Thought I'd post this heads up for our Ohio members who may not have turned on the news. In short, animal preserve owner appears to have let loose all of his wild animals (bears, lions, etc.) and then committed suicide. Authorities are urging everyone in the surrounding area to stay inside! http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/19/exotic-animals-on-loose-in-ohio-after-park-owner-found-dead/
I can't believe they are shooting to kill. I understand they are exotic, wild animals but this seems a little extreme. It's too bad that the owner felt his only way out was suicide.
That's what I thought, too, Lee. I was surprised they were killing them all. Makes you wonder if they were diseased or something.
Some of them were tranquilized and some were shot. This area is a populated area and were afraid of the people that would be hurt or killed by these wild animals. The Columbus Zoo personnel said that the people came first not the animals. They even closed the schools in that area. I think this town is about 45 minutes from Columbus. These animals can travel, so this was the concern. There is still 3 missing, last I heard. They are not sure why the owner committed suicide. Such a tragic.
I thought they just might not have the resources to capture them all, too. Ohio Mom, has anyone been hurt yet? I'm glad they are down to only 3 still missing.
I'm not too far from where it happened, and we had our science/language classes today. Many (most?) of these hs'ed kids are rural, and I got a kick listening to the middle/high school boys talking about it. "MAN!!! They called in the SWAT team, and they had to put on their night vision goggles to hunt the animals with! It's like getting PAID to go on safari!!! How cool is THAT!!!" LOL! When I heard Jack Hannah earlier, there were a few animals left. They were going to try and tranquilize them, then take them to the Columbus Zoo. Keep in mind how many animals there were. It'd be hard to keep them somewhere until they could find places for them all. Faythe is working at the zoo this weekend for Boo at the Zoo; it will interesting if she hears anything.
I read somewhere that there were about 48 animals in all, but they couldn't be sure because the man was dead. I heard an interview with Jack Hanna, and he seemed just flabberghasted and at wit's end with the info they DIDN'T have on it, and trying to help people understand why some of them had to be shot instead of tranq'd. They tranq when they can! Anyway, this is about the dozenth "wild animals running loose in populated areas" story this year. Crazy, I say.
I believe there is more behind the story then what we are being told. If the man loved his animals like they said he did he wouldn't of wanted them to be shot. So, why would he open the gates to let them out. Just my opinion.
I think it's just an issue with the nature of tranquilizing animals. It's not a sure thing. You have to get fairly close and risk it not even taking or risking the animals causing harm while it does take. With that many animals loose in a populated area shooting to kill is probably the most prudent route to go.
That's pretty much what Jack Hannah said last night on the news. He says when the zoo tranquilizes an animal, they spend at least a week preparing. They take into account the health of the animal, its weight, when it ate last, etc. And even then they take precautions. So when these officers arrived, it was just dusk and was going to be dark in a matter of minutes. And they saw MANY animals coming up over a hill toward them. Jack said they needed to make the decision immediately, and it was the only decision that could have been made to insure safety of the officers AND THE COMMUNITY. They didn't want all those dangerous animals loose in a community, hunting at night.
