Perhaps the saddest zoo photograph you’ll ever see

In the picture you see some of the 48 animals including tigers and lions shot dead by police after they were released by Terry Thompson from his private zoo. They animals had scattered and were tracked down. The police considered them a danger to residents and rather than tranquillize them, shot them instead.

It happened in October 2011 as I recall. Thompson committed suicide after he released the animals. I wrote about it at the time, as did Elisa, but never saw this photograph which I have bumped into today. I have decided that it is worth showing on the site despite the saddness it brings.

“Today, October 18, 2016 marks the fifth anniversary of a nightmare: a private owner of exotic animals in Zanesville, Ohio named Terry Thompson opened the cages of his 56 tigers, lions, cougars, bears and wolves and let them loose.” – the caption accompanying the photo:

Saddest zoo photo you will see. A symbol of failure by humans to care for the planet and wild species adequately.

The picture is surely a symbol of humankind’s failure to interact with wildlife in a satisfactory manner. It is symbol of utter failure in point of fact. And a failure of the concept of private zoos. This was a large – too large – private zoo. They are allowed in many states of America and are quite common. There are far more tigers in captivity in zoos in America than on the planet in the wild. They are acts of self-indulgence and/or animal exploitation for financial reward.

Another private zoo owner in America, Joe Exotic was, earlier this year, convicted of plotting to murder Carole Baskin, the founder and owner of Big Cat Rescue. That is the caliber of some of these private zoo owners. Some are not fit to be in charge of many wild species in cages.

2 thoughts on “Perhaps the saddest zoo photograph you’ll ever see”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. I’ll go ahead and say it, the police should be shot. Every one of them should have refused to shoot these animals and walked off the job, but they didn’t. Their paycheck was more important to them, which is unconscionable.

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