Escaped exotic animals to stay in zoo for now

October 28, 2011|Associated Press

Marian Thompson - shown with her late husband, Terry - is trying to reclaim… (CHRIS COOK/ASSOCIATED…)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The six surviving exotic animals freed by their suicidal owner in Ohio will be kept under quarantine at a zoo for now instead of going to the man’s widow, the state Agriculture Department ordered yesterday.

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was trying to stop Marian Thompson from reclaiming three leopards, two primates, and a young grizzly bear that have been cared for by the zoo since last week, when Terry Thompson set them free in a rural area of eastern Ohio.

The zoo said it took the six surviving animals with Marian Thompson’s permission but has no legal rights to them. A veterinarian with the Agriculture Department looked at the animals and determined they should remain separated from the zoo’s other animals, said Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Governor John Kasich.

The quarantine order gives the Agriculture Department a chance to investigate the animals’ health and prevents the zoo from releasing them until it is clear they are not a potential disease threat.

Thompson was to be informed of that upon arrival at the zoo, Nichols said. The order is indefinite, but Thompson is entitled to a hearing within 30 days if she wants to appeal.

Ohio has some of the nation’s weakest restrictions on exotic pets, and efforts to strengthen the regulations have taken on new urgency since Terry Thompson opened the cages at his farm near Zanesville last week, freeing four dozen animals before killing himself. Police officers were ordered to kill the animals - including rare Bengal tigers, lions, and bears - 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.

It is not clear whether Marian Thompson wants to take the animals back to the farm or to an alternate location, said Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz, whose office is not taking a stance on whether the creatures should return to Zanesville.