Six exotic animals were rescued and sent to live at the Columbus Zoo this past week following a massive animal escape at a private animal preserve in Ohio.
Tuesday, police scrambled to find around 56 exotic animals that escaped from Muskingum County Animal Farm after the owner, Terry Thompson opened their enclosures and then committed suicide.
At around 6 p.m., police found Thompson, 62, lying dead in the driveway of the preserve with exotic animals roaming the over 70-acre property freely.
According to the Associated Press, Thompson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and also had a bite wound on the head that appeared to have come from a large cat, such as a Bengal tiger, county Sheriff Matt Lutz said.
Thursday, the hunt for the escaped exotic animals was called off after officials announced they were confident the remaining missing monkey was eaten by another escaped animal.
“We still are considering the monkey unaccounted for. There is a possibility it would be loose, however we’ve had no reports from the public of see anything,” Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz told “Good Morning America” Thursday, reported ABC. “Considering this, it’s a high probability that it was killed by one of the big cats. We had another that was killed by one of the cats, and this other monkey was in the same area.”
Wednesday, almost 50 animals including 18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears and two grizzly bears were accounted for , most gunned down by police who feared for public safety. The animals were later buried on the property.
Six animals, three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys, were captured alive and were taken to the Columbus Zoo.
“We are happy to report they all seem to be doing very well,” zoo spokeswoman Patti Peters said in a statement today.
The Associated Press released a video of the surviving animals. Check it out.
