10 Years Later: Zanesville tragedy inspires change in exotic animal ownership, trade
ZANESVILLE — There was not a soul on Interstate 70 in Muskingum County as dusk settled on Oct. 18, 2011.
Flashing lights from what was surely the most surreal messaging the Ohio Department of Transportation had ever scrolled across a traffic sign illuminated the barren freeway: "CAUTION: EXOTIC ANIMALS; STAY IN YOUR CARS"
Ten years ago, exotic animal owner Terry Thompson returned home to his 46-acre farm near Zanesville after a year-long stint in prison on a federal firearms conviction. Three weeks later, the Vietnam War veteran cut the cages holding the 56 animals, dooming 50 of them to death. They included 18 endangered Bengal tigers.
Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz and his deputies immediately responded to reports of wild animals roaming the countryside of their Appalachian community.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," Lutz said in a recent interview with The Dispatch.
Personnel from the State Highway Patrol, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and The Wilds, the county Emergency Management Agency, the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and local township fire departments, assisted the sheriff's office in containing the crisis. Shooting the animals, which were malnourished and potentially disease-ridden, was the only way to ensure they couldn't hurt anyone, Lutz said.
Experts including Columbus Zoo's director emeritus, Jack Hanna, who was called on site, backed up the sheriff.
Had they tried to tranquilize the animals without proper equipment or the ability to gauge the height and weight of an animal in an uncontrolled environment, the results could have been disastrous, Lutz said.
"There's a fine line between chaotic and methodical," the sheriff added.
And because Lutz erred on the side of methodical, not a single person was harmed or killed.
Thompson, who died by suicide after releasing his animals, was not violating any state or federal laws by owning a menagerie of tigers, lions, bears, monkeys and other big cats and primates.
Back then, there were no laws in Ohio regulating private exotic animal ownership.
"It was a totally off-the-wall incident," Lutz said.
The passage of the Ohio Dangerous Wild Animal Act in 2012 prohibited anyone from owning, trading or selling an exotic animal (except for owners who had animals under their care before the law took effect, and obtained a permit).
Proposed federal regulations under The Big Cat Public Safety Act were reintroduced to Congress in the spring with bipartisan support.
But the social media firestorm set off by the Netflix series, "Tiger King," and it's titular character, Joe Exotic, combined with allegations about Hanna from "The Conservation Game," a new documentary that calls into question celebrity conservationists' credibility, have focused public conversation around the human dramas, rather than fixating on the animals.
Jack Hanna:Conservation Game documentary ties Columbus Zoo, Jack Hanna to unchecked big cat trade
Looking back on Zanesville's legacy, previous lack of laws
Even after revelations about where Hanna procured the animals he brought on The David Letterman Show and internet memes about another "Tiger King" character, Carole Baskin, former Dispatch reporter Josh Jarmanning said the Zanesville incident still would have the power to shock if it happened today.
Jarmanning was the first reporter at the local Moose Lodge down the road from Thompson's place, the scene that became media headquarters.
"I had just sat down to dinner, had not even taken a bite, when I got a call from the night desk at The Dispatch, who said, 'Hey, we’re getting stories that there are wild animals on the loose in Zanesville and they’ve just shot a giraffe,'" Jarmanning said.
The former journalist remembers calmly getting up from his untouched plate and rushing to the car.
While no giraffes were killed, Jarmanning still can't shake the outpouring of grief that bubbled up across the world as folks learned that 50 animals were killed — 48 shot and two presumed dead or eaten by another animal (the six surviving animals were taken by the Columbus Zoo).
"We recognize the majesty of these creatures, and to lose them in one fell swoop felt like a grievous blow to wildlife preservation," he said. "And I think everyone was also just completely confused. How did one person, in one farm, in one town in Ohio, have this many animals?"
Ohio was one of only seven states without laws governing private exotic animal ownership or trade in 2011.
But it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Before Gov. John Kasich took office, he had the opportunity to extend predecessor Gov. Ted Strickland's executive order, which banned the future sale and purchase of exotic animals while allowing current owners to keep their animals if they registered them with the state.
It was an order Kasich said had "no teeth," The Dispatch reported in days following the Zanesville tragedy. However, it was essentially the backbone of the legislation the state passed in 2012: the Ohio Dangerous Wild Animal Act.
That act established strict regulations for wild animal ownership, prevented future trade and gave the state the authority to build a $2.9 million secure facility in Reynoldsburg to rehabilitate animals the Ohio Department of Agriculture confiscated from non-compliant owners.
"At the end of 10 years, Ohioans are safer," interim state veterinarian Dr. Dennis Summers said.
