http://www.themonitor.com/articles/ohio-55...rm-animals.html

 

Couple of nuggets . . .

ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Dozens of animals escaped Tuesday from a wild-animal preserve that houses bears, big cats and other beasts, and the owner later was found dead there, said police, who shot several of the animals and urged nearby residents to stay indoors.

 

The fences had been left unsecured at the Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, in east-central Ohio, and the animals' cages were open, police said. They wouldn't say what animals escaped but said the preserve had lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, giraffes, camels and bears. They said bears and wolves were among 25 escaped animals that had been shot and killed and there were multiple sightings of exotic animals along a nearby highway.

 

"These are wild animals that you would see on TV in Africa," Sheriff Matt Lutz warned at a press conference.

Ohio has some of the nation's weakest restrictions on exotic pets and among the highest number of injuries and deaths caused by them.

 

In the summer of 2010, an animal caretaker was killed by a bear at a property in Cleveland. The caretaker had opened the bear's cage at exotic-animal keeper Sam Mazzola's property for a routine feeding.

 

Though animal-rights activists had wanted Mazzola charged with reckless homicide, the caretaker's death was ruled a workplace accident. The bear was later destroyed.

 

This summer, Mazzola was found dead on a water bed, wearing a mask and with his arms and legs restrained, at his home in Columbia Township, about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland.

wtf? /gotta find out more

 

Found it, geez I thought it was something unusual . . .

COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio -- An Ohio pathologist says an exotic-animal keeper found dead in his waterbed was face down, tied with bondage restraints and had obstructions over his nose and mouth.

 

Dr. Frank P. Miller III at the Lorain County coroner's office tells The Associated Press on Tuesday that Sam Mazzola was asphyxiated in an apparent accident during sexual role-play. Miller says Mazzola had a sex toy in his mouth, wore a mask and was chained to the bed.

 

An employee found the 49-year-old Mazzola dead Sunday. The manner of his death is pending further investigation.

 

A bear owned by Mazzola killed an employee who opened its cage for feeding last year at the Mazzola home in Columbia Station, where wolves and tigers also were kept. Columbia Station is about 15 miles outside Cleveland.

A university a couple counties over from there is hiring for a Geologist this year!

If you see a few giraffes wandering around, you know where they're from.

And what to do with them

A university a couple counties over from there is hiring for a Geologist this year!

 

There is a joke there about getting your rocks off...

And what to do with them

Find a way to hitch up a saddle and have some fun!

They are now saying three animals remain unaccounted for: a monkey, a grizzly bear, and a mountain lion.

 

The monkey can't survive a winter in Ohio, it will end up trying to get into a house or something and be caught pretty quick I'd bet.

 

The Grizzly can survive the weather fine, but an animal that large used to being fed will go for garbage somewhere and easily be seen. I just hope it doesn't hurt anyone in the meantime. I am sure it is hungry. And a pistol won't do much against it either, they'll need a tranq, a shotgun or a high powered rifle.

 

The mountain lion is the most likely to vanish permanently. That animal can hide easily, and survive the weather just fine.

 

Also appears that the keeper let all his animals loose, then shot himself.

 

The Grizzly would be in bad shape though if it hasn't been in the normal process of building up body mass for the winter.

 

The Mountain Lion's hiding skills might depend on how it was raised. If this was a captured cat it would go back to previous skills, if it was raised in captivity it might not be able to take care of itself on its own.

 

And this is my chance for another mouth-watering monkey!

I'm sorry, but I'm confused. Are these two separate stories?

I'm sorry, but I'm confused. Are these two separate stories?

Yeah, the bizarro waterbed story is from an earlier person who happened to be involved with exotic animals too. Not related, I don't think.

 

I see no reason why you wouldn't pin this on John Boehner.

Such an extremely sad and mostly unavoidable(unavoidable meaning once he set them free, the authorities had pretty much no choice but to kill them) ending for these animals. This guy decides he doesnt want to live anymore, and gets 50 innocent animals killed in the process.

