You have probably heard about the guy in Ohio that set his exotic animals loose and then committed suicide on the news. That happened about 100 miles from where I live. I have been past that farm several times. As of a few minutes ago, they still had a mountain lion, a grizzely bear and a monkey on the loose.
Wasn't that terrible. He must have been very depressed or mentally ill to be so uncaring about his so called pets. He must have know they would be doomed out there in public. :'( Barb in Pa.
For the life of me I cannot understand why private individuals are permitted to have wild animals. Here in Texas there are drive-through "animal parks". The animals learn that cars mean food, and are quite insistent about being fed. They stick their heads in open windows, and aren't able to tell a finger from a treat. Recently a child was mauled by a cougar that the owner had caged at his home. Animals deserve better than this. A competent zoo with adequate habitat, caring keepers, and a veterinarian on duty is the only spot exotic animals should be kept. I hope no one is hurt by the animals in Ohio, and that the remaining ones can be captured instead of killed.
I agree completely! WHY do people have these animals and WHY are they allowed to? Quite beyond my comprehension. My brother has someone who lives down the road from him who has lions and you can hear them all the time. This is awful!
I heard about this on the news this morning and thought about it all day. How many animals did he set free? And what were they?
18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, two grizzlies, a baboon and three mountain lions were killed. Last I heard there was as wolf and a monkey still at large but the monkey might have been eaten by one of the other animals. 6 animals were captured and taken to a zoo. Some states and cities do issue permits for them, even those areas that do outlaw or regulate their possession can not totally control the situation. There are many black market importers/sellers and purchasers who couldn't care less about the laws or regulations and do not have permits for them. So not everyone who keeps exotics has been given permission to have them.
As of this evenings news there is still a snow monkey on the loose. It has what is called the Herpes B virus that does not harm the animal, but is deadly to humans if he bites someone. That is the last of the animals. They said that since the monkey is used to cold and wet weather, that todays weather is right up his ally as far as survival.
Last night's news reported that none of the animals escaped the outer fence, and authorities were taking a body count to see what animals were left. I felt sorry for the county sheriff--he said that tranquilizer guns were not standard issue for his officers so tranquilizing and capture was not an option for his people; that the state was "in the process" of shutting down the facility which had 35 protests filed about animal abuse; and that he had to make a hard decision about public safety. After this there will be an effort to strengthen the laws about private ownership of exotic animals, I'm sure.
As of this morning, all of the animals have been accounted for. The monkey that they could not account for was determined to have been killed and eaten by one of the lions.
Here is my question about this whole thing. Why would they bury all those animals on the property. YUK. Why wouldn't they be cremated. Make the estate pay for it or something. That is so much decomposing going on in one area, it sounds illegal. I wouldn't want to buy that property for many years. Barb in Pa.
There probably isn't a crematorium that can handle that many animals and ones as large as those and certainly not more than one at a time. No place to keep the bodies while they were doing one or two at a time so that would cause a major health problem. If they did it out on the property, can you imagine the smoke and smell that anyone downwind would have to endure for hours. The cost of having the fire department standing by to put out sparks that leaped into other areas. That would take fire department equipment and men away from being available for house fires and other emergencies. A large pit to bury them in would appear to be the only option and I imagine that they have something to put in the pit to prevent anything from contaminating the soil. It's probably going to be years before they get the estate settled so the family can either move there or sell it anyway.
Barb, the decomposition process is normal. it goes on all the time. it's part of the eco system. granted this is a bit more than the area normally sees, but in less than a year the only thing left will be the bones. There really is nothing else they could have done with them. The "estate" or whatever there is of it will be tied up in legal mumbo-jumbo for far longer than it will take for the natural life cycle and decomposition to take place. So someone else would be expected to be holding the bill for quite some time, I wouldn't want it to be me, and there is no guarantee of getting paid either. I butcher my own chickens and all the offal goes to the compost pile underneath a big container so nothing roots through the pile for the first few days. I have never found anything left, that was identifiable to me, while using the compost. Worms will eat it all. Jane, they did get beyond the outer fence, people started calling the state patrol when they started seeing the animals. I heard one was hit on the highway. poor animal and person who had the misfortune of it. Schools were closed in the ares to keep everyone safe or as safe as possible. I am just glad no one was hurt or worse.
At least six of the animals are now being cared for at the Columbus Ohio Zoo. Carolyn, since the animals were outside the perimeter fence, I can understand why the sheriff took the measures he had to for public safety. I don't mean to make fun of the situation, but can you imagine reporting to your insurance company "my car was damaged when I hit a lion near Zanesville, Ohio"?
