forfreelin04]

As someone who knew Terry and lives less than 10 minutes away, this has been a complete lie. The worst liar of all is Jack Hannah.

Don't watch this national news garbage.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Originally Posted by forfreelin04

As someone who knew Terry and lives less than 10 minutes away, this has been a complete lie. The worst liar of all is Jack Hannah.

Don't watch this national news garbage.

Tell us more. Do not tease us with everyopne is a liar but some person who set dangerous animals free... risking the lives of innocent people. If you knew this person, I am sure it is upsetting to you (and I am sorry for that). But I need more information than everyone is a liar. That does not tell me anything.

[cumberlandreds]

According to this article the owner was in horrible debt to the IRS and he had just gotten out of jail on a weapons charge.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=209&sid=2598255

[dsmith421]

Originally Posted by forfreelin04

As someone who knew Terry and lives less than 10 minutes away, this has been a complete lie. The worst liar of all is Jack Hannah.

Don't watch this national news garbage.

I can't wait to hear this.

[foxfire123]

Originally Posted by forfreelin04

As someone who knew Terry and lives less than 10 minutes away, this has been a complete lie. The worst liar of all is Jack Hannah.

Don't watch this national news garbage.

Jack Hanna? Liar? Puhleeze. And for the record, while I no longer live in Muskingum County, I have a boatload of family who do, and who are heavily involved in wildlife, exotics and taxidermy. Thompson's place was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode *for years*. Not because he didn't care about his animals, but the fact that he had too many, and was overwhelmed by both them and life.

[forfreelin04]

Sorry to keep everyone waiting. I didn't mean to lash out in the original thread. *It's just extremely frustrating when people are misinformed and duped when I know the truth.

I live in Zanesville just 10 minutes from Terry's farm. My inlaws and my wife were friends with T , which was Terry's nickname. In no way, did they condone his choice of pets, and people certainly knew it wasn't right. However, T wasn't committing a crime by having them.*

He was very strange individual. He was often accused of dealing guns and drugs from his many used vehicles he also had on his farm. No ones denying he was disturbed. He was an attention hog.

However the truth behind the actions taken by T, the police, and Jack Hanna are very much convoluted. Much of the supposed truth is incorrect, and more so from a national news standpoint than a local.

First, you must understand these animals were pets not wild bloodthirsty animals that the media has dramatized. If you come from parts of ohio like I do, it's not uncommon to raise what most consider a "wild" animal. We have a pet raccoon. He was raised by my inlaws and by dogs. He thinks he's a dog. These supposed savage tigers, lions, and bears were raised similarly. They were brought to the fair as infants for several years. They were loved by children at the fair and were as domesticated as any fair animal.*

The animals were kept in cages, they were also in the house. They played with each other and there were very few (if) any instances of bites or fights. Terry did commit suicide and he did let the animals out. The majority of the animals were in the front field when the cops first came. Keep in mind, these animals never left Terry's property. They were never outside the property. If you read something that says the animals were on 70, it's because the farm is literally right beside it. The animals were still on the property even if they could still be seen from 70. Any neighbors reporting animals on their property is incorrect. They may have seen them for the first time from their property but the animals never set foot off T's property.*

When the cops got there, they simply saw the animals and started shooting. They killed nearly all of them before they ever knew Terry was dead. These were pets, they would not attack unless cornered and made too. It was a slaughter by county police who did not know these animals could have been lured back in their cages by food.

Nearly 90% of the animals were dead before jack Hannah ever showed his face. Tranquilizers could have been used. They were easy to get.They were 20 minutes away at the Wilds preserve. Hannah spoke little to Terry's wife but acted like he had. He was overly dramatic on his television shows and acted as if had something to do with this. He had little to no involvement. I assume it's just a chance to get himself out there.

Finally, if you read back through every article on CNN fox news or USA today see if the truth matches up with their spin. News has to be entertaining now, not factual. It's attempting to scare you. It's working, their ratings are up and some of you now no longer think for yourselves.*

[forfreelin04]

Please see new thread. Mods merge if necessary

[forfreelin04]

If you want to believe your source of news over me, then thats fine. I'm just a poster on Redszone to all of you. But I'm 28, extremely successful, and not in the business of getting attention on message boards. My own mother trusted Brian Williams over me.

Just know that this was terribly mishandled on every level. I would imagine the news especially on the cable networks is also heavily weighted to entertainment and generalizations in nearly every story they do. The facts are constantly downplayed or ignored in favor of some conservative or liberal blowhard's opinion. This isn't news it's some heads opinion. Read the papers from 50 years ago. There are facts not wild generalizations and hyperbole. Turn the TV off, read a book.

[foxfire123]

A few questions among the many I could ask, but what about the eyewitness reports of the animals being in *their* yards? What about the eyewitness reports that Terry's animals were actually quite disruptive and out of control at the fair pet shows--Necessitating a change of the rules to read "domestic pets only"?

As someone who HAS studied wildlife behaviour, and made a career of it in the past, tranqs were not necessarily a good idea--these were large animals. Dosage is hard to figure unless you have a really good idea of weight. And even then, it can take 15-20 minutes or better for tranqs to take effect. Couple that with a ticked off, stressed predator animal, you got trouble in river city. It's sad that this many animals had to die, for no other reason that a sad, sick man put them into that situation. But unfortunately, given the circumstances of being relatively close to town, a major highway and however many subdivisions, shooting was the safest option.

You're not the only one here from that area. I may not live there *now*, but 99 % of my family still does, I knew *of* Terry from the 30+ years I lived there, My father and brother were/are gun collectors so they bought guns from Terry. I didn't know him hardly at all, other than him commenting on and admiring my horses more than once at the county fairs in my 4-H days, but family members did know him. And based on their knowledge, I believe a good chunk of the news reports. News is always sensationalized, but there's a lot of truth to this particular story.

My own family owns exotics, and I've always been the "black sheep" since I've been vocally against that from day one. Squirrels and coons are one thing, heck, we've even had groundhogs and foxes. but large predators? No way, no how. they're not pets. Even multi generation captivity breds are unpredictable.

[redsfandan]

Ok, now I'm expecting that there maybe more details that I don't know yet and I'll agree that it is POSSIBLE that the police MIGHT have been able to handle this differently. But, when you say that those animals were just pets I think of that women who had her face and hands ripped off by her "pet" chimp a few years ago. And then I think of all the exotic and/or non-native animals that are released by their owners because they became too big to be cared for. The guy may have loved those animals. But, I think he was in over his head. Just because someone calls an animal a "pet" doesn't mean that the animal isn't still dangerous.

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by redsfandan

Ok, now I'm expecting that there maybe more details that I don't know yet and I'll agree that it is POSSIBLE that the police MIGHT have been able to handle this differently. But, when you say that those animals were just pets I think of that women who had her face and hands ripped off by her "pet" chimp a few years ago. And then I think of all the exotic and/or non-native animals that are released by their owners because they became too big to be cared for. The guy may have loved those animals. But, I think he was in over his head. Just because someone calls an animal a "pet" doesn't mean that the animal isn't still dangerous.

Siegfried and Roy comes to my mind. I believe it was just easier to shoot and kill and ask questions later, they just brought Jack Hannah in to CTA. As I said in another thread journalism died a long time ago so they just made up what they thought would sale.

[redsfandan]

Anyone that owns an exotic non-native animal as a pet better really know what they're doing. Even then people can become blinded by how "cooperative" an animal might've acted in the past and by just becoming too attached to the animal(s). Unfortunately, this is one example where the state and local governments need to make sure something like this doesn't happen. Cuz there's always somebody that will think they can handle it and nothing bad will ever happen.