So this has been bothering me since I read about it in the paper. (yes I have become old fashioned and read the paper). The killing of 56 exotic animals in Zanesville, Ohio. (click here to learn more). In a nut shell a very very rich man had these animals at his home. Apparently he had something happen where he felt the only escape was to kill himself. Before doing this, he let out ALL his animals.
That is when the police get involved and decide to kill all the animals rather than tranquilize them and take them to a zoo.
What in the world was the sheriff honestly thinking?!? Perhaps this is just my liberal side shrieking out to a deaf crowd that agrees with the decision that was made, but I do not understand killing 56 animals because they could "potentially" be dangerous if not found after they are tranquilized.
Number one, if a person is stupid enough to go outside and play with the Lion in their backyard, then they deserve to be lunch for the big cat. I do not think 18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, 6 black bears, one baboon, 2 grizzly bears, 3 mountain lions and 2 wolves deserved to die because people are stupid, or because Ohio doesn't follow their own regulations on exotic animals and who can own them. The officers that went to the house of the owner, should not have gone without tranquilizers-- it does not make sense to me.
Though I have bombarded myself into my room all weekend to work through some heart wrenching things involving my school that I am teaching at; there are ridiculous things like this that just make my blood boil and will not go away and annoy me because my heart is already hurting.
Perhaps I am the only one who feels this way about this incident that happened in Ohio. Maybe many people don't care because it happened on the other side of the country, or because it happened in another state, but I cannot express how much sadness this brings my heart that some people find this acceptable to do to this to these endangered animals. That state government allows them to be brought in, but then does not take the necessary procautions to handle the situation if they are to get out.
Killing is not/was not the proper way to handle this predicament.
Also what really threw me over the edge is the fact that A MONKEY is still loose and they are going to kill it because it has Hepatitis. Why does it matter if a monkey has it, it can still go to a zoo if it has this condition. It is not like a zoo will turn him away for having a medical issue like some insurance companies.
I just feel very saddened that this had to happen and that A MAN thought that this was acceptable way to handle the situation and that people followed his distasteful orders.
