- [Narrator] Many of us have enjoyed a stroll
through the zoo, admiring and marveling
at the wild animals housed there for our entertainment,
especially the daunting, but awe inspiring predators.
Despite being faced with sharp claws and teeth
specially designed for tearing through flesh,
we all feel relatively safe when glass
or a cage separates us from the animals.
But what if the glass was no longer there?
What would you feel
if you were face-to-face with a 300-pound tiger?
Though it is unlikely to encounter an exotic animal
such as a tiger while taking a walk through your backyard,
it is exactly that unlikely moment
that we're talking about today.
What is up EWU crew?
Today, we're going to talk
about one of the largest animal escapes in U.S. history
and the massacre and that followed.
Today's case is unlike anything you've heard before,
as it is truly wild and almost unbelievable.
Let's get into it.
In Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio,
there was a notorious wild animal preserve on Kopchak road,
which boasted 73 acres of land
that housed exotic and incredibly rare animals,
such as Bengal tigers on the verge of extinction.
The animal preserve also had a variety of other animals,
such as monkeys, baboons, horses, bears, wolves, cattle,
and different big cats.
The preserve was owned by 62-year-old Terry Thompson
and his wife Marion.
In Zanesville, there were a few things
that Terry was known for,
such as being an Eagle Scout;
someone who enjoyed driving fast,
whether on a motorcycle, boat, or plane;
and that when he had returned
from fighting in the Vietnam War, he was a changed man.
The most notable of the changes
was that Terry appeared to enjoy living on the edge.
And his friend, Gary Brock,
said, "He was on the edge in Vietnam
and he just never got off it."
One of the ways that Terry lived on the edge
was by buying and caring for wild animals.
Terry bought his first baby lion cub in 1977,
who he named Simba,
and since then, continued to buy and collect exotic animals
until he created the preserve in Zanesville.
From what people knew of Terry,
he seemed like the kind of person
who would feel comfortable sleeping near lions
and bears and having monkeys climb around his house.
He was once described by the Muskingum County sheriff,
Matthew Lutz as, "A guy that kind of pushed the envelope,
a liked-to-live-on-the-edge type person."
Terry had intentions of creating a sanctuary
for the different animals he owned,
but not everything went according to plan.
Keeping so many wild animals in the rural,
but populated community
just seemed to be asking for trouble.
Before 2011, there were frequent reports
of issues with Terry's animal preserve.
For one, it is said that the animals
were not always kept
in their designated areas or enclosures.
Terry's cages often didn't have roofs,
which meant that there was really nothing
to prevent some of the animals from escaping.
In fact, there were reports from his neighbors
to the local police of a lion or a mountain lion
being seen on the loose and roaming the area,
though it apparently never left his property.
One of the neighbors to the wild animal preserve,
Danielle White, has said that she saw the lion
in the area in 2006.
When speaking publicly, she said,
"It's always been a fear of mine,
knowing the preserve's owner had all those animals.
I have kids. I've heard a male lion roar all night."
Additionally, horses, cows,
and bulls were said to have occasionally broken free
from Terry's land,
and even trampled his neighbor's property.
Along with these allegations of loose animals,
Terry, at one point, had been asked to leave a pet fair
after he had brought some exotic animals
that snarled at the children there.
From these reports,
it appeared that Terry had only tenuous control
over his many wild animals.
But these claims were just the tip of the iceberg.
According to the police,
in the past, Terry had been cited for animal abuse,
as well as neglect.
There were multiple issues with how the animals were housed,
beyond the lack of roofs, such as being too close together
and unsanitary living conditions.
During the decade before 2011,
Terry had reportedly been warned
on no less than 30 separate occasions
that he needed to get his animals under control.
There is evidence that he and his wife
did attempt to make improvements,
though not to the extent that was necessary.
The Los Angeles Times has stated
that Terry was reported to the police in 2005
because some of his horses broke loose
along with cattle,
who appeared to be in a desperate search for food.
Terry was arrested in April, 2005
for cruelty and torture of the cattle and bison
he had on his property,
and was charged with one count
of having an animal at large,
two counts of rendering animal waste,
and one count of cruelty to animals.
It was alleged, by Larry Hostetler,
the executive director
of the Muskingum County Animal Shelter,
that when Terry "was charged with animal neglect,
there were complaints
that he wasn't feeding his horses enough,
and when they would die he would feed them to the lions."
This allegation hasn't been substantiated
beyond Hostetler's claim,
but it was a popularly spread rumor.
