Schools Close After Animals Escape Muskingum Co. Exotic Animal Farm. (Lions, Tigers, Bears)

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/10/18/zanesville-exotic-animals-escape.html ^ | Oct 18th, 2011

[TaraP]

ZANESVILLE, Ohio - Several schools announced that they will not have school on Wednesday after exotic animals escaped a Muskingum County animal farm.

The schools are: Maysville Local Schools, Zanesville City Schools, Foxfire Community Schools and West Muskingum Local Schools.

Police said they had shot at least 25 of at least 48 escaped exotic animals on Tuesday night.

Terry Thompson, the owner of the farm, was found dead outside of his home on the animal farm property.

Police said the fences had been left unsecured.

According to police, the animals escaped at about 6 p.m. from an animal farm near Kopchak Road.

Police would not comment on what animals escaped but said the animal farm did have lions, wolves, cheetahs, tigers, giraffes, camels, grizzly bears and black bears.

“It’s been a bad situation for a long time and the last thing we want to do is to have any of our public hurt,” said Muskingum Sheriff Matt Lutz. “No young kids should go outside tonight.”

According to police, bears and wolves had been shot and killed.

There were multiple sightings of exotic animals along Interstate 70, police said.

Muskingum Sheriff Matt Lutz said resident safety is his primary concern.

[buccaneer81]

He opened the cages and then shot himself...his wife had walked out on him among other issues he was having.

[tcrlaf]

Or some PETA nutjob let them loose.

[buccaneer81]

Or some PETA nutjob let them loose.

Nope. The owner did and then shot himself. That's the word we're getting from the locals.

[Talisker]

Very cool post, thanks.

I watched a video of a hunter taking a charging lion with a single head shot out of a .375 H&H. Despite the caliber and the excellence of the shot, it was stunning how fast the lion moved from a lying position to a charge - and the charge swerved into the brush on the side and the cat vanished, and thed leaped out of the side of the brush at full speed, totally silent. Even watching the video it was apparent the lion was literally death in motion.

The hnter had support backups, but the whole thing went so fast they were obviously useless. He aimed, the lion leaped sideways, vanished, sprung out at a dead run, he turned, fired and the lion hit the ground and skidded to his feet dead - just as fast as you can read that. If he didn’t kill it with that shot, he would have been toast.

How the Masai do it with spears is utterly beyond me.

[sinanju]

Excellent post! Yes, when I was kid I read everything written by Peter Hathaway Capstick and his works led me to many of the originals he referenced, all the infamous man-eaters of India and Africa. There are some stories that would make great movies (the excreble “Ghost and the Darkness” is the perfect way to turn a great story into hollywood swill). As I recall, it’s a mystery why leopards and lions take up man-eating. Only the tigers actually start eating people due to disability.

Actually, there is or was an extremely rare variant of the cheetah, the large dappled-rather-than-spotted King Cheetah that has been known to be dangerous. One of the great mysteries of evolution is why so few of the world’s big, toothy critters so seldom take up people-eating. It’s extremely rare for bears and almost unknown for pumas, jaguars and wolves to make actual predation attacks.

Capstick flippantly theorized that human beings may have evolved some kind of pheromonal defence that makes us smell so awful to predators that most of them prefer to run away when they catch wind of us.

[Havisham]

Poor cheetahs. They aren’t so threatening or aggressive as the other species that are on the loose. Hope then can be saved.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Put out some tranquilizer laced Cheetos, or whatever the cheetah likes. Worst thing that happens is that some unintended animal has an unintended nap, but lives.

[Average Al]

"Capstick flippantly theorized that human beings may have evolved some kind of pheromonal defence that makes us smell so awful to predators that most of them prefer to run away when they catch wind of us."

Or they don't bath and just stink like the Wallstreet protestors. ;-)

[spetznaz]

How the Masai do it with spears is utterly beyond me.

Thanks. On the Maasai (I am Kenyan, a mix of four tribes, with one of the minor ones in the mix being Maasai) the way it used to work is that there were age sets (all the boys born within a certain timeframe would be in one age set/group, then the next and so on), and once it was time for the boys to become men one of the challenges would be to bring down a lion. The young men, now called ilbarnot, would then be given the task of hunting the lion. Of the age-set, the bravest called ilmeluaya (those without fear) would then go off to hunt (obviously those not selected would be quite unhappy since it was a high insult not be deemed worthy), and off they would go. That is what is currently done nowadays among the Maasai who still hold to the traditional ways. Most hunts now (and there are many few since not many follow the traditional ways, and also because of laws prohibiting such hunts) are group hunts where a dozen or so Moran-to-be hunt a lion. In the olden days things were far ...erm ...'interesting.'

