All exotic animals gone, owner says

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The widow of an exotic-animal owner who released dozens of creatures from their eastern Ohio farm before killing himself told state officials that she has relocated five animals that survived the 2011 release.

The animals were among those at the Zanesville farm in October 2011 when Terry Thompson released dozens of dangerous, wild creatures before committing suicide. Authorities killed 48 animals - including black bears, African lions and Bengal tigers - fearing for the public’s safety in the rural area.

In a letter dated Dec. 30, Thompson’s widow, Marian, said she transferred the surviving animals - two adult leopards, two primates and a bear - to another Ohio farm. The Associated Press obtained the letter Wednesday through a public-records request.

The state had released the animals to Marian Thompson in May 2012 after initially holding them at a Columbus zoo. The zoo had to euthanize one other leopard.

“After two years of constant consideration and emotional turmoil, it is with deep sorrow that I inform you of the rehoming of my exotic animals,” she wrote in the letter to an administrator at the Ohio Department of Agriculture. “Their safety and well-being have always been my top priority and, due to continual threats made toward them and the property upon which they reside, I am forced to make this decision.”