Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

I don't know if you remember the story about a guy who let all his animals loose then committed suicide? It was October last year in Ohio. The police ended up killing the majority of them and, of course, the pictures were all over the news about how the police had slain these innocent animals needlessly.

Being the kind of tree-hugging hippy, Wiccan earth mother that I am, I did wonder if there was maybe some other action that could have been taken. I mean come on, surely the Muskingum County Sheriff's office could have called Snow White to charm all the animals back into their small cages?

Unfortunately Snow White wasn't available and it wasn't bluebirds and bunnies it was lions and tigers and bears and monkeys and wolves...... That kind of puts a different slant on it.

Anyway, I'm not here to judge whether what Sheriff Lutz, Deputy Merry, a SWAT team and zoo specialist type people did or did not do wrong. I'm after all, sitting on a couch, looking out my window to the sun, I'm not in the pitch dark, being stalked by a 400lb hungry, pissed off lion knowing that even with my asthma inhaler, there is no way I'd ever be able to outrun it....

I'm sorry, but self preservation would probably take over and I'm not sure I could put all my hope & prayers to what ever goddess or god you believe in, that the big kitty would want to play with a ball of wool and not my head.

So, why am I blogging about this now? Well Terry Thompson's widow, Marian got the surviving 2 monkeys, a brown bear and 2 leopards back from quarantine. When they were released from the Ohio Zoo, she promptly took them back to the farm where her husband and other animals died.

To me that has quite a high ick factor, but never mind, I'm not here to judge her actions. I'll admit that I think of my GSD as my fur-baby, I like a cuddle at her but she is a domesticated animal, not a bloody leopard. Having a dog sleep on your bed, isn't quite the same as keeping a monkey in a bird cage, cuddling a full grown bear and sharing your bed with a lion.

My concern is with the animals safety, security and welfare. I am no animal expert but when I saw where these 'exotic animals' were being kept, I didn't consider it to be right. I don't think they are living in very secure or very big cages and I know for certain I wouldn't be happy living next door in case my son became lunch for a bear.

It's ironic that though that someone is able to keep these exotic animals in unsavoury conditions and they can't be taken from her, however if Marian Thompson had a pitbull, it could be removed from her care through Ohio's BSL law.

It's horrible to think that 18 tigers, 17 lions, 8 bears, 3 cougars, 2 wolves and 2 monkeys died that dark October night in 2011, it wasn't their fault, they were doing what comes naturally. What I think is more the issue is the conditions they were kept in.

For the background story go to www.esquire.com/features/zanesville-0312

http://blog.nativefoods.com/nativefoods/2011/10/lions-and-tigers-and-bearsohio.html