In the olden days however, ilmeluaya who really wanted to distinguish themselves as proper Moran (warriors) would do a solo hunt.

Now, the difference between a group hunt and a solo hunt is equivalent to bombing Fallujah from 10,000 feet in a F-16 versus going on foot into Fallujah, solo, with an antique Colt revolver that you borrowed from someone playing Russian Roulette with only one bullet.

Big difference.

Especially considering that you may encounter a pride of lions, or maybe a female with cubs. Or for that matter meet up with a rogue Buffalo or a young male Elephant out to ruin your day (or any one of a hundred different things out to ruin anyone who decides to disrespect what Africa can do to stupid people on any given day ...like some American tourist who decided to camp in the open in the Serengeti and got a nice visit from some friendly lions out for a snack on the other white meat ...even though he had been warned that pup tents don't belong in the savannah). Also, if you miss with your spear it is quite literally your behind (some advocated throwing the spear - and the accuracy of Maasai with spears is HARD to believe, almost magical - while others would hold onto the spear and let the lion run into it). Either way, doing a solo hunt was the bravest form of lion hunting for the bravest moran. There is a reason why Arab slavers never used to cross Maasai territory - even though they had guns. An encounter with a troop of Moran, who as men could not rationalize any thought of retreat or surrender, meant that if you had to fight you'd better kill all of them because even if there was one left he would be trying to kill you (and if you managed to kill all of them all that would happen is that the other Maasai clans would band together and instead of 20 Moran you now have a thousand). The war for Kenya's independence has a lot of story of how the Mau Mau (who were primarily Kikuyu, one of my other tribe component) fought against the British (their tactics were to learn as much from the Brits, then use those tactics against the British ...one of the skills taught to me by my grandfather was how to make a home made gun, which were used to kill a soldier and take over a proper gun ...kind of like the 'liberators' dropped by the Allies in Occupied France during WW2) ...anyways, most of the stories of Kenya's struggle for independence have to do with the Mau Mau fighting in the forests while other Kikuyus studied in Britain and came back to become politicians; but there are a lot of other stories of very strong resistance from other groups like the Maasai and the Nandi. The Maasai were fierce.

Anyways, most modern lion hunts are group activities. In the past, every now and then a Moran would do a solo hunt. They were not always successful.

By the way, if you ever find yourself alone in lion territory in East Africa, and you happen to have a Maasai moran's outfit, just wear it, carry a long stick, and no lion in Kenya or Tanzania will attack you. Actually just smear red paint (if you have to have it) on yourself (the Maasai die their hair red with ochre) ...a red head wearing a red dress would probably be lion proof. Lions generally tend to avoid them (and one of the more interesting images in Kenyan wildlife reserves is that of a lone Maasai, totally unarmed, walking across the park without any fear of any beast). It seems wildlife does have strong genetic memories on what constitutes a threat. Some images below (the first is a real Maasai lion hunt, the second is a model that shows relative sizes):

[spetznaz]

Too many spelling mistakes to count (e.g. die hair instead of dye hair, etc). Mea culpa.

[momtothree]

“tranquilizer laced Cheetos... or whatever the Cheetah likes”

Now THAT is funny. LOL!

[chadwimc]

“...He also said they are Big Cats and Agressive...

Of course he’s going to say that. It gives him the excuse to go guns blazing...”

*I* wouldn’t need *ANY* excuses with critters like that on the loose. I would shoot first, ask questions later.

[Graybeard58]

Too many spelling mistakes to count (e.g. die hair instead of dye hair, etc). Mea culpa

Don't be overly concerned about it, before today, I couldn't even spell spetznaz.

[TexasCajun]

Oh, and by the way, the landowner was found dead also.

But the animals, the animals...

[ladyvet]

They need to bring in some big game people and dogs.

Gosh I hope not. The cops will be shooting the dogs.

[BuffaloJack]

My brother is going to be thrilled.
He lives in Zanesville and a few months back he acquired a .77 caliber rifle to add to his gun collection. I made fun of him at the time and asked him if he was planning to go truck hunting, but now it may serve him well.

[spankalib]

Thanks again. Excellent post and information!

[Guna]

Fascinating posts, Spetznaz.
They gave me goose bumps - BRRR!

[Nervous Tick]

>> What a perfect photo opportunity for our Deer Leader Obambi

ROFL! But you’re thinking of Putin, that other “dear leader”.

Putin’d be out there shooting those big cats for the cameras... with his shirt off.

Bambi, on the other hand? Bet he couldn’t hit the broad side of his campaign bus from twenty feet away.

[ml/nj]

I believe that horses are the fastest milers.

ML/NJ