Did You See This On The News??

So, did you see this on the news?  Where the exotic animals were running wild, and then killed?  This took place about 100 miles from where we live.  Far away, but still too close for my comfort.

We live in Ohio, where second parent adoption is not legal, where same sex marriage is not legal. But by golly, you can go out and purchase 50 plus exotic animals and keep them on your farm.  You can go out and buy a bengal tiger, or a leopard, or a lion, and keep it for your pet.  These law makers in Ohio just really do have things f'd up, huh?

I remember, when I was little, really young.  Walking with my sister, to a house that was just blocks from us to see a cat.  A big cat.  I don't remember what kind it was.  But I remember it was HUGE.  And it was chained to their garage.  And there was lots of people there to see it.  I remember it seemed upset, and was walking back and forth.  And I remember being scared of it.  It wasn't like at the zoo.  It wasn't in a cage.  It was just chained up.  Then when I as 10, my Mom remarried and we moved out of the city to the county.  Where houses were more spaced apart, and people had land.  Across the street, maybe 5-6 houses down, at the back of their property, they had a huge cage, with a black panther.  I was maybe 13 and remember riding on the back of my brothers dirt bike in the woods behind the school.  And we came up on this cage.  We were pretty far away, but we could see the cage.  We could see the panther. 

I just read this morning, in the article I linked, that the man set the animals free and then committed suicide.  Luckily, no people were hurt.  They closed down schools, because if they hadn't, what parent in their right mind would have sent their child to school.  "It's ok, honey, I know their are wild exotic animals on the loose.  But maybe the lessen at school today will be what it feels like to be hunted down as prey!"  Yeah, I don't think so.

And they said that some of the animals had made their way to the main highway.  Could you imagine driving down the highway, on your way to/from work, the store, or just running errands, and then look over and see a lion in the field?  Or a bengal tiger walking down the side of the road?  Or a monkey in the trees?  How crazy would that be?

Although I am so glad that no one was hurt, and I do feel that the police and zoo personnel did what they had to do, it is still so sad that all of those animals were killed.  Nearly 50 of them.  I think the actual count is 49, but they are still looking for a monkey, that they said might be positive for Hep B.  The animals were in a residential area.  With lots of people.  Even Jack Hanna agreed that they did what they had to do.  He said there would have been carnage.

***update***  just heard that the missing monkey is no longer missing, say that it was killed by another animal

But it doesn't make it any easier to see this photo.