Jack Hanna is no stranger to the lure of exotic animals as pets or the danger they pose.

Jack Hanna is no stranger to the lure of exotic animals as pets or the danger they pose.

In some ways, he was the ideal person to be the public face of the tragedy in Zanesville last week, when law-enforcement officers shot and killed most of the 50 exotic animals their owner had released before killing himself.

Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, was giving a speech at Penn State on Oct.?18 when colleagues began burning up his cellphone with calls about the unfolding incident.

�I couldn�t believe it; I was incredulous,� Hanna said this week, still shaken and emotional about the deaths of the lions, tigers, bears and other exotic animals that their owner, Terry W. Thompson, had released from cages on his Muskingum County property.

Hanna said that at first he couldn�t understand why the animals � including 18 Bengal tigers � couldn�t somehow be saved. But as he heard more about the situation from phone calls as he drove to Zanesville, and when he later saw the situation on Thompson�s farm, he knew the deputies had no choice.

�It was a miracle, how 50 animals could get loose and nobody got killed,� he said.

Hanna has encountered hundreds of wild animals through his career as he managed zoos and traveled around the world to film episodes for the animal shows he�s hosted for more than 20 years.

And he�s owned plenty of animals himself.

Hanna�s exotic-animal collection began when he and his wife, Suzi, moved to Knoxville, Tenn., after college. They lived on Hanna�s family farm and soon accumulated llamas, deer, buffaloes, elk, chimpanzees and a mynah bird, most purchased through mail-order catalogs.

�It was different back then, a whole different world when I was a young man,� he said.

In 1971, Hanna opened a Knoxville pet shop and continued to collect exotic animals, including six baby lions. The favorite was Daisy, who lived inside Hanna�s home and in the fenced backyard.

That changed when a 3-year-old boy who was visiting apparently stuck his arm through the fence. Daisy, who was 2 years old at the time, ripped the boy�s arm from his body.

Surgeons could not reattach the arm.

Amid lawsuits and public disdain, the Hannas and their young children moved away. Hanna gave most of his lions to a circus trainer from Europe and other animals to the Knoxville Zoo. They left with two chimps, four macaws, a spider monkey and a few other animals.

Hanna said that incident, the Zanesville animal deaths and the cancer that threatened daughter Julie�s life as a toddler are the three worst things he�s experienced in his life.

�I just want to say, I hope other people don�t have to learn (the dangers of exotic animals) the way I learned,� he said, his voice breaking. �I�d hate for someone else to have to go through that."

Lewis Greene, 59, senior vice president for animal care and conservation at the Columbus Zoo, said it wasn�t uncommon for people to own wild animals 30 or 40 years ago. He worked at a private zoo in his early 20s and kept venomous reptiles as pets.

�I enjoyed doing it, but I wouldn�t own them today,� Greene said.

�I can�t say it was a smart thing to do, but I know better now. I, fortunately, didn�t have anything really bad happen to me.�

Hanna said if he were a young man today, he wouldn�t own exotic animals, as much as he loves them.

�I know I cared for my animals meticulously, put every bit of money I ever had into their care,� he said. �But knowing what I know now, I wouldn�t own them. It�s a whole different time.�

Hanna said what haunts him about the Zanesville situation is this thought: What if he and the zookeepers had arrived before law-enforcement officers?

�You know what I would have said? I�d have said, �Let�s put up a perimeter and try to keep them in it.� �

If they�d done that, Hanna said, he is now sure that people would have died.

kgray@dispatch.com