 

 

I bet it was kind of funny/scary seeing that tiger chasing around those horses

I'm sorry, but I'm confused. Are these two separate stories?

 

 

Yes, but for some reason every story I read about the current case also mentioned the previous.

Now they are saying it is just a wolf and the monkey. Monkey will have to be destroyed because apparently they think it is diseased. The lone wolf is not really a threat, so they are saying people can go back to normal.

 

In all, they killed 48 animals, and captured 6.

 

why do these animals have to be killed? Why can't they just tranquilize them? Was a reason given?

I assume they wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Waiting around for a vet/animal control would have given the animals the opportunity to escape and pose an increased danger in the area.

 

Though you do have to wonder if they violated some federal law there. Aren't tigers an endangered species? Still, pretty f'n sad. I'm sure a lot of zoos around the country/world would have accepted these animals.

I assume they wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Waiting around for a vet/animal control would have given the animals the opportunity to escape and pose an increased danger in the area.

 

Though you do have to wonder if they violated some federal law there. Aren't tigers an endangered species? Still, pretty f'n sad. I'm sure a lot of zoos around the country/world would have accepted these animals.

 

The first part is the key. Some deputy comes upon a bengal tiger, calls for animal control, now what? That animal could be gone in the blink of an eye to do who knows what. Pretty much have to shoot. Also, apparently, some animals were in traffic, others chasing livestock. And I bet the number of animal control folks out there was very few, compared to just plain cops. Sad situation, but really has to be that way.

 

Oddly enough, tigers would not be endangered here, because they are not native to here. Wolves and Grizzlies are not native to Ohio either. But in any case, while I have not seen any case law on it, I'd have to think that exigent circumstances such as this would protect law enforcement from prosecution.

 

I think they gave the kill order after they tranquilized a tiger and it became extremely agitated so they ended up having to kill it. Tranquilizing any animal is not an exact science, and sometimes the drug has the reverse effect and animals become even more dangerous. These were massive predatory animals that were already confused and running around, just an extremely sad situation.

why do these animals have to be killed? Why can't they just tranquilize them? Was a reason given?

 

One of the articles I read mentioned that they worried the animals would get shot with a tranquilizer, and then stumble off and disappear and they wouldn't be able to find them. Not entirely sure of the validity of that reasoning, but it's what they said.

One of the articles I read mentioned that they worried the animals would get shot with a tranquilizer, and then stumble off and disappear and they wouldn't be able to find them. Not entirely sure of the validity of that reasoning, but it's what they said.

 

Prob a valid concern considering there were 50-60 animals. You're not gonna go off alone and follow one when you might get pounced by the 15 other tigers in the area.

This is what the movie the zookeeper should have been about.

why do these animals have to be killed? Why can't they just tranquilize them? Was a reason given?

 

These are Lions, Tigers, Bears, and other nasties. This is not a coyote in your neighborhood picking off a poodle. These animals can and will kill people. The police's number one priority is to protect the people first. They dont issue Tranq guns to the local police officers. So as much as seeing the Lion get killed is sad. It would be worse the Lion picked off a few 4 year olds while they waited to get the non-lethal weapons. So as gruesome as it is this was the wise decision. The bad guy here was the mope who offed himself and let the beasties out.

 

 

These are Lions, Tigers, Bears, and other nasties. This is not a coyote in your neighborhood picking off a poodle. These animals can and will kill people. The police's number one priority is to protect the people first. They dont issue Tranq guns to the local police officers. So as much as seeing the Lion get killed is sad. It would be worse the Lion picked off a few 4 year olds while they waited to get the non-lethal weapons. So as gruesome as it is this was the wise decision. The bad guy here was the mope who offed himself and let the beasties out.

Oh my!

after reading some more into this, the main issue was the cops did not have access to tranquilizers and they were running out of daylight, they didn't want them out all night. I also read about a Tiger they did tranquilize that seemed to be feeling the affects then got agitated and came at a vet, which goes with what others have said about the tranquilizers not being effective 100% of the time and with the large size of these animals being another problem, so yeah I understand why they had to kill them, just wanted to know exactly why.