7. 49 Exotic Animals Killed After Being Released From A Private Menagerie By Suicidal Vietnam War Veteran (Ohio, 2011)
The Zanesville Massacre is likely to go down in history as one of the most-notorious and bloody zoo "accidents" ever. Former Vietnam War veteran Terry Thompson, 61, owned a huge private menagerie in Zanesville, Ohio, in the USA called Muskingum County Animal Farmand, in October 2011, he proceeded to allow all 55 animals to escape from the zoo - before shooting himself. Bears and tigers ran towards residential houses, wolves headed for the motorways, while a monkey was killed by a lion during the chaos. With local police fearing for the safety of the resident of Zanesville, they opened fire on the animals - killing 49, some of which were greatly endangered. A total of 18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, three mountain lions, two wolves, two grizzly bears and a baboon were slaughtered. Only three leopards, two monkeys and a single grizzly bear survived - as they hadn't eft their cages - and they were subsequently transferred to Colombus Zoo in Ohio.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.