Here is a long but interesting story:
https://www.gq.com/story/terry-thompson-ohio-zoo-massacre-chris-heath-gq-february-2012It's aviation related because the guy was a PPL.
TLDR version:
Eccentric exotic animal owner frees around 50 animals (lions, tigers, bears) and then commits suicide by shooting himself in the head after smearing himself with chicken blood to encourage the cats to eat his body.
The animals start roaming the neighborhood and need to be killed.
The man was a Vietnam vet who was well liked by friends but seemed to have issues after coming home from the war.
He had recently served a year in prison for illegal possession of unregistered firearms. He had had run ins with the law over animal complaints and not wearing a seatbelt but apparently never hurt a person (in civilian life).
He had a long marriage with a woman who shared his love for the animals but since he went to prison his wife must have had an affair and was making plans to leave him.
This incident led to Ohio passing a law restricting private ownership of exotic animals.
I'm interested in armchair quarterback opinions. My opinion about the animals is: as a libertarian I'm loathe to restrict people from having the pet they want, but as a sensible person I don't want my neighbor owning big cats or bears that could escape and eat my grandson, so I must reluctantly agree with such laws, but I am open to discussion about whether they just drive such ownership underground and create a worse situation.
In general, wild animals do not make good pets and it's possible the pet trade contributes to their extinction threat, but again, I'm not sure banning them doesn't just force the pet trade underground while hurting efforts to legally breed them in captivity just to avoid them going extinct. Captive breeding is not ideal (in China the tiger breeding program has morphed into a complete disaster) but for some species like the bonobo is it preferable to losing the species altogether? I don't know the answer.
My opinion about the guns: apparently the guy was no danger to the public from guns. Unlike animals, the guns would never escape and go around killing people on their own. His collection was no different from many gun enthusiasts' collections except some were technically illegal. He had formerly owned a gun shop and was a hoarder, never let anything go. They sent this man to prison for no reason insofar as protecting the public.
The prison stay apparently wrecked his marriage and broke his spirit, it being the second traumatizing event of his life. The first being drafted and sent to Vietnam.
People with a hoarder personality often have trauma in their history. This man hoarded animals, guns, cars, never could part with anything. Maybe what is missing here is that he should have received some kind of intervention and treatment after he returned from Vietnam. Have we made progress since then taking care of the psychological needs of our veterans?
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