off topic: a very tragic story hits close to home...

These events unfolded over the past couple of days just about 25 minutes from my home. As an animal lover this breaks my heart but I feel the Sheriff had no choice but to take the actions that he did in order to save human lives. It has made me so sad watching all of this. My boys always loved driving by this farm and seeing the camels out in the pasture with the horses.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/20/owner-escaped-exotic-animals-killed-himself-before-being-bitten-sheriff-says/?test=latestnews

I dont live to far from there maybe a hour or so .   I do feel bad for the animals , but the police and the animal shelter brought all this on themselves to .

This guy has been in trouble many many times for mistreating them animals and nothing was done about it but maybe a slap on the wrist, a fine or some jail time.

If they was that concerned for the animals they should have taken the animals away from this guy a  long time ago.

Now they come out in the papers saying what a tragic way for these animals to die, but where was these people when those poor animals was being abused, not fed right, not getting the medical care they deserved.

They said one of the tigers paws was so raw and infected with junk because it was walking around feces for months .

The Columbus Zoo, the police and the Humane Society is all to blame for what happened to them animals because they didn't do a damn thing about it when they was alive .

Im a huge animal lover and nothing gets me going more then seeing people mistreat animals and people not doing anything about it .

As an animal lover, I have to ask: WhyTF does ANYONE need to be owning wild animals at all, much less the "big cats"?

These stories never have a happy ending. It was only a couple of years ago that a woman from very near here was horrendously attacked and almost killed by a "pet" chimp.

I feel Mr. Thompson is the villan in all of this. He had to know what would happen to these beautiful animals when he turned them loose. The sheriff's office had been to his residence many times over the years to inspect the cages and check to see if he had the proper permits. IMO the state failed these animals for letting the bill expire as far as having these animals. And tougher laws & restrictions should hsve been passed long before this.