his supertan weight and glistening white teeth behind michele bachmann and last night he sealed it with a kiss. a can t miss clip later in the show. later at 5:30, and a terrible story out of ohio yesterday. police armed with high-powered rifles hunten and killing 48 exotic animals let loose. their owner, police say, released them from his private exotic animal park before taking his own life. six animals including three leopa leopard, a grizzly bear and two monkeys were safely captured and taken to the columbus zoo. the rest some endangered had to be destroyed. john yang has more. reporter: by the time the sun came up in zanesville most that escaped from terry thompson s farm were gone. six black bear, two grizzly bear, nine male lion, eight lion esses. and 18 tigers. reporter: a nerve-racking night as local broad wases warned residents. reporter: thompson, the owner of an animal farm, apparently set most of his animals free then took his own life. fred polk saw ma
captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. we begin tonight with a strange and sad story out of ohio. it started with a local man known as something of an eccentric and a criminal who had served time in prison. he kept a wild animal preserve on his property. big exotic animals, the kind we see in zoos, until last night when he released the animals and took his own life. police responding in the dark to protect the families in the area had no choice but to draw their weapons and bring down the animals. those still on the loose today were tranquilized, taken away. the 48 dead animals include 18 endangered bengal tigers and there are only about 2,500 in the world. tonight in zanesville, it s mostly the scene of a terrible waste and a rekindled debate over private rights versus animal welfare. we have two reports tonight beginning at the scene with nbc s john yang. good evening. reporter: good evening, brian. it was a tense and terrifying night. 50 exotic ani
esses. and 18 tigers. reporter: a nerve-racking night as local broad wases warned residents. reporter: thompson, the owner of an animal farm, apparently set most of his animals free then took his own life. fred polk saw many of the animals on his property. i seen some mountain lions and african lions and i think three bears. one of the bears charged a deputy and the deputy shot it. we don t go to the academy and get trained on how to deal with 300-pound bengal tigers. reporter: danielle and her two children live next door. for her it was a terrifying night. gunfire was very close to the house. i almost felt at one point it may have been right in the backyard. that is a bear. reporter: today schools were