Ohio chaos symptom of exotic trade

A tiger cub for $700.

A baby cougar for $675.

And a 2-year-old giraffe for $25,000.

Private collectors actively trade in exotic animals all over the United States in a vibrant and poorly regulated market. One such collector created a day of fear and outrage after he turned loose dozens of lions, tigers, bears and other exotic animals in a rural Ohio town and then shot himself Tuesday night.

Terry Thompson, 62, was found dead on his property. Through the night and into Wednesday afternoon, the animals from his private menagerie became the victims of an impromptu big-game hunt by deputies seeking to protect residents from dangerous predators.

Schools were closed Wednesday, and residents were advised to stay indoors. Callers to 911 reported lions, bears and unidentified large mammals in back yards, wandering through cemeteries and near highways.

By Wednesday evening, the Muskingum County sheriff, Matt Lutz, reported the danger had largely passed. Deputies shot and killed 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, two grizzlies, three mountain lions and a baboon, The Associated Press reported. Six animals were captured and sent to the Columbus Zoo, a wolf was found dead and a monkey was still at large.

Thompson’s Muskingum County Animal Farm was familiar to local authorities. In 2005, Thompson paid a $750 fine for animal cruelty. Since 2004, he had been fined at least a half-dozen times for “animals on the loose,” a misdemeanor. Last month, he left prison after serving a year for gun violations.

Experts and animal rights groups said the scary scene in Ohio was a direct consequence of the wide availability of exotic animals, many of which are now bred in the United States.

“You can find absolutely any animal on the planet for sale in the U.S.,” said Bryan Christy, author of the 2009 book “The Lizard King,” an expose of wildlife trafficking. “People who keep these large carnivores, it’s the same thing as keeping a loaded gun. That we allow people to keep bears and lions and tigers on their property is outrageous.”

Websites such as exoticanimalsforsale.net match breeders and buyers. Wednesday the site listed a giraffe for $25,000. The Animal Finders Guide, a long-running classified newspaper, offers everything from aardvarks to zebras. And at barns in Ohio, Missouri, Texas and Indiana, sellers and buyers get together every few months for live auctions of exotic animals.

September sales at the Lolli Brothers Livestock Market in Macon, Mo., identified by animal rights activists as the largest exotic-animal auction house in the country, included a tiger cub and a baby cougar, according to the market’s website. But when reached by phone Wednesday, co-owner Dominic Lolli denied trading in big cats. “We never have,” he said.