Owner traded guns for exotics

Associated Press

ZANESVILLE, Ohio

An owner of dozens of wild animals who freed them before committing suicide this week was an avid gun collector who had traded weapons for a monkey, a leopard and a tiger cub, federal documents show.

Terry Thompson built his collection of exotic animals by swapping guns, sheltering animals no longer wanted by their owners and buying others at auctions, according to public records released Friday.

“Once you have an exotic animal, you’re somewhat tagged as someone who will take unwanted or abandoned animals. And that’s how it grew,” Thompson said, according to a deposition that was part of the government’s attempt to seize 133 weapons from him.

No one knows for sure why Thompson freed 56 animals including lions, tigers and bears Tuesday and then committed suicide, triggering a big-game hunt in the Ohio countryside as police officers shot and killed 48 of them for fear they would harm humans. A 49th animal was killed by one of the big cats. The remaining animals were captured and taken to the Columbus Zoo.

The frightening situation put a spotlight on the lack of oversight on exotic pets in some states.

Thompson likely would have been in violation of that order because he had animal-cruelty convictions in the past, but it’s unclear if or when he would have lost his animals.

Deputies killed 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions and eight bears in a hunt across eastern Ohio that has been criticized by some who say the animals should have been saved.

Over the years, neighbors complained about a lion running loose and regularly called the sheriff about Thompson’s horses roaming away.

Thompson, 62, had his share of troubles in the past year. He owed thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes, had marital problems and returned home only a few weeks ago after spending a year in federal prison for possessing unregistered weapons.

A week before Thompson killed himself, a deputy sheriff visited his farm because a neighbor complained about his horses getting out again.

Thompson promised he’d check the fences and admitted he was struggling to take care of all the animals, authorities said.

“Terry stated to me that he had just recently got home out of prison and he has not had very good control over any of his animals since he had been locked up,” the deputy wrote in a report released Friday.