Thoughts on the Ohio animal rampage fiasco?

[Toy Talk]

This really was a very sad event. Like so many have stated, how was their owner permitted to abuse them for so long. Back in 1989 I lived in a very small town, Cardington Ohio, and there was a trailer on route 42 where a gentleman owned some very exotic and dangerous animals. I always felt so bad for them because they were stuck in what appeared to be large dog cages and never allowed to move around much. In addition, they always appeared mal-nurished. I know it took the police and city council over 5 years to make him get rid of the animals.
The shame is that the owner could have left them in the cage if he wanted to kill himself. At least that way the animals would have been taken to proper homes, like the Columbus Zoo.

[Duncan]

A few random thoughts:

- Expect Ohio's exotic animal laws to change really soon. This is a f'ing embarrassment for the whole state.

- Regarding tranquilizer darts, etc: I heard a description of when a zookeeper (or someone similar) tried to shoot one of these loose animals; pretty sure one of the big cats. Apparently, all the dart did was make the animal really angry, and it charged - and then got shot by the police. We're hearing that the range of the dart guns is < 30 yards, and the drugs don't take immediate effect. You hope the animal runs away & gets tired. So...that's pretty much why the cops used lethal force that first night.

- Speculation is that the herpes monkey was eaten by one of the big cats. I guess another monkey also met the same fate.

- It sucks that so many Bengal Tigers were killed (well, it all sucks, but the tigers in particular suck way more). They're saying there are maybe 1500 left in the world, and we just killed around 18 of them.

[torgospizza]

You should have read the knee-jerk responses on Facebook. It astounded me the amount of vitriol directed towards the authorities that risked their lives keeping the public safe ("I wish a tiger could shoot one of these pigs!" kind of stuff, just first-rate philosophy). It definitely makes sense to put kids waiting at the bus stop on the menu while we take our time trying to capture them live. Like Hector said, night was falling and those guys had to make a move. I'm anything but appalled by the police; rather, it amazes me how quickly it was all brought under control. It's tragic to lose those animals and the guy shouldn't have had them, but the authorities did what they had to in a no-win situation. The blood of those animals rests solely on the hands of the owner and whomever gave him the OK to acquire them. They should never have been outside of their natural habitat, where they pose no threat to joggers and such.

Opening the cages and then committing suicide--an excellent combo. Maybe from now on we shouldn't let just any nut with some cash have large predators.

[HardyGirl]

That's really sad. I feel really bad for the animals Such a waste.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I agree the police did everything they could. You cannot blame them for keeping the public safe. Like Hector said, when Jack Hanna even says they had to be taken out, then you know there was no choice.

[doctor09210]

its disgusting, to kill almost all of them is just wrong

[Duncan]

Hi. Here's the article I poorly cited in my last post. I've cut out some of the commentary, but I'm including the link if anyone wants the original. Credit to the Columbus Dispatch, a pretty decent newspaper.


Tranquilizing animals complicated, perilous | The Columbus Dispatch


The Columbus Dispatch Thursday October 20, 2011 9:02 AM
By Theodore Decker


Hours after a suicidal man unleashed dozens of his exotic animals on Muskingum County, a veterinarian drew close to a 300-pound tiger and shot it in the neck with a tranquilizer dart.

The dart’s anesthetic did nothing to subdue the big cat, which “just went crazy” before being shot to death by deputies, Sheriff Matt Lutz said.

“He sort of exploded,” recalled Dr. Barbara Wolfe, director of wildlife and conservation medicine at the Wilds animal preserve southeast of Zanesville. “He roared, he got up, and he came straight for me.”

Even in a controlled setting like the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, tranquilizing large exotic animals so they and their captors stay safe is a challenge. Cut a large number of those animals loose, leaving them free to roam the countryside on a rainy night, and their unpredictability leads to dangerous confrontations like the one that left the tiger dead, veterinary experts say.

Staff members from the zoo and the Wilds faced an uncontrolled environment and unfamiliar animals when they arrived to help.

“It was a very unstable situation, and we were unable to tranquilize any of the animals,” said Dr. Gwen Myers, an associate veterinarian at the zoo.

“You put (the animals) in a different situation, a very frightening situation ... and they are going to act very unpredictably,” Myers said. “That presents quite a few dangers to the general public.”

Dr. John Hubbell, an anesthesiologist at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, said the animals were “stressed by their freedom, if you will, so it’s very hard to determine how they’re going to react.”

“There’s a time-sensitive piece to this,” he said. “Losing track of the animals would be a real issue with regards to their safety and the public’s safety.”

The handlers who responded did not have even basic information about the freed animals, such as how much they weighed or when they last ate. Those factors and a long list of others are vital to safely anesthetize animals, the veterinarians said.

“They’re having to guess all this information,” said Dusty Lombardi, vice president of animal care at the zoo. “At our zoo and most zoos, there’s no guessing game.”

Vets often have to get close to the animals and hit them in specific parts of their bodies for the anesthetic to work. Certain animals require certain drugs. Large animals frequently stay on their feet, become more agitated and might move or run for up to 15 minutes before the drug kicks in.

“Even in very high doses, an animal will go through an excitatory phase,” Myers said. “It’s not as simple as seeing the animal and taking a shot and it’s going to go to sleep.”

Had deputies not acted quickly, he said, “You don’t know. We might be talking about human bodies this morning.”



Information from Dispatch reporter Quan Truong and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review was included in this story.

[Brad]

I agree the police did everything they could. You cannot blame them for keeping the public safe. Like Hector said, when Jack Hanna even says they had to be taken out, then you know there was no choice.

Yep, as much of a tragedy that it was, there really was no other choice. The fault lies with that idiot that let them loose before he killed himself. Just a horrible situation.