Despite these incidents,
Terry was said to greatly love the animals
he kept in the preserve,
and his wife even referred to them as her children.
According to all that knew him,
he told them frequently that he loved his animals.
But what happened next has left many unsure
about Terry's intentions,
and if he truly cared for the many animals he lived with.
Sam Kopchak, who lived in the area
near Terry's animal preserve,
had just bought a Pinto Arabian horse named Red,
and was walking him through the pasture behind his house
on the evening of October 18th, 2011.
Suddenly, Kopchak saw a bear running loose
on the side of Terry's farm.
Because the animals were known to occasionally get loose,
he didn't think too much of it.
That is, until he started to feel
like something was watching him.
Kopchak reported that he turned to see
an African lion sitting just a few yards
from him and Red,
the only barrier between them,
a flimsy wire fence meant to keep the horses cooped in,
but definitely not designed to keep a hungry lion at bay.
Alarm flared through him and Kopchak
urgently returned his horse to the barn
before calling 911.
Something had gone terribly wrong
at Terry's animal preserve.
As the police had reportedly been aware
of the animal preserve for several years,
referring to it as a huge problem,
they expected the horses to be free again,
or at the very worst, a lion roaming the property.
Yet, as soon as they arrived,
the police realized that they were woefully unprepared
for the wild situation.
Animals were wandering free, not just on Terry's property,
but through the nearby woods,
heading towards his neighbor's houses
and the roads.
And not just a herd of horses or a lion,
but dozens of animals.
Neighbors around the area began calling 911,
as they saw more and more wild animals
loose and near their houses, including two black bears,
a Bengal tiger, and an African lion.
Kopchak's 84-year-old mother, Dolores, opened her door
after Deputy Jonathan Merry knocked.
She described what she saw as like a dream state,
as she witnessed a gray wolf charge at Deputy Merry,
who shot the animal dead just feet from her door.
You see, it is alleged that earlier that evening,
Terry had systematically walked through his reserve,
carrying bolt cutters, visiting almost all of his animals
and releasing them from their cages as he went.
All of the animals.
Terry allegedly went to the front gates,
opened them and pushed them wide.
When authorities arrived to the preserve,
they were horrified to find that Terry's 56 animals
were on the loose and escaping.
Almost all of the animals were incredibly dangerous,
and almost all predators, including bears, lions, tigers
and a variety of other big cats.
The Muskingum County sheriff, Matt Lutz,
described the shocking sight
by saying, "These animals were on the move
and were showing aggressive behavior,"
but he had no idea just how dark
the night would turn out to be.
As they expected perhaps a few loose animals,
the responding authorities were shocked
to come face-to-face with so many
wild and dangerous animals all at once.
Things had long since crossed the line
of being out of control.
Sheriff Lutz said that almost immediately,
there were some very close calls.
For a few moments, Sheriff Lutz debated what to do.
He called for reinforcements.
But of course, the police were not trained
for any situation resembling 56 loose wild animals.
The freed animals were already wandering
through the reserve and Terry's neighbor's yards.
And some had even begun to make their way
towards the nearby highway.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol
were called to help try to control the animals.
They cordoned off seven miles near Interstate 70,
but there was no way to create a secure containment
for the many animals.
One animal, described only as a big cat,
managed to get onto the highway,
and fairly far from the sanctuary,
where it was actually hit by a passing car.
The nearby community was at risk,
as animals were headed into the town,
where they would encounter unsuspecting
and vulnerable residents.
Three schools were closed and motorists passing
through the town in nearby area
were told not to get out of their vehicles
under any circumstances.
But even worse than that,
the wild animals were starting to split up,
making it even harder to track them down.
There were simply too many of them.
Along with the police, a few veterinarians were present
and attempting to quell
the ensuing chaos using tranquilizers.
The issue was tranquilizers are reportedly difficult to use
during broad daylight.
Nevermind the fact that the vets were attempting to use them
at night with very little light.
At one point, one of the vets was only 15 yards away
from a tiger that was described as going crazy
after being shot with a tranquilizer,
and it started to run from the area.
The officers were forced to shoot it.
But the animals weren't simply walking
around Terry's property, waiting to be caught.
They were hunting each other,
circling officers and trying to escape further.
During the chaos,
bears and lions simultaneously tracked down
and charged at the freed horses,
and an escaped a lion found and killed one of the monkeys.
Sheriff Lutz reported that during the carnage,
the officers essentially had to resort
to hand-to-hand combat with the animals,
as there was no other way to try to control
and capture them.
The only situation seemed to be the unthinkable.
These rare and treasured animals had to be stopped.
