The animals were only about ten or twelve feet away. There are two mysteries about what happened along the driveway of 270 Kopchak Road that nobody has been able to explain. Nearby, they found bolt cutters and a stainless-steel Ruger .357 magnum revolver. "It kind of took us by surprise," says Kanavel. "When he was in Vietnam," says Mike Marshall, "he told me that he was befriended by a little monkey. Maybe Marian understands. When it turned up toward a house, Merry got his rifle from the trunk and followed on foot. The lion was in the same place as a moment ago, still on the other side of the fence, though it was quite obvious that the animal could get over the fence anytime it wanted to. ), Spires is one of the best-known guitar teachers in this part of the country and was Thompson's teacher in his other great passion of these years. He had acted as an animal handler on Wild Kingdom in 2008, and provided a lion cub to a photoshoot with Heidi Klum. Okay? Or taking them to the McDonald's drive-thru? Now, the thing is, you know when everyone says this guy went into a schoolyard and kills a bunch of kids and he had an automatic rifle? Since 1957, GQ has inspired men to look sharper and live smarter with its unparalleled coverage of style, culture, and beyond. The general impression seems to have been that it was a case of the good girl drawn to the wild boy. "), That was all the five of them could learn for now because they were urgently redeployed to the southern end of the property where some cats had been spotted readying to cross the boundary fence. The 73 acre farmland with the private zoo was owned by Terry Thompson. He had a heart of gold. ", "He would not have his position now," echoes another, Evelyn Shaw (one cougar, two servals, one lemur, one macaw, one skunk), "if he had not started out as a private owner. They were circling, and in the center of their troubled orbit there was some kind of dark shape. [7] In the years leading up to his death, he went to prison on federal gun charges, was heavily in debt, and his wife had left him. Mrs. Thompson chose the spot. asked Stilwell. He just couldn't keep his brain on the right track. So he settled on what he considered a brisk walking pace for himself and Red. "He hesitated. Carried herself gracefully. "He sold the monkey outside of the auction, because it wasn't legal to sell inside, for $3,500.". "My father's gun," he told a government interviewer, "brought home from World War II in Germany, never been shot, never been cleaned, never been handled." What about neutering, which is now considered not merely acceptable but responsible behavior when it comes to many nonexotic pets? Already, he did things differently from other people. In August, Thompson was moved to a halfway house in Columbus. "He wrestled with the biblical thing: 'I guess I'll never go to heaven because I killed people,' " says Chuck Spires, his friend and guitar teacher. The answer to the second question is: What laws? How he was treated. He never left it.". I was in a helicopter so I was a machine gunner with an M60that was on a bipod. While he was waiting for Mrs. Kopchak to answer the door, he saw a large gray wolf running southward along the road behind him. Without a USDA license, he wasn't allowed to supply animals for photo shoots and commercial events, though he sometimes got around it by using fellow owner Cindy Huntsman's animals and accreditation. The road his and Thompson's properties abutted was named Kopchak Road after his great-uncle. The local police confirmed deaths of 48 animals which included eighteen Bengal tigers, three mountain lions, nine male lions, eight lionesses, six black bears, two grizzly bears, two wolves, one macaque, one monkey and one baboon. Friends talk of driving to Columbus, a baby bear with them in the front cab, or having naps at his house with baby lions asleep on them. Thompson let the animals loose then killed himself. He. We didn't talk about the deposition.Okay. "He couldn't understand," says his friend Phil Cress, "why he got taken away from his life here to be drafted to go to Vietnam. It was about eighty yards away from him, but it fell at the first shot. And it planted the seed of caring for wild animals for the rest of his life. "He loved blues more than anything," says Spires. His farm was reportedly raided June 2008 . A fully grown male African lion. She had to be convinced that the survivors should be taken to the zoo for safekeeping. Thompson clearly meant this as a testament to his popularity, though Keck wonders. "There would be dogshit all over the showroom. I also hear about how Thompson would tell people he had slept together with his big white tigerthe same one, presumably, that was with him at the end. Three were leopards, still in their cages. He didn't know too much about lions, but he had heard that it was unwise to challenge them by looking them in the eye, and that if you ran away they had a tendency to chase you. And none of it was taken care of. Thompson's body was taken from the scene for an autopsy at the Licking County Coroner's, where it revealed a few of its secrets. Or, to spell it out: By the time the body was recovered, no