Man's Dominion: The Case of Thompsons' Private Wildlife Reserve

By Kamran Nayeri, February 5, 2012

A lion gunned down, one of 49 animals killed by the police

Man’s Dominion over nature has characterized Our Way of Life for thousands of years.  Speciesism—the ideology of human superiority—is essential for our "civilization" based on class society and our domination of nature.  Speciesism, like racism or sexism, must be overcome in the process of human emancipation. While racism, sexism, and class domination must be overcome to do away with pathologic social relations, speciesism must be overcome to reunite our way of life with the rest of nature. The latter has become of immediate concern due to the planetary ecological and environmental crises such as global warming and catastrophic climate change.

A particular aspect of Man’sDominion is the way humans have abused wildlife in all kinds of manners from fishing and hunting (for "sports" or for commercial interest) to enslavement and abuse animals for “entertainment” (e.g., zoos,circuses, sadistic shows such as bull fighting, cock fighting, etc.).  With the development of world commerce, trade in wildlife has become a lucrative business just as slave trade did earlier (see, for example, here).  While the recent animal rights movement has scored some gains for animal welfare human tyranny against other animals surpasses whatever humans have done and are doing to one another and animal liberation remains a much elusive goal.  

The following story illustrates the point: an Ohio couple of dubious social character had managed to assemble a private reserve of 69 large mammals, including those classified as "endangered species" and abused them in captivity.  Except for occasional slap on the wrist, their activity has been largely legal as trade in wildlife is a legal international practice and animal abuse in routinely ignored.    

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On February 1, mass media reported on the “accidental” death of a leopard at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.  The leopard was killed when a zookeeper smashed it under a heavy metal door when closing the cage.

The 2-year old leopard was one of six animals that survived a carnage when Zanesville, Ohio, police killed 49 animals, including 18 Bengal tigers (an endangered species), 17 lions, six black bears, a pair of grizzlies, three mountain lions, two wolves and a baboon last October.  Terry Thompson, 62, the owner of the private reserve in Zanesville had let them loose before fatally shooting himself. Mr. Thompson was recently released from prison after serving one year on federal weapons charges. He had been cited for animal abuse and neglect in the past.

A gross necropsy of the leopard revealed that he suffered a number of pre-existing conditions including injury and malnourishment that weakened his bone, broken bones in his back and tail that had not properly healed.

Reportedly, many animals on the reserve were malnourished, neglected and abused, including a brown bear, two lions, two Celebes macaques, and two other leopards.  Their conditions were not properly assessed because of a legal dispute over whether Marian Thompson, Mr. Thompson’s widow, who had helped “care” for the animals, should retain ownership.

In the meantime, the state has directed that the rescued animals be quarantined until it is clear that they do not carry serious communicable diseases. The examination of the animals was ruled out because they had to be sedated, which can be fatal to unhealthy animals. Meanwhile, medical histories of the animals are unknown because the Thompsons did not provide records.