by Jacob Kittilstad and photojournalist Adam Jagunich, KQDS FOX 21
MUSKINGUM COUNTY-Ohio authorities continue unlocking details about an animal collector’s suicide that led to the death of four dozen exotic pets. Dying by the bullets of Muskingum Sheriff’s deputies, more than half of the 48 animals were tigers and lions, authorities said. FOX 21 NEWS spoke with rehabbers at Sandstone’s Wildcat Sanctuary that typically rescues big cats from dangerous places like collector’s home in Ohio. Cages, however, still typically trap those animals. In this case, the Ohio sheriff says the sheer number of wild animals meant no safe alternative but death. A Bengal tiger lounges in it spacious structure constructed by workers at Sandstone’s wildcat Sanctuary. Head Keeper Trista Campbell says it’s an escape from the prisons of exotic animal collectors. “They’ve lived in very small, filthy enclosures. We see a lot of 10×10 enclosures,” Campbell said. Campbell says she and her co-workers succeeded in pushing Minnesota lawmakers in 2005 to ban ownership of primates, bears and big cats. “Ohio on the other hand, they don’t really have too many regulations regarding these exotic animals,” Campbell said. Sanctuary workers attribute that fact to Tuesday night’s gruesome extermination. “I had deputies that shot animals at close range. That’s how volatile the situation was. We are not talking about our normal house cats or dogs. These are 300 pound Bengal tigers that we had to put down,” Muskingum Sheriff Matt Lutz said. Lutz said authorities killed 48 animals including lions, tigers, and bears after Terry Thompson allegedly freed the beasts before killing himself with a bullet to the skull. “I think as much as it’s shocking for everyone here at the facility it’s also something that’s not too surprising,” Campbell said. One of their tigers already came from one Ohio rescue. Cougars, a jaguar – most of the felines collected from dangerous collectors. This latest national horror, Campbell says, only further proves the sanctuary’s goals. “These animals don’t belong in people’s backyards, in people’s homes, because that is a selfish desire. It’s not the animals desire to be close to the humans. It’s the human’s desire to be close to the animals,” Campbell said. The owner who allegedly freed the animals had recently returned home after a yearlong prison sentence for possessing illegal firearms. The Columbus Zoo took in the few surviving creatures.
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