Heather Ellers and Dustin Burton, via Associated Press

The authorities in the Ohio town where wild animals roamed overnight and early Wednesday said that by the afternoon all but two — a monkey and a wolf — had been accounted for.

Officials said that the animals, which included lions, tigers, and bears as well as many wolves and monkeys, had been set free by their owner, identified as Terry Thompson, before he killed himself on Tuesday evening.

As my colleagues Greg Bishop and Timothy Williams report, officials said that, based on two conflicting lists drawn up by caretakers at the compound, 48 to 51 large animals were kept there. There were also various species of monkeys found inside a house on the property. Most had been left inside their cages and had not been harmed.

Large animals were running free outside of their cages when the police arrived as night fell on Tuesday, the local sheriff, Matt Lutz of Muskingum County, said during a Wednesday morning news conference. “We had animals outside that fenced area on the road,” Sheriff Lutz said, and officers shot them “at close range” with their sidearms. “We cannot have animals running loose in this county,” he said.

Amateur video posted by local news networks captured grainy images of a bear said to be one of those that escaped.

As darkness fell, the police were concerned that the animals would disperse, and Sheriff Lutz said he made the call to shoot them with live ammunition. “We did not have any tranquilizer darts with us; we don’t carry them,” he said, adding that they later received darts for use around residential subdivisions.

Sheriff Lutz said that the authorities had killed roughly 45 of the large animals believed to be on the loose. One cat was hit on the interstate, he said.

In a phone interview on CNN, the mayor of Zanesville, Butch Zwelling, advised residents to remain alert. “We’re asking people to look around” and “watch out for wild animals,” he said, adding, “it’s business as usual” in town, despite the closing of several schools for the day.

Flashing lights on the roads warned early-morning commuters of the loose animals.

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Jack Hanna, former director of the Columbus Zoo and a well-known wild animal commentator, was helping the police in the area search for the animals, local television reported. Speaking on CNN on Wednesday morning, Mr. Hanna advised residents to remain calm if they see one of the animals: “Do not run.”

Mr. Hanna later defended the sheriff’s decision to kill the animals rather than attempt to tranquilize and subdue them.

But he also railed against the “lax” laws government ownership of exotic animals in Ohio.

The former governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, told The Columbus Dispatch that an executive order he had approved — but which had been allowed to expire under the state’s current governor — may have prevented Mr. Thompson from keeping the wild animals. “Someone with a record like this man was not intended to have these animals,” he said.

The order prohibited those “convicted of an offense involving the abuse or neglect of any animal pursuant to any state, local, or federal law” from owning exotic animals. But it lapsed earlier this year as Gov. John Kasich’s administration sought to craft new legislation controlling sale and ownership of exotic animals, the paper said.

Reports online gave details of animal cruelty charges against a Zanesville man by the name of Terry W. Thompson who lived at 270 Kopchak Road. The Columbus Dispatch said Mr. Thompson kept the animals on a 46-acre property at that address, along Interstate 70, and had been convicted of animal cruelty in 2005.

Animal rights groups expressed dismay at the killing of so many large animals and called for Ohio to change its law regarding exotic animals. “Keeping exotic animals is inhumane and unsafe for both animals and people, and it’s time that Ohio did something about it,” the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement.

“PETA had also filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Agriculture about Thompson’s illegal activities, including exhibiting animals without a license and declawing tiger cubs in violation of the Animal Welfare Act,” the group said.

A Terry Thompson also appears to have operated a motorcycle shop at the Kopchak Road address called T’s World. A call to a number listed for the shop went unanswered early Wednesday.

A satellite view of the large property shows multiple structures and what appears to be dozens of cars strewn haphazardly on the grass in two areas of the property:

A Zanesville man by the name of Terry Thompson pleaded guilty last year to illegal firearms possession, including five fully automatic firearms and three short-barreled firearms without serial numbers, according to federal authorities.

“Thompson pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of illegal firearms,” according a press release at the time from the United States attorney for the southern district of Ohio. “Each count is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment. He also agreed to forfeit the weapons.”

Dennis Detling, who lives near the property, told The Associated Press that he had often wondered about the animals nearby: “We hear weird noises every once in a while; we just try to figure out what it was.”

On Tuesday night, deputies in Ohio’s Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office rode in the back of pickup trucks hunting the animals. “I would recommend staying indoors right now,” said Sheriff Lutz advised on late Tuesday.

No attacks or injuries had been reported as of Tuesday evening, Mr. Lutz said, but several local schools announced they would be closed on Wednesday, at the sheriff’s recommendation.

“I’m going to say the word ‘mature,’ ” Mr. Lutz said, describing the animals. “Very big. Aggressive.”

He continued: “We’ve got a little bit of a list compiled. Mainly there were grizzly bears and black bears there. There were cheetahs, there were lions and there were tigers. Those are the primary things that we would be concerned with.”

Mr. Lutz said that while he was not certain the farm’s owner, Mr. Thompson, was current on his permits, he had been in the past. But that seemed to offer little comfort to the sheriff.

“Let’s just say, it’s a little loose,” Mr. Lutz said of the permit process, “in my opinion.”

A documentary released this spring, “The Elephant in the Living Room,” looked at the state of Ohio and the large number of privately-owned exotic animals. In her review for The Times, my colleague Jeannette Catsoulis writes that after watching the film “you would be forgiven for believing that the State of Ohio is just one enormous, unfenced zoo.”