Noahs ark killing

Seattle Times - After the shooting stopped and panic subsided, 50 exotic animals were dead. The owner of the farm that housed the creatures also apparently shot himself to death after unleashing 56 wild animals on Zanesville, a city of 25,000 in central Ohio, perhaps in a final act of spite against neighbors and police. All but one of the dead animals were shot to death. They included 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, two grizzlies, three mountain lions, two wolves and one baboon. At least one animal, described by officials as a large cat, was struck by a car and then shot. The last of the escapees, a monkey believed to carry a potentially lethal herpes virus, apparently was eaten by one of the carnivores, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said late Wednesday. Six survivors — three leopards, a grizzly and two monkeys — were captured and taken to the Columbus Zoo. Jack Hanna, a television personality and former director of the Columbus Zoo, described the series of events as “like Noah’s Ark wrecking.” Hanna defended Lutz’s decision to kill the animals, but said the deaths of the Bengal tigers were especially tragic. Only about 1,400 of the endangered cats remain in the world, he said. “When I heard 18,” he said, “I was still in disbelief. The most magnificent creature in the entire world, the tiger is.” While animal-rights activists have heaped criticism on Lutz and his department, the sheriff took pains Wednesday, almost 24 hours after the first 911 call, to illustrate the danger of employing nonlethal force. Deputies don’t carry tranquilizer guns, only Tasers, Lutz said. “When you’re dealing with a 300-pound Bengal tiger or you’re dealing with a 200- to 300-pound bear, I don’t think I’m the one who’s going to try a Taser.”


Pretty fucked up shit, but the cops had no other way to deal with the situation.

LG