49 animals were slaughtered, including 18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, a pair of grizzlies, three mountain lions, two wolves and a baboon.
Thompson had been warned repeatedly over the last decade to get his animals under control – and no less than 30 times in the past year. He was arrested in April of 2005 for cruelty and torture of cattle and bison he had on his property, according to the website pet-abuse.com.
He was charged with one count of having an animal at large, two counts of rendering animal waste and one count of cruelty to animals.
"These killings were senseless. For our guys to have to do this, it was nonsense, it was crazy," the sheriff said.
I find wild animals really thrilling, but they need to be wild. They weren't meant to be pets. Wolves have the same DNA as a dog, but they are just too wild for domestication.
The gist of this--this bloke is a real wanker for keeping these animals in a cage. Especially, if it means they died a violent and senseless death.
"Thompson had been warned repeatedly over the last decade to get his animals under control – and no less than 30 times in the past year."
There are a lot of inconsistencies in this story. Some news accounts say that he was warned 30 times in the last year while others state that he was just released from prison within the last 2 weeks after doing a full 1 year and a day on a Federal weapons charge. I think the "30 times" was from several years ago but some news accounts have it wrong or vague as I have read a couple of stories that made it sound like the warnings were this year.
FWM, this guy could have been warned while behind bars. The two events are not contradictory or exclusionary.
So long as he retained ownership, he could receive mail and other notifications while behind bars pertaining to his property.
As to the firearms violations, want to bet his wife being claimed as co-owner was not her idea and that she has never been a licensed firearms dealer?
I would further assert that this guy should never have been licensed as a firearms dealer, in the past, and he sure as hell should have been prohibited by state law and local regulation from having these exotic animals.
Zoos do a good job of caring for exotic animals, and serve a useful educational purpose. Guys like this do not do either of those things.
Looks like the "warned 30 times in the last year" came from an animal rights group that "warned him" in 2004-05. Not by any officials and not within this last year.
Doggone, I also saw more of a bio on him and while it didn't mention his politics, I get the impression that he was a conservative maybe leaning more towards libertarian.
Clearly not all gun owners are animal torturers, but you do have to wonder about the psychology of some people who get into having large numbers of exotic, dangerous animals. I find it very plausible they are into the same effort at some kind of empowerment from the animals that they get from having prohibited machine guns.
The link is that 'just because I wanna' is not a good premise for allowing people to do things when those choices are also dangerous to others.
I heard that two of the animals that were killed died in traffic accidents with vehicles on the nearby highways. THAT was a danger to people as well as the animals. Had those animals been merely injured and not killed they could have been even more dangerous. Not to mention it is a cruel way for the animals to die.
Nice guy.
ReplyDelete49 animals were slaughtered, including 18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, a pair of grizzlies, three mountain lions, two wolves and a baboon.
ReplyDeleteThompson had been warned repeatedly over the last decade to get his animals under control – and no less than 30 times in the past year. He was arrested in April of 2005 for cruelty and torture of cattle and bison he had on his property, according to the website pet-abuse.com.
He was charged with one count of having an animal at large, two counts of rendering animal waste and one count of cruelty to animals.
"These killings were senseless. For our guys to have to do this, it was nonsense, it was crazy," the sheriff said.
OK, I've had enough encounters with wildlife to truly appreciate them in their own habitat (as opposed to the British city fox and other urban fauna--as Dog Gone well knows).
ReplyDeleteI find wild animals really thrilling, but they need to be wild. They weren't meant to be pets. Wolves have the same DNA as a dog, but they are just too wild for domestication.
The gist of this--this bloke is a real wanker for keeping these animals in a cage. Especially, if it means they died a violent and senseless death.
"Thompson had been warned repeatedly over the last decade to get his animals under control – and no less than 30 times in the past year."
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of inconsistencies in this story. Some news accounts say that he was warned 30 times in the last year while others state that he was just released from prison within the last 2 weeks after doing a full 1 year and a day on a Federal weapons charge. I think the "30 times" was from several years ago but some news accounts have it wrong or vague as I have read a couple of stories that made it sound like the warnings were this year.
FWM, this guy could have been warned while behind bars. The two events are not contradictory or exclusionary.
ReplyDeleteSo long as he retained ownership, he could receive mail and other notifications while behind bars pertaining to his property.
As to the firearms violations, want to bet his wife being claimed as co-owner was not her idea and that she has never been a licensed firearms dealer?
I would further assert that this guy should never have been licensed as a firearms dealer, in the past, and he sure as hell should have been prohibited by state law and local regulation from having these exotic animals.
Zoos do a good job of caring for exotic animals, and serve a useful educational purpose. Guys like this do not do either of those things.
Anyone want to bet this guy is a conservative, btw?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he was a conservative, but I just made another connection. It's clear now that all gun owners are animal torturers.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the "warned 30 times in the last year" came from an animal rights group that "warned him" in 2004-05. Not by any officials and not within this last year.
ReplyDeleteDoggone,
I also saw more of a bio on him and while it didn't mention his politics, I get the impression that he was a conservative maybe leaning more towards libertarian.
Clearly not all gun owners are animal torturers, but you do have to wonder about the psychology of some people who get into having large numbers of exotic, dangerous animals. I find it very plausible they are into the same effort at some kind of empowerment from the animals that they get from having prohibited machine guns.
ReplyDeleteThe link is that 'just because I wanna' is not a good premise for allowing people to do things when those choices are also dangerous to others.
I heard that two of the animals that were killed died in traffic accidents with vehicles on the nearby highways. THAT was a danger to people as well as the animals. Had those animals been merely injured and not killed they could have been even more dangerous. Not to mention it is a cruel way for the animals to die.