ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Muskingum County sheriff warned citizens that, 56 exotic animals escaped from a farm Tuesday night, and one, a monkey with herpes, was still unaccounted for this morning.
The owner of the farm, Terry Thompson, was found dead on his property from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sheriff Matt Lutz told media that Thompson opened the cage doors and cut the wires on the cages, then killed himself. Thompson’s wife had recently left him.
One grizzly bear, three leopards and two monkeys were captured alive and taken to the Columbus Zoo. However, 49 of the animals were killed; 18 tigers, nine male lions, eight female lions, six black bears, three mountain lions, two wolves, two grizzly bears, one baboon, and a partridge in a pear tree.
The sheriff stated that the escaped monkey poses a danger because it is infected with herpes, but later said that the missing monkey was probably eaten by a large cat.
Okay, the obvious question here is; how does a monkey on a farm in Ohio get herpes? This may be a clue as to why Thompson’s wife left.
Jack Hanna, director of the Columbus Zoo, said Thompson’s wife was very upset about losing her “babies.” Hanna said, “I held her, I felt her shock. Her animals are gone. Her family is gone. Everything in her life is gone.” Plus she’ll need to be tested for monkey herpes.
Sheriff Lutz said killing the escaped animals was necessary, because when deputies arrived at the house, there were large animals trying to escape and deputies had to shoot them with their sidearms.
“Public safety was my No. 1 concern,” Lutz said. “I gave the order that if the animals looked like they were going to get out, they were going down.” Target practice was apparently his second concern.
“It’s like Noah’s ark wrecked,” Hanna said of the scene at the farm. “We need to set an example in the state of Ohio. There was a loss of life here, and we thank God it was not human life. It was animal life, and that’s my life,” he said while picking the bugs out of Sheriff Lutz’ hair.
