Zanesville Zookeeper's Widow Will Get Her Leopards Back

Reuters
Alexander Abad-Santos 563 Views Apr 30, 2012

There's good news today for Marian Thompson, the estranged wife of the Terry Thompson, the zookeeper who let all those tigers and bears loose in Zanesville, Ohio before killing himself last year: She's getting her favorite leopards (and the rest of the surviving animals) back. 

Thompson will get five animals in total according to The Columbus Dispatch: a spotted leopard, a black leopard, two Celebes macaques (monkeys), and one brown bear. "State agriculture officials said today that it would drop the fight to keep the animals quarantined at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium," writes The Dispatch's Allison Manning, who adds that "the exchange likely won’t occur until later this week." Back in October, when the tragedy was still unfolding (and before the dueling pieces from GQ and Esquire), wildlife experts like Jack Hanna had pressed Thompson to drop her lobbying for the existing animals, because of questions surrounding their origin and until today, Thompson had lobbied officials to return the animals, since they are legally hers. "The leopards were always her favorite," wrote Esquire's Chris Jones

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at aabadsantos at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Topics:
Related Articles   More by Alexander Abad-Santos

Dozens of Animals Killed After Escaping Ohio Preserve

 

The Murder of Mark Carson: A Hate Crime Where It Wasn't Expected

Thankfully, No One Was Hurt in Miguel's Meme-Ready Stage Dive

Another Pack of Storms Is Heading Through the Midwest

Syrian Electronic Army Adds Financial Times to Its Social Media Hacks

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App