Pictures: Lucky Few Exotic Animals Saved From Ohio Shootings

One of the Fortunate Few
Photograph by Graham S. Jones, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium via AP
A leopard, one of only six escaped exotic animals to survive this week's shootings near Zanesville (map), Ohio, looks toward an uncertain future from a safe enclosure at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's hospital on Thursday. (Read "Should the Ohio Exotic Animals Have Been Shot?")
The rescued animals' future homes are anyone's guess. "They're being kept here until there is some legal or other resolution of their status," said zoo spokesperson Patty Peters.
(Watch National Geographic video on the exotic-animal escape in Ohio.)
"We're taking care of them for now, and maybe for the future, but by law they're still the legal property of the people who owned them," Peters added.
On Tuesday, Terry W. Thompson-owner of the private, 73-acre (30-hectare) Muskingum County Animal Farm-released the leopard, along with more than 50 other exotic animals, including 18 Bengal tigers, 17 African lions, 8 bears, 3 mountain lions, a baboon, and a wolf.
Moments later Thompson committed suicide, leaving behind a wife and other family members who could claim the animals.
Sheriff's deputies subsequently shot and killed 48 of the escaped animals, which had been deemed a serious threat to public safety. One animal, a macaque monkey, remains missing and may have been eaten by one of the big cats, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz told reporters Thursday.
(See pictures of exotic animals rescued at the L.A. airport.)
—Brian Handwerk
Published October 20, 2011
Lucky Monkey
Photograph by Graham S. Jones, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium via AP
Two macaques—including this one pictured Thursday at the Columbus Zoo—three leopards, and a grizzly bear are the only animals either captured or missing after authorities opened fire on more than 50 exotic animals that had been freed from a backyard zoo near Zanesville, Ohio, Tuesday.
When local law enforcement officials arrived Tuesday, night was falling and they had no nonlethal way to prevent the animals from running into nearby neighborhoods, the Muskingum County Sherriff's Office announced.
(Find out how the exotic-animal trade is creating a "python nightmare" in Florida.)
Published October 20, 2011
Black Panther
Photograph by Graham S. Jones, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium via AP
A black leopard, one of six survivors of the Ohio exotic-animal escape, finds refuge at the Columbus Zoo on Thursday.
At least eight U.S. states, including Ohio, allow anyone to own dangerous exotic animals with no license or permit, no regulation of living conditions, and no facility inspections, according to Ian Robinson, a veterinarian and the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) Emergency Relief Program Director.
"There are more privately owned tigers in the U.S. than there are living in the wild in the rest of the world, which is staggering," Robinson said. (See why some conservationists call privately held exotic animals "ticking time bombs.")
"You can go online and buy a tiger for the price of a Labrador and keep it in your backyard in these states that have no regulations. You can buy two and breed them. Until one gets out and hurts somebody, nobody even knows they're there."
Far more often, it's the animals that pay the price, he added, suffering in inadequate conditions with owners who got far more than they'd bargained for.
(Related: Help National Geographic's Big Cats conservation initiative save wild felines.)
Published October 20, 2011
"In Good Health"
Photograph by Graham S. Jones, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium via AP
On Thursday a young grizzly peers through the bars of an enclosure at the Columbus Zoo, where authorities say the bear and four other rescued animals that had to be sedated are recovering nicely.
"They are in good health right now," said Doug Warmolts, the zoo's director of animal care. "The three leopards and the grizzly cub had to be sedated in order to move them here, so we watched them very closely overnight, but they are all recovering nicely.
"All the animals have accepted food and water," Warmolts added, "and they are in a wing of our hospital where we quarantine new arrivals in individual quarters."
(Pictures: finding Florida's exotic-animal invaders.)
Published October 20, 2011
The Unlucky Ones
Photograph by Tony Dejak, AP
Authorities on Wednesday prepare to bury exotic animals killed at the Muskingum County Animal Farm in Ohio.
"The scope of this tragedy is something that I'll never forget. In 24 years in the business, I've never seen anything like this," the Columbus Zoo's Warmolts said.
"But by yesterday morning we'd heard from nearly every AZA [Association of Zoos and Aquariums] zoo within 250 miles [400 kilometers], and they were ready to head our way with people and resources to assist in any way they could.
"Moments like that make you feel very proud of the people you work with in this industry."
More: Exotic-animal theft on the rise at zoos >>
Published October 20, 2011