Sheriff, expert defend killings of freed animals in Ohio

An Ohio sheriff defended the killings of more than four dozen lions, tigers and other wild animals Wednesday after they were turned loose from a farm outside Zanesville by its suicidal owner.

Of the 56 animals released Tuesday night, only a grizzly bear, two monkeys and three leopards were taken alive, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said. One monkey remained unaccounted for Wednesday night, but Lutz and conservationist Jack Hanna, who assisted in the effort, said the animal may have been eaten by one of the big cats.

Lutz told reporters earlier that the farm's owner, Terry Thompson, pried open cages and left the farm's fences open before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Tuesday afternoon. Lutz told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that none of his deputies are equipped with tranquilizer guns. And with night falling Tuesday, he gave the order to kill the escaped animals

"If this had been a 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock incident, in the middle of the day, odds are high that we may have been able to surround the area and keep everything contained," he said. "But our biggest problem that we had was nightfall. We had about an hour, hour and a half of light, and we just couldn't take the chance.

As of Wednesday afternoon, authorities had killed 49 animals -- 18 tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, two grizzly bears, three mountain lions, two wolves and a baboon. Those captured alive were taken to the Columbus Zoo.

Hanna, the zoo's director emeritus, said he was upset by loss of "precious" animals, but defended the decision to use deadly force.

"To have no one hurt or killed here with 40-something animals getting loose is unbelievable," he told CNN's "The Situation Room."
Hanna led a team of experts who arrived with four tranquilizer guns late Tuesday in an effort to corral the animals. He said the drugs take several minutes to subdue an animal even with a good shot, and one tiger had to be killed Wednesday afternoon when it turned on a veterinarian after being hit with a tranquilizer dart.Overnight, sheriff's deputies searched the eastern Ohio woods around Zanesville with night-vision gear and patrolled in pickups, armed with shotguns. Flashing signs on the highways in eastern Ohio warned motorists Wednesday: "Caution. Exotic animals." Schools were closed, and some frightened residents said they were keeping to their homes as sheriff's deputies hunted lions, tigers, leopards and grizzly bears.

DIV