TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Five people were charged Monday with
trying to steal the carcass of a lion that was among dozens of exotic
animals released from a private compound by their suicidal owner and
shot dead by sheriff’s deputies in a big-game hunt.
Deputies said
they stopped four men and a teenage boy who had loaded the lion into a
Jeep several hours after the animals ran from their cages at the
compound near Zanesville, in eastern Ohio.
Deputies were forced to
kill 48 wild animals including bears, lions and endangered Bengal
tigers after their owner, Terry Thompson, threw open their cages late in
the afternoon on Oct. 18 and then killed himself on his farm.
The
four men and the teen, ranging in ages from 21 to 17, were each charged
with a misdemeanor count of theft, Muskingum County prosecutor Michael
Haddox told The Associated Press. Each faces up to six months in jail
and a $1,000 fine if convicted.
Deputies said they noticed the
headlights of a vehicle near the farm and decided to stop it, according
to reports released by the county sheriff’s office.
Inside the
Jeep, they found a dead male lion, the deputies said. They then removed
the carcass, belonging to one of nine lions that had been housed at the
compound, and closed down a road to prevent anyone else from getting
near the dead animals.
Prosecutors wouldn’t say what they believed the men and the boy planned to do with the lion’s body.
The
four men charged were Cody Wilson, 21, of Byesville; Richard Weidlich,
19, of Cambridge; Brian Matthews, 21, of Kimbolton; and Joseph
Jakubisin, 21, of Cambridge, Haddox said. The name and hometown of the
boy weren’t released because of his age.
Wilson, Weidlich and
Matthews didn’t have listed home telephone numbers. Jakubisin’s number
was no longer in service. There was no indication the men had hired
attorneys.
Deputies have said they had no choice but to shoot the
lions and other animals after they charged at them and were dangerously
close to neighboring homes and an interstate highway.
Nearly all the cages had been unlocked, and holes were cut in the metal fencing.
Thompson,
62, had told a farmhand a day earlier that he was upset about his
marital problems and that he had a plan, according to a deputy who
talked with the caretaker.
Just days before Thompson set the
animals free, he told a deputy that he was having a tough time taking
care of them after spending a year in prison on a gun conviction. He
also was deep in debt to the Internal Revenue Service.
Thompson
bought his first exotic animal, a lion cub named Simba, at an auction
for his wife’s birthday about 14 years ago. He acquired other animals at
auctions and from people who could no longer care for them.
Thompson’s
widow tried to claim six wild animals that survived their release and
were recaptured, but the state Department of Agriculture ordered they be
kept under quarantine at a zoo for the time being.
Gov. John
Kasich, upon learning the widow planned to retrieve the animals, asked
the agency to ensure they didn’t pose a health threat. Earlier this
year, Kasich let expire an order that might have prevented the Thompsons
from owning exotic animals. He has signed a temporary order to use
existing laws to crack down on such animals before new laws are
proposed.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.