Exotic Animals Returned to Owner
The Columbus Zoo returned 5 exotic animals to their owner, Marian Thompson today. The Columbus Zoo had been caring for the animals since they were removed from the Thompson farm in Zanesville on Oct. 19, 2011 a day after owner, Terry Thompson released 59 other animals and committed suicide. Fearing for the public’s safety, authorities gunned down 48 of the animals.
When the animals were removed from the farm, they were found to be living in deplorable conditions. Some of the monkeys were thought to be carrying a herpes virus. Thompson traded guns for the exotic animals, and all but some of the monkeys lived outside in open air cages as the photo depicts. Please, someone tell me HOW these conditions are any better than what the zoo provided, and where was Marian Thompson while the animals were living in filth on HER property? Why were they not adequately cared for at that time? I have very little faith that these animals are going to be properly cared for, and when it becomes known I hope authorities come down on her like a hammer!
Author, activist, lover of all animals and a few people.
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prinnie – who has written 197 posts on Prinniefied.com.
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It is the system (police/prosecutors, ect) that caused the death of so many animals at that location. The return of the remainder is a good thing from my prospective. Now, the wife should sue all contacts involved in this case to their bankruptcy-point and imprison those that ordered the decision to shoot.
I agree that the animals should not have been killed, but prior to their demise these animals were not well taken care of. They lived in filth, and nothing has changed. They are going to be in open air cages, and I just think that this is so wrong. She didn’t take proper care of the animals to begin with. She abandoned them when she left her husband.
The animals, even when released, posed no threat to anyone Prinnie.
I disagree. These are not domestic animals and while they may be pets, you must always be on guard. When Terry’s body was found, he had large animal bite marks on his head. I do not think that the Sheriffs should have killed them all, and they should have been captured and cared for properly. These animals were not being properly cared for when they were in the custody of these people. They were malnourished and living in filth. How can that be better than being in a place that will make sure they are properly cared for? And that’s not saying that the zoo should have kept them, but they need to be monitored to make sure that they are being cared for.
Perhaps they lawfully belong to her so she has a right to prove she can care for them. And perhaps she left her husband because was a dangerous lunatic. It certainly sounds as though he might have been.
Points well made and taken on your last comment Prinnie; thanks!
My concern is for the safety of the animals. Their cages are bothersome. There is no room for these large animals to move about freely. Honestly, I think Marian is being selfish and thinking of her “win” against the state before she does the best interests of the animals. Yes, they belong to her but why aren’t they in better living conditions? Ohio has passed an exotic animal law that will make it much more difficult for people to keep them at their homes. I just hope that she does the right thing and at least provides them with better care than they received before they were quarantined. Terry Thompson was an illegal guns dealer and traded firearms for animals.
Good points Prinnie, I still think the officers that fired the shots and their supervisors need some disciplinary actions and financial penalties.
I think the police did what they had to do when it came to the safety of themselves and others. While I don’t like to see animals killed for no reason, I would much rather they be killed than a human being mauled by them. The police were called early evening about wild animals roaming around. They couldn’t tranquilize the animals in the dark for fear that they would run off once hit with the dart and they would lose them before they passed out. The animals would then wake up before they were caught. It’s one thing to tranquilize an animal in a controlled setting but when you have them running loose in the wide open, it’s not so easy to do.
I don’t think they should be held responsible for the deaths of those animals. It was Terry Thompson who let them out not giving a rats behind about the animals or the humans who could have been injured. It was his big F U to his neighbors and cops. He is the only one to blame for their deaths.
Yep, and IMO Marian is getting her big FU to authorities by getting them back. This isn’t the last we’ll hear of these animals. Sadly, there is also no law that allows the natural resource officers to check on them.
I had heard that there wasn’t any problems there until after she had left. I do feel that killing the animals was the right thing to do at the time. They even had Jack Hanna there telling them that they should kill them for fear that they might get into a residential area. If the farm was far away from the people then I would say that they could of tranquilized them.
We have one of these animals retreats about 10 blocks from were I live in Ohio. This place is not on a farm and they took in a lot of these animals. I know there was concern when it first opened because the nearest property is about 100 ft. to 250 ft. away. This lady has lions, tigers, bears that could kill someone if they suddenly got loose. I used to take my kids up there in the summer to see some of the animals through the fences. The dangerous ones are in the back of the property and are not visible. These animals are being housed in a residential/farming area. Most of these lots are 1/2 to 2acres. This is one place that is not affected by the new animal law. People in my area tried to have them closed down when they first opened. At the time there were not as many as there is now.
There were plenty of problems there long before he released the animals and killed himself.
“Court records show Thompson’s longtime battles with the authorities and with neighbors. While he was convicted of one animal cruelty case in 2005 (some dead cattle were found on his property), he beat other, similar accusations against him in 2008.”
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20539200,00.html
“In 2005, he was convicted of animal cruelty after three cows and a bison died in his care, according to court records.
During his trial, prosecutor Ron Welch said Thompson had been warned at least 30 times about animals wandering off his property.
“The trustees of the township received numerous complaints, the sheriff’s office received complaints along with animal control,” Welch said at the time. “The director of animal control also received numerous complaints that the animals were starving to death.”
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-10-20/news/30318114_1_exotic-animals-animal-control-animal-cruelty
As for the killing of the animals, I believe it was justified. As stated, you can not tranquilize a wild animal in the dark in a fairly residential area as it will run off the minute the dart hits it and will be lost in the dark only to wake up somewhere else placing too many people in danger. I am all for animal rights but, the safety and well being of humans should always come first.
I expect some anonymous caller to make a complaint to give the authorities the ability to gain access to the property to check on the animals from here on out. I expect likely a monthly “complaint”.
There have been horses loose from this farm for the past three days. They are afraid that the horses could cause a car crash because they were out in the road. I’m still very unnerved that she has the other animals there with so little attention to keeping the horses safe and corralled.