INSIDE EDITION has a look at new video of the exotic animals with owner Terry Thompson before they were set loose in Zanesville, Ohio. Authorities say Thompson committed suicide after releasing the animals, the majority of which were later killed.
It's your first look inside the animal farm whose owner triggered that shocking massacre in Ohio.
New video shows owner Terry Thompson kissing a grizzly bear, letting a black bear chew on his hand, and petting a camel.
Tragically, most of the animals in the video are dead, shot by deputies who say they had no other choice.
It happened in Zanesville, Ohio, a city of 25,000 people and the birthplace of legendary western writer Zane Grey. Residents have lived in fear of the animals escaping for years. It's been like a ticking time bomb.
Farm caretaker John Moore says he could have rounded up some of the animals himself, but wasn't allowed to try.
"I could put most of those cats away. I mean, you feed them every day, ten below zero and you're out there feeding those cats and watering those cats, they know you and they're willing to do whatever you tell them to do," he said in an interview.
There is also home video shows Thompson's wife, Marian, a middle school teacher.
She has told officials at the Columbus Zoo, where the six surviving animals are being cared for, that she wants the female macaque monkey returned to her.
She told them she slept with the rare monkey every night, and considers her as a child.
Meanwhile, the production company that hired Terry Thompson and his lion cub for a video shoot in New York with Heidi Klum says he handled the animal well.
"We heard about Terry Thompson from his work in movies and commercials and felt he had a great track record," a statement said.
62-year-old Thompson released the animals from their cages, and then killed himself. He owed $67,000 to the IRS and a lien had been put on his property.
