Sister says owner was overwhelmed by finances
ZANESVILLE, OHIO (AP) -- An owner of dozens of wild animals who freed them before committing suicide this week was an avid gun collector who had traded weapons for a monkey, a leopard and a tiger cub, federal documents show.
Terry Thompson built his collection of exotic animals by swapping guns, sheltering animals no longer wanted by their owners and buying others at auctions, according to public records released Friday and interviews with those who knew him.
"Once you have an exotic animal, you're somewhat tagged as someone who will take unwanted or abandoned animals. And that's how it grew," Thompson said, according to a deposition that was part of the government's attempt to seize 133 weapons from him.
No one knows for sure why Thompson freed 56 animals including lions, tigers and bears on Tuesday and then committed suicide, triggering a big-game hunt in the Ohio countryside as police officers shot and killed 48 of them for fear they would harm humans. A 49th animal was killed by one of the big cats. The remaining animals were captured and taken to the Columbus Zoo.
The frightening situation put a spotlight on the lack of oversight on exotic pets in some states. Ohio has some of the nation's weakest restrictions. Gov. John Kasich on Friday ordered temporary measures to crack down on private ownership of exotic wild animals while tougher laws are drafted this fall.
Under his executive order, the state will work with health departments and humane societies to better enforce existing laws, try to temporarily halt auction sales of wild animals, shut down unlicensed auctions, and review existing permits the state issues to people who own wild animals.
Kasich had let an order that banned buying and selling exotic animals expire last spring. Friday, he defended that decision, saying the legislative process was in the works to address the issue. He said a committee now has put drafting new laws on a fast track for the end of next month.
Thompson likely would have been in violation of the previous order because he had animal cruelty convictions in the past, but it's unclear if or when he would have lost his animals.
"All the statutes in the world don't keep something like what happened from happening," Kasich said. "I mean, who would have ever dreamt the guy's gonna commit suicide, open up the cages? The question is why did he have all those animals to begin with."
Deputies killed 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions and eight bears in a hunt across eastern Ohio that has been criticized by some who say the animals should have been saved. The officers were ordered to kill the animals instead of trying to bring them down with tranquilizers for fear that those hit with darts would escape in the darkness before they dropped and would later regain consciousness.
Over the years, neighbors complained about a lion running loose and regularly called the sheriff about Thompson's horses roaming away from the property where the wild animals were kept.
Thompson, 62, had his share of troubles in the last year. He owed thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes, had marital problems and just returned home only a few weeks ago after spending a year in federal prison for possessing unregistered weapons.
A week before Thompson killed himself, a sheriff's deputy visited his farm because a neighbor complained about his horses getting out again.
Thompson promised he'd check the fences and admitted he was struggling to take care of all the animals, authorities said.
"Terry stated to me that he had just recently got home out of prison and he has not had very good control over any of his animals since he had been locked up," the deputy wrote in a report released Friday.
Thompson's estranged sister said he likely was overwhelmed financially when he committed suicide.
"I can just see him standing on that hill looking at every animal, thinking, 'How am I going to do this?'" Polly Thompson told The Associated Press. "And I'm sure he thought, 'Nobody wants me.'"
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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