part of his external genitalia remained. Movies. "Betrayed by his family. He didn't know who was who. My blog posts are this Christ follower's perspectives on important issues facing our blessed America. When the zoo people returned to the site at five-thirty the next morning, they had been joined by Jack Hanna. No one is sure how many there are, or where they are. The 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will resume in Santa Barbara, Calif., continuing to take . For a while there was a plane on the shop's roof. Because she loved the animals as much as he did. The common assumption after the catastrophe at Zanesville was that when it came to Terry Thompson and his animals, he must have been a terrible man doing a terrible thing. The Zookeeper Terry Thompson, 62, born and raised in Zanesville, Ohio. The police took guidance from wildlife expert Jack Hanna, who insisted that killing the animals was a necessity in order to ensure the safety of the public. He was pretty distraught." It was so bad one time, he ran out of bullets.". He was upset with the army because he saw some horrible, ugly things." The tigers are actually bigger than the lions if they're fully grown. Just as "good" private owners explain why they should exist and why "bad" private owners should not, sanctuaries may suggest that they should endure while private owners are phased out, and zoos can loftily assume there are clear reasons that they should be cherished while most kinds of non-zoo ownership should be frowned upon. ", There were also pieces of raw chicken scattered around near the body. Though Ohio legislators are now scrambling to rectify this, the state where Terry Thompson lived is one of a handful where the regulations on exotic-animal ownership have historically been very light. And I have no problem with that. "My animals were raised in a magnificent setting, creeks going through the place and everything was gorgeous. [Talking about the property on which he lived and died]It's the high ground. And I had to go and pick up the arm. Zanesville Animal Escape took place in October 2011, in Zanesville, Ohio, when over 50 exotic animals were released from Muskingum County Animal Farm. After all, this is not the life they are meant to lead, and certainly not the one they deserve. Because he wouldn't take any clothes with him." This makes it all the more relevant to remember the tragic event that took place in Zanesville almost a decade ago. Because I can.' [From a court deposition Thompson gave while incarcerated on March 28, 2011] Okay. "I actually think that he expected this when he got home and kind of planned it," says Stilwell. While animal advocates have agreed that there was little the authorities could do in the matter, the brutal massacre serves as a reminder of why privately owned exotic animals are considered to be ticking bombs. Twenty-one other injuries, or clusters of injuries, were detailed just on the head and neck, the site of the most widespread damage. "He raised Dobermans back then," says Stilwell. He only looked back once, when they were about a third of the way to the barn. He was devastated to find the poor condition of the zoo when he returned, and was also heavily in debt. Practical questions and answers regarding the gospel are presented at the Eternity page. It is believed Thompson released nearly all of his 56 animals, following a mental breakdown which led him to take his own life. In Vietnam we were so much more interested in lightweight because we were on the move a lot. Terry was also a Vietnam war veteran. An African lioness crawled under the livestock fence and ran south down the road then headed toward someone's home, so he shot her before she could go farther. Three days before Thompson died, Chuck Spires, the guitar instructor, spoke with him for about twenty minutes. "Beautiful blues eyesthat's what you noticed first," says Christine Perone, who dated him for some time in high school. TERRY THOMPSON. Merry didn't know what was going on, so he stopped. Terry William Thompson grew up just east of Zanesville on his parents' farm, close to the airport. One time Marshall discovered that Thompson had some convertibles in the barn next to two kangaroos: "a boat-tailed roadster, a Duesenberg or something like that, covered with dust and crap. He and Red had taken only a few steps toward the barn when Kopchak saw something else, close by, just ahead of them on the other side of the fence. "Remember, 1973 was much different than 2011. Tom Stalf at the Columbus Zoo suggests to me that you can buy a lion for $300cheaper than many pedigree dogs. "They told me," says one owner, Cindy Huntsman, "there were no laws on the books that would allow him to confiscate.". Young Queen Charlotte's marriage to King George of England sparks an epic love story and transforms high society in this "Bridgerton" universe prequel. He was like royalty." The family stayed at the top of London's criminal tree for so long thanks to a string of extraordinary acquittals by juries. View all posts . Thompson's wife, Marian, arrived around lunchtime. How could you blame a woman you have spent forty years of your life with for that, if you were sane? "Our role in life is to care for animals and to educate and inspire people about these great creatures," says Stalf, "and to see them piled in the mudit was just a bad day, you know.". Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. It was all about Terry after that. Directed by: Vlad Yudin. Still, Lutz said he wasn't busy and would drive over. It was presumed that the remaining two animals were eaten by some of the bigger ones. Perhaps it was the first of many telltale signs that Thompson, man of so many friends, didn't call anyone. As they moved toward other escapees spread over the hillside, they used the truck to give themselves elevation, trying to engage the animals from seventy to a hundred yards away, firing on them two at a time until they went down. Ad Choices, 18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque, and 1 Man Dead in Ohio. After the wolf went down, Merry fired a few more times to make sure. I'm telling you, the lion is bad enough, and the lioness is bad enough, and the wolf is bad, and the bear, butdon't be around the tiger. Whatever the exact truth, it wasn't that simple, though different people suggest different time frames. "He would sometimes step on other guys' girlfriends. What about giving primates TV to watch? Director Dustin Rikert Writers Fred Hogge Rafael Jordan Stars Caitlin Carmichael Sydney Scotia Jerry O'Connell See production, box office & company info Watch on The Roku Channel with subscription "He never really got over it," says Marshall. These included a grizzly bear, three leopards and two monkeys all whom were then taken to the Columbus Zoo. If there is a line that divides the avid collector from the hoarder, at some point Thompson seems to have crossed it. ", I reiterate how angry animal owners are with him. ", Her son remained trapped in the barn. His friends refer to other such outingsa shoot with Newt Gingrich, for instanceand say that he took animals on two different occasions to a Bloomberg corporate summer picnic in New York. After that, Merry went back for his rifle. He and his wife liked to drive a decommissioned fireman's truck around town until one night he wrecked it. I hear different versions of what was being said: dead catsa white tiger and a cougarobserved lying on the property; animals getting loose; a 2-year-old lion being allowed to run around in the open; multiple animals in such bad health that they would have to be euthanized. Mike Marshall, who later flew civilian planes with him, says Thompson brought it up frequently. I always thought that was pretty funny." Soon after, he bought himself a brand-new Corvette. "Why him? As time passed, people got used to the way he might turn up at the local airfield, say, with a baby bear or lion. He knew what he'd do: put Red in the barn, go back to the house, report what he'd seen. "Very depressed. Kopchak had lived around here all of his life. "We didn't have any idea how many there were," Mrs. Kopchak would later reflect. "One of our vets came into the cocktail area," says Tom Stalf, the zoo's chief operating officer, "and you could see the panic on her face. They needed to find out for sure, and to see whether the person might still be alive. "Oh, he didn't like it at all," Polk remembers. Daniel: Prophet at the King's Command, a Novel. You know, I'm crazy, but I live in the big house on the hill with the biggest horse and the fastest boat, fastest bike. But I find a few. The miracle of the great Zanesville zoo escapewhich began last fall when a depressed, desperate man named Terry Thompson set free his vast collection of exotic animalswas that not a single innocent person was hurt. "His eyes were just beautiful." The Mexican cartel. By Ryan Gajewski Staff Editor, Digital "I'm not gonna lie, it . Terry Thompson(XIII) Visual Effects IMDbProStarmeterSee rank Terry Thompson is known for X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Terminator Genisys (2015)and Free Guy (2021). "He was a broken individual," says Phil Cress. Sams 85-year-old mother, Dolores, called 911, and soon the police were in the area. His wife-to-be, Marian Sharp, came from what was considered a good local family, and was an accomplished barrel racer and horsewoman. After his death, footage emerged showing Thompson handing one of his lion cubs to Heidi Klum on a fashion shoot, and in 2008 he appeared on the Rachael Ray show as an animal handler. "I was sick, shooting these animals, because they didn't ask to be there," he says. And you've not spoken to your wife since her deposition [five weeks earlier]?No. Surely he must have broken every law that prevents your next-door neighbor from secretly housing an ambush of tigers? He was just going off the deep end. "When he came back, they had been changed around in the cages. Kopchak wasn't overly alarmed by this sight, unexpected as it was, maybe because the bear wasn't too big as black bears go, and maybe because it was running away from him. Encounters with animals that would normally have been remembered for a lifetime were forgotten moments later as the next came along. On one of his last visits, Stilwell walked around the animal cages with Thompson.