From the floor to the ceiling, as in a gigantic poultry farm, they were cooped up in open cages, five of them in each 9-foot-square space.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Terry Thompson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on October 18 shortly after he pried open cages and opened the farm's fences that held his private menagerie of lions, tigers, bears, wolves and monkeys.

CNN: Widow of man who freed exotic animals to get them back

Only last week in Ohio a man with a menagerie of more than 50 animals, including tigers, giraffes and bears, decided to open up his cages and then shoot himself in the head - after being convicted of animal cruelty.

BBC: Exotic pets: Why do Americans keep dangerous animals?