[DarwinsMistake]

No one ever puts down the humans for messing with the animals..

[wolfie]

Shit happens. That is the responsibly and repercussions you inherent. Whenever you own an animal capable of killing someone.

[vnathan]

'pet' bear?

[Geemonster]

He was properly Bear Grilled.

[Unicorn1090]

Originally Posted by freakydeeky ↗

MAULED MAN DIES

COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Wild animal showman Sam Mazzola fled two counties, paid fines, and fought several criminal charges to hold onto his assortment of bears, tigers and other beasties.

In the past, he's blamed some of his troubles on misguided animal rights activists.

But Friday -- hours after one of his employees died after being mauled by one of his bears -- the wild-animal showman looked shaken.

Brent Kandra, 24, had worked and played with Mazzola's animals for about six years. Kandra was feeding Cherokee, one of nine black bears on Mazolla's Lorain County property, about 7:30 p.m. Thursday when the bear grabbed Kandra.

Mazzola, who witnessed the attack, said he never saw anything like it. Lorain County Sheriff's deputies are investigating.

Although Kandra's death is the first fatality associated with Mazzola's animals, Mazzola and his animals have a storied history of run-ins with authorities that dates back to at least 1986 when Mazzola kept Caesar, a 700-pound bear, at the Creekside condominiums in Brunswick Hills.

For the next 20 years, Mazzola traveled the bar-and-carnival circuit, offering people -- many of them drunk -- the chance to wrestle Caesar or one of his other bears.

Some of Mazzola's critics hoped the bear show was over in 2008 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cracked down on Mazzola, stripped him of a federal license to exhibit exotic animals and fined him nearly $14,000 for refusing to allow an inspection of an exhibit and threatening federal officials among other things.

But that did nothing to separate Mazzola from the animals he says he loves.

In September, Mazzola pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two federal criminal charges of exhibiting and selling exotic animals without a license. He was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to do 250 hours of community service.

It's unclear how Kandra's death may impact Mazzola's probation or the future of Cherokee, the bear who mauled him.

Sheriff's deputies called an ambulance for Mazzola the night of the attack. Mazzola was treated for medical problems that appeared to have nothing to do with the bear. Mazzola told a local television staton he planned to destroy Cherokee.

Hours after Kandra died, the chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States issued a statement saying that Kandra's death shows the need for immediate action by Ohio's leaders to prohibit private ownership of dangerous wild animals.

It included a list of 19 exotic animal incidents it's documented in Ohio since 2003, including: A Hamilton County man killed by his pet python in 2006; the 2006 mauling of an Ashtabula woman by a neighbor's pet bear; an escaped pet lion that was chasing cars in Pike County.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is working on possible rules, but a spokesman said Friday that they are nowhere close to seeking legislative approval.

Mazzola, meanwhile, was up to date on state permits, including those that show he purchased the animals legally and didn't capture them in the wild. The state has no safety, cage or care requirements.

Over the years, officials in several communities have tried to separate Mazzola from his animals, but none succeeded. Mazzola finally settled in Columbia Township in the 1990s.

Columbia Trustee Dale Rundle said Friday that he lead an inquiry into what the township could do to limit Mazzola's private zoo after neighbors complained about the big cats' loud roaring. One of the bears also escaped and sat on a neighbor, he said.

"We found out we couldn't do a thing," Rundle said.

Many people in Lorain County probably don't even realize Mazzola has kept bears, tigers and other large animals on his 17 acres, Rundle said.

Yet even without Kandra's death, his menagerie may have soon become an issue.

Rundle said a developer is running a sewer line down the road where Mazzola lives. And many more people might soon have run-ins with Mazzola's zoo.

By the way, great video

[chris]

In an odd update to this 2010 story, Sam Mazzola died during a BDSM sex act.

https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/n...ct-1466169.php

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by chris ↗

In an odd update to this 2010 story, Sam Mazzola died during a BDSM sex act.

https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/n...ct-1466169.php

Bit more about that case:

Investigators believe exotic animal owner Sam Mazzola’s death was an accidental result of a consensual sexual act, according to Chief Deputy Lorain County Coroner Dr. Frank Miller.

Suicide and homicide have both been ruled out in the death of Mazzola, 49, who was found dead in his home July 10, according to sheriff’s detective Mike Lopez.

Mazzola was found face down on his water bed by a teenage co-worker. Mazzola was reportedly the foreman of a fencing company and worked with the teen.

Lopez said investigators are searching phone and computer records, in addition to security footage at Mazzola’s Marks Road property in order to get a time frame for Mazzola’s death and to make sure everything matches what they’ve been told. So far, nothing suspicious has been found.

Mazzola’s cause of death has been listed as asphyxia due to airway obstruction by a foreign body, according to Miller.

In other words, Mazzola choked to death. Mazzola had an object in his throat which obstructed his airway, Miller said.

He was also wearing a leather mask with the eyes and mouth zipped shut and a two-piece metal sphere covering his head. Mazzola was handcuffed to chains that were attached to the bed and the floor. “He had done this by request according to the story we were given,” Miller said. “There was an assistant, but that is under investigation.”

According to Miller, there was someone else at the home who helped Mazzola complete these acts, but, had left before he had died.

“It was an unattended death,” Miller said. No one has been charged in his death and Lopez said he expects to close the case by the end of the week.

[DarkSighted]

"B is for Brent, assaulted by bears...."