Life on the Ark: The Zanesville Animal Catastrophe A Decade Later

This special bonus episode contains fascinating extended interview segments with scholars and wildlife experts that did not make it into the original documentary series. Topics covered include problems in U.S. animal law, gun culture in the U.S., and the challenges of coexisting with bears in the Mountain West.

This special bonus episode picks up where the original series leaves off, reflecting on the idea of "home" for captive exotic animals in the United States. The main storyline covers a serval rescue operation that occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the spring of 2023. Interviews include an animal-law scholar, a zoo historian, a philosopher, animal rescuers and caregivers, and an exotic-animal veterinarian.

What are Zanesville's legacies, more than a decade later? Interviews with animal activists, legal scholars, journalists, and wildlife experts.

A brief history of the relationship between the professional zoological industry and the private animal trade -- before and after the 2011 Zanesville incident. (Note: This episode mentions a proposed federal bill called The Big Cat Public Safety Act. Since the time of this recording, that bill has passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law.)

Further reading:

Nigel Rothfels, Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.​

J. Donahue and E. Trump, The Politics of Zoos: Exotic Animals and Their Protectors, Northern Illinois University Press, 2006.

Irus Braverman, Zooland: The Institution of Captivity, Stanford University Press, 2013.

How police militarization and notions of public safety shaped the public's response to the incident. (Note: This episode mentions a proposed federal bill called The Big Cat Public Safety Act. Since the time of this recording, that bill has passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law.)

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Further reading:

Jennifer Carlson, Citizen-Protectors: The Everyday Politics of Guns in an Age of Decline, Oxford University Press, 2015.

​Jennifer Carlson, Policing the Second Amendment, Princeton University Press, 2022.

The story of how the Zanesville catastrophe became the catalyst for the State of Ohio's Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 2012. Interviews with former exotic animal owners, state veterinarians, and animal advocates.

A brief history of how local and state actors tried and failed to prevent an animal-related disaster in the State of Ohio.

A look back at Terry Thompson's final years before the 2011 incident, including interviews with friends and local officials who knew about his animal collection.

Further reading:

Jonah Ogles, "Man or Beast?", Cincinnati Magazine; Chris Heath, "18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque, and 1 Man Dead in Ohio," GQ Magazine; Chris Jones, "Animals: The Horrific True Story of the Zanesville Animal Massacre"; Ben Chanan (director), "America's Animal Hoarder: Horror at the Zoo," Minnow Films; Matt Ampleman and Doug Kysar, "Living with Owning," Indiana Law Journal.

Building  on the stories from Part One, this episode unveils some of the strange  happenings outside the secured police perimeter, including an attempt to  steal an adult male lion from the scene.

On  October 18, 2011, Terry Thompson of Zanesville, Ohio, released 56  exotic animals, most of them apex carnivores, onto his property before  taking his own life. This part tells the stories of the county police  and Columbus Zoo personnel who responded to the chaotic scene.