Seems a dude kept "exotic animals" in what he called a wildlife preserve. Some preservation. They killed him and got loose. Police and other officials have had to shoot a lot of them as they posed a danger.
Most humorous part to me? The primates didn't get loose. I'd have thought they would have been the best able to get away, but they stayed at home while the other animals went on a rampage before getting capped.
#2
Chibibar
The primates are smart. They don't wanna get capped.
#3
ThatNickGuy
They couldn't have tranq'd the animals? Or I guess they didn't have enough preparation time. Added at: 09:29
Also:
A local resident, Bill Weiser, said Mr Thompson had been a colourful character who flew planes, raced boats and owned a custom motorcycle shop which also sold guns.
Add in the exotic (and I'm assuming some illegal, if there were tigers and such) animals and a plot for world domination and those vigilantes dressing up as superheroes have themselves something to fight.
#4
Chibibar
I guess they couldn't taz it either
#5
ThatNickGuy
Taze, you mean. Taz would assume...
Which...actually, would be pretty awesome, too.
#6
Dave
Update: The guy apparently killed himself, but not before opening some of the enclosures. So this is more 12 Monkeys than Prison Break.
Add in the exotic (and I'm assuming some illegal, if there were tigers and such) animals and a plot for world domination and those vigilantes dressing up as superheroes have themselves something to fight.
No, he owned all of the animals legally. One of our previous governors tried to make getting such animals incredibly difficult, but then he left office and his predecessor Ted Strickland just kinda let it go. Kinda want to kick his ass right now, considering the farm all of these animals were kept at has had at least 35 complaints against it since '04.
You should have seen Jack Hannah at the news conference they just had... he looked incredibly depressed, even as he defended the sheriff's department for gunning down most of the animals. Never seen Jungle Jack so morose.
For those curious, all signs currently point toward the owner of the farm letting all the animals out then committing suicide, though I personally find this suspicious. Right now there are at least 3 animals unaccounted for: a mountain lion, a bear, and a monkey.
#8
sixpackshaker
I think keeping exotic animals was one of the few legal activities that he was involved in. It is sad that he did not kill himself and leave the animals to be found by the employees. It is a pity that they had to put so many animals down.
#9
AshburnerX
Not much they could do about it... they literally only had about an hour and a half of daylight left to collect them all. It took Jack Hanna half an hour just to get his team from the Columbus Zoo to the scene to try and contain some of them, and thankfully they were able to safely capture a few of them.
I honestly don't blame the police for gunning down the animals. They almost lost one of the veterinarians when a Tiger didn't like getting shot with a tranq.