Ohio deputies say bears, big cats charged them

TOLEDO, Ohio - Deputies who arrived at a private compound in Ohio where dozens of exotic animals were set free by their owner last month encountered lions and bears charging at them and crashing through fences, forcing them to shoot and kill the animals, according to reports released Friday.

They found animals crouching between abandoned vehicles and tigers still coming out of their cages. A tiger and a black bear were in the same enclosure, but the door was unlocked and open.

"As I backed the team up, the tiger came out the door and charged right at us," said deputy Jay Lawhorne.

With little time to react, deputies shot the tiger. Another deputy said he shot a charging black bear that dropped within seven feet of him.

Sheriff's deputies were forced to kill 48 wild animals, including bears, lions and endangered Bengal tigers, after their owner, Terry Thompson, threw open their cages late in the afternoon on Oct. 18 and then committed suicide on his farm in rural eastern Ohio near Zanesville.

Deputies said they saw the man's body but couldn't get near him to determine whether he was alive because a white tiger "appeared to be eating the body," a report said.

Authorities have said that it appeared one of the big cats dragged Thompson's body and that there was a bite mark on his head.

Sheriff: Big cat bit owner's head after suicide

He told one of his farm hands on the night before he released the animals that he was upset about his marital problems and that he had a plan, said a deputy who talked with the caretaker.

Thompson, 62, then told the caretaker: "you will know it when it happens."

The reports released by the Muskingum County Sheriff's office reveal the chaotic scene deputies encountered and just how close the animals came to some of them.

Authorities have defended their decision to shoot and kill the animals, saying they were trying to protect the public.

Their main concern appeared to be making sure none of the animals got near or outside the fences that separated the farm from several neighboring houses and Interstate 70, according to the reports released by the Muskingum County Sheriff's office.

Two deputies shot a pair of lions running near a fence along an interstate highway. A deputy says one lion got up and charged at him before he killed it. "One of the African lions that we had shot got up and started running towards us," a deputy said. "At this point, we opened fire on it again, eventually killing it."

One deputy said he shot a shot a lion after it busted through a fence and race toward a road. At the same time, he saw other deputies firing at several other lions running through the front yards of neighboring houses.

He then came across a mountain lion that was hissing and showing its teeth.

Several of the cages and surrounding fencing had been cut, making it impossible for authorities to secure the animals, the reports said.

One lion came within three feet of an auxiliary deputy who was trying to close the cage doors, but did not see a hole had been cut in the cage, Lawhorne said.

Just days before he set the animals free, he told a deputy that he was having a tough time taking care of the animals after spending a year in prison on a gun conviction. He also was having marital problems and deep in debt to the IRS.

Suicidal wild-animal owner owed hefty tax bill

Last week, the state Agriculture Department ordered that the six surviving exotic animals would be kept under quarantine at a zoo for now instead of going to the man's widow.

WBNS: Raw video of the rescued animals at the Columbus Zoo

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was trying to stop Marian Thompson from reclaiming three leopards, two primates and a young grizzly bear that have been cared for by the zoo since Thompson set them free.