Ohio owner of exotic animals was deep in debt  By Ann Sanner
Associated Press  Published: Thursday, Oct. 20 2011 1:53 p.m.
MDT  ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The owner of an exotic animal farm who
killed himself after setting his menagerie of tigers, lions,
bears and other beasts loose in the Ohio countryside was deep in
debt, records show.  Terry Thompson and his wife had money
problems dating to the 1990s, but their debt had escalated in
recent years and they owed at least $68,000 in unpaid income and
property taxes, according to the court records obtained
Thursday.  Thompson's collection of black bears, grizzlies,
mountain lions, leopards and other exotic creatures was no
secret to neighbors or authorities who were called many times
over the years about animals wandering away. But their escape
this time was no accident.  Thompson, 62, unleashed them from
his private Muskingum County Animal Farm near Zanesville, then
shot himself. Authorities had to hunt down and kill or capture
the animals as they roamed the rural a