"The legacy of a well-written law and protection of public health, and having that dangerous wild animal holding facility, has been instrumental," Summers.
But not everyone can so easily brush off the fact that the Zanesville tragedy was a preventable one.
The documentary game: Accountability in advocacy, plus Jack Hanna ties
In October 2010, a year before Zanesville, Tim Harrison gave a speech inside the Ohio Statehouse in front of lawmakers, warning them that scores of Ohioans who had bought predatory animals had signed a death warrant, either for themselves or their animals.
"You now know what's going on," the former Ohio police officer told them. "You can no longer stick your head in the sand. ... You can't say, 'I don't know.'"
Harrison is the director of the nonprofit Outreach for Animals, an organization he founded with other firefighters, paramedics and police officers that answers calls from desperate owners across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky after their exotic animals have escaped, hurt someone or become unmanageable.
He assisted Strickland's administration in drafting the original law that would have banned Thompson from exotic animal ownership, let alone set them loose across the rural countryside. It made what happened on Oct. 18, 2011, all that more unbearable, he said.
"I felt like somebody punched me in the soul," Harrison said, adding that he had seen Thompson at wild animal auctions over the years.
Harrison starred in Michael Webber's documentary, "The Elephant in the Living Room," which depicted the exotic animal trade and Harrison's efforts to publicize it. They released their second collaboration, "The Conservation Game" in September.
The duo drove to Thompson's farm the night of the tragedy to assist Lutz, and Harrison remembered people on the perimeter gawking, setting up lawn chairs and sitting with rifles.
"Some were big game hunters, others were collectors themselves," he said, "waiting to see if any animals crossed property lines."
Harrison's latest documentary, "The Conservation Game," alleges that Hanna and others were involved in the exotic animal trade, suggesting that the snow leopards and tiger cubs Hanna brought on television programs over the years were not from accredited facilities and often sent later to "roadside zoos" or "backyard breeders," The Dispatch reported in August.
"Very similar to the kind of operation Thompson was running," Harrison said.
Hanna retired from public life this year after a dementia diagnosis. A spokesperson for his family told The Dispatch that Hanna would not be available to discuss the Zanesville incident.
But Hanna's presence at the Thompson farm 10 years ago was instrumental in satisfying the public and providing a calming influence during a turbulent crisis, said Dan Beetem.
"His media experience took a lot of weight off our sheriff," Beetem, director of animal management at The Wilds, said. "He lent his authority to the situation to make sure people understood what was done."
Lutz agreed.
"As law enforcement, you're used to being second-guessed," the sheriff said. "But Jack helped us tremendously. I don't know where we would have been without him."
The tragedy has never left Beetem, who still lives in Zanesville.
"As for 10 years ago, I’m happy Jack was there," he said. "As for the rest of it, ... we’re still here and we’re just going to keep doing the good work that we do and move ahead."
After Zanesville, 'Tiger King,' what's next for animal conservation?
Today, the dirt road leading into the property that once housed Terry Thompson's animals beckons bikers. The words "The Park" and "Grear's Motorsports" are emblazoned across a sign featuring a dirt bike twisting through the air.
Thompson's family friends, Dave and Robin Grear, now own and operate a motocross track on their late friend's former farmland, a tribute to Thompson, who was a well-known motorhead, the Zanesville Times-Recorder reported in July.
Fresh start:New track brings riders to Zanesville
The Grears declined to comment for this story, and Thompson's widow, Marian, did not respond to the Dispatch's interview requests.
When "Tiger King" debuted in April 2020, it catapulted the exotic animal trade into the public consciousness.
The Netflix blockbuster follows Joe Exotic, a private wild animal owner from Oklahoma and a felon convicted of hiring a hitman to (unsuccessfully) kill big cat activist Carole Baskin.
It also features a brief cameo from Lutz and a mention of the Zanesville animal massacre.
"The thing that struck me the most when 'Tiger King' came out is that this is still happening: private sanctuaries, zoos, etc., which was surprising to me, because I would’ve thought Zanesville would’ve made a bigger difference across the country," Jarmanning said.
While folks, including Tim Harrison and Baskin, have lobbied Congress for years — long before "Tiger King" — the momentum behind the series has propelled The Big Cat Public Safety Act forward, which, if passed, will close loopholes and enforce strict regulations on private possession of certain wild animals in states where there are still no rules.
"Animals are like children; they're innocent victims," Harrison said. "But the future is very strong, because we have younger people with a tendency to open their eyes and their mouths."
For long-time advocates like Harrison, Zanesville's experience is finally making a difference. It's just taken longer than expected.
Céilí Doyle is a Report for America corps member and covers rural issues in Ohio for The Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at https://bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.