Surviving Zanesville exotic animals back on farm

A trailer car­ry­ing five exotic ani­mals arrives at the farm of Mar­ian Thomp­son Fri­day near Zanesville. The Colum­bus Zoo returned a bear, two jaguars and two pri­mates to Thomp­son, the sur­vivors of 56 ani­mals her late Terry Thomp­son, released from the east­ern Ohio farm Oct. 18, 2011, before he com­mit­ted sui­cide. Fear­ing for the public

ANN SANNER

Asso­ci­ated Press

COLUMBUS — An Ohio zoo on Fri­day returned five sur­viv­ing exotic ani­mals to a woman whose hus­band released dozens of wild crea­tures last fall before he com­mit­ted suicide.

Two leop­ards, two pri­mates and a bear have been held at the Colum­bus zoo since Octo­ber. State offi­cials had ordered the ani­mals be quar­an­tined on sus­pi­cion of infec­tious diseases.

Ohio’s agri­cul­ture direc­tor lifted the order on Mon­day, and Mar­ian Thomp­son of Zanesville, who had appealed the order, retrieved the ani­mals Fri­day from the zoo.

Thomp­son took them back to the east­ern Ohio farm where her hus­band released 56 ani­mals — includ­ing black bears, moun­tain lions and Ben­gal tigers — before he com­mit­ted sui­cide. Author­i­ties killed 48 of the ani­mals, fear­ing for the public’s safety.

Dis­tinc­tive in a bright pink shirt and dark pants, Thomp­son arrived at a load­ing area at the zoo close to 10:30 a.m., dri­ving a pickup truck pulling a sil­ver horse trailer.

Growl­ing noises could be heard as the two leop­ards were loaded by hand into the horse trailer in wooden-looking crates. A fork­lift loaded a steel cage, likely car­ry­ing the bear. Thomp­son put her hand on the cage and appeared to be talk­ing to the ani­mal inside as it was put into the trailer.

The mon­keys, con­tained in smaller car­ri­ers about the size of those used to trans­port dogs, were loaded inside the back­seat of the cab of the truck, with the win­dows rolled down. Thomp­son ignored shouted ques­tions from nearby reporters.

Sev­eral zoo staffers, includ­ing vet­eri­nar­i­ans and keep­ers, watched the trans­fer, with some tak­ing video and still pho­tos. Two United States Agri­cul­ture Depart­ment inspec­tors were also on hand with cameras.

Med­ical results released last week showed all five ani­mals were free of the dan­ger­ously con­ta­gious or infec­tious dis­eases for which they were tested.

Thomp­son pre­vi­ously tried to get the ani­mals back from the zoo, but the quar­an­tine pre­vented her from tak­ing them.

Now that she has the ani­mals, noth­ing in Ohio law allows state offi­cials to check on their wel­fare or require improve­ments to con­di­tions in which they are kept. The state’s agri­cul­ture depart­ment says it will be up to local author­i­ties to be alert to their caretaking.

“Ohio has done every­thing in its power to keep local offi­cials informed through­out this process to ensure they had as much infor­ma­tion as pos­si­ble in advance of this threat return­ing to their back­yard,” said David Daniels, the state’s agri­cul­ture director.

The sui­cide of Thompson’s hus­band, Terry Thomp­son, the ani­mals’ release Oct. 18 and their killings led law­mak­ers to re-examine the state’s restric­tions on exotic pets, which are con­sid­ered some of the nation’s weakest.

Daniels said in a writ­ten state­ment that the ani­mals’ health had improved since they arrived at the zoo.

Musk­ingum County Sher­iff Matt Lutz said there was not a lot local author­i­ties can do. But “At the first com­plaint we have, we’ll fol­low up,” he said.

Thompson’s home in Zanesville sits about a quarter-mile from a rural road, sur­rounded by fields and pas­tures where horses graze. A “Wel­come Back!” bal­loon was tied to the mail­box, as her truck car­ry­ing the ani­mals made its way down the property’s long lane.

News media could see the bear being unloaded into a cage, of what appeared thick iron bars, in the yard.

Of the ani­mals that Terry Thomp­son released, three leop­ards, two Celebes macaques and a bear sur­vived and were taken to the Colum­bus zoo. One spot­ted leop­ard had to be euth­a­nized at the zoo in Jan­u­ary. The macaques are small pri­mates; the female weighs about 6 pounds, and the male weighs more than 10 pounds.

The zoo said it raised more than $44,000 in online dona­tions to help care for the ani­mals, though the actual cost was not known.

Thompson’s lawyer has told the state’s agri­cul­ture depart­ment that his client has ade­quate cages for the sur­viv­ing ani­mals. Mul­ti­ple mes­sages left for Robert McClel­land have not been returned.

Oth­ers have ques­tioned con­di­tions at the farm, includ­ing Tom Stalf, the Colum­bus zoo’s chief oper­at­ing officer.

Stalf, who was at Thompson’s the day of the Zanesville release, said the pri­mates taken in the zoo had been held in sep­a­rate, small bird cages, and the brown bear was kept in a cage that wasn’t fit for its size.

“There was feces on the floor, in the cages,” Stalf said. “You could not get a fresh breath.”

Cyndi Hunts­man, a friend of Thompson’s, has told The Asso­ci­ated Press that Thomp­son had cleaned the cages.

Posted by AP News on May 4 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.