And there was only one thing that could be done.
They had to be put down.
In an absence of enough trained animal keepers
and vets who could possibly pacify the situation
with tranquilizers, officers began shooting the animals
with their pistols.
"These are 300-pound Bengal tigers that we had to put down,"
Sheriff Lutz explained.
Because it was the middle of the night,
officers had to use infrared devices to find the animals
in the dark.
The hunt for all of the escaped animals took hours,
with officers having to work their way
through the woods and the hills
of the countryside surrounding the animal preserve.
By the end of it all,
a shocking total of 49 animals were killed,
including 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears,
a pair of Grizzlies, three mountain lions, two wolves,
and a baboon.
Though officers did their best,
one animal managed to escape, a macaque monkey,
and was still missing
after all the animals were counted.
The animal likely posed very little threat
to people in the area or other animals.
However, it was reported that it is highly likely
that the monkey had been infected
with the herpes B virus.
Herpes B virus isn't dangerous to monkeys.
However, if exposed, it is very dangerous
to humans and can cause deadly brain infections.
The general public was urged to leave the monkey alone
if it was spotted out in the wild,
and for the people to call authorities.
As if the massacre of animals wasn't horrible enough.
During the pandemonium,
police said that several people descended on the area
and allegedly attempted to steal the carcass
of a lion that had been shot.
They were all reportedly arrested on the scene.
Four men, along with a teenager,
were charged with misdemeanor theft.
After, it was revealed
that only six animals were still in their cages:
a grizzly bear, three leopards, and two monkeys.
Shockingly, there were no injuries reported
beyond the animals.
Since the incident, many people have been critical
of the police's use of fatal shooting
to control the animal escape.
But the sheriff reportedly told dispatch that night
that they had no choice.
In fact, the sheriff later lamented,
"These killings were senseless.
For our guys to have to do this,
it was nonsense, it was crazy."
But thanks to police actions,
they were able to avoid a much greater catastrophe
if the animals had been able
to get to the civilian population.
During the massacre on the property,
Terry's body had been discovered
with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In their report, deputies said that some of the tigers
were roaming around Terry's body
and that they had to be killed
so that they could actually get close enough
to examine Terry.
Police also reported
that they found Terry lying on his back,
and at first they weren't sure
if he was still alive or had died.
A hand gun was found about 15 feet from his body,
along with blue bolt cutters
that were assumed to have been used to free the animals.
Terry's wife arrived the next morning
to find that almost all of the animals
she had dedicated her life to taking care of
were dead, along with her husband.
Terry's wife reportedly cried and begged authorities,
"Please don't take my family."
Despite her pleas,
the remaining six animals were eventually taken to reside
at the Columbus Zoo.
As the investigation got underway,
ABC news wildlife expert, Jack Hannah,
described that the conditions
of the animals' reserve were abominable,
and that in his opinion,
had been living in filth prior to the incident.
There was no way that the remaining animals
would have been allowed to stay on the property.
Just before the incident,
Terry had been arrested for an illegal firearms conviction,
and served one year in prison.
Court documents revealed
that his farm was raided in June of 2008.
It was reported that Terry allegedly admitted
to an informant that he had been illegally dealing guns
after he had given up his dealing license five years prior.
The police later said that he had only been home from prison
for a few weeks before he allowed the animals to escape.
Allegedly, strain within his marriage also contributed
to his mental health.
When he returned from prison,
his wife, who had been taking care of the animals
while he was away, left the animal preserve.
A combination of his stress from prison,
along with his crumbling marriage
appears to have been part of the reason why Terry decided
to free all of his exotic animals.
The catalyst, though, has been reported
as the expense of caring for so many exotic animals.
Terry was allegedly in debt,
and the entire preserve was becoming too much of a strain.
Columbus zoo director emeritus,
Jack Hannah, reportedly spoke to Terry
about his woes, and said that Terry was quote,
"so depressed he said, 'That's it.
I'm going to let them go.'"
At the time, Hannah didn't realize how serious Terry was.
According to the Los Angeles times,
the night before he released the animals,
Terry had told one of the men who worked for him
that he had a plan.
But it still isn't clear exactly what Terry's plan
could have been.
If he truly loved the animals,
as he was known to say,
he probably couldn't have imagined the massacre
that would occur by freeing them.
But had he imagined that the wild animals
would be freed and able to live without issue
in the woods of Ohio?
We may never know exactly what Terry thought
would happen when he freed his 56 exotic animals,
but it appears that there was no way it could have ended,
but in tragedy.