Tragedy-If they could Talk

Um, so I heard about the massacre of animals from one of my friends posts on facebook. I read about it. It's horrible. I have mixed feelings.
The killing of ALL those animals is just completely wretched. But the nasty icing on the cake is that 18 of them were endangered Bengal tigers! Endangered! As in so few, there are close to extinction. As in just a few left in the WORLD! Not just the United States.
According to the World Wildlife Foundation, there are about 3,200 tigers left in the wild. About 1,850 are Bengal Tigers. This is just an estimate and they noted that accurate estimates from countries other than Nepal or India aren't available. That's all! 1,850!
It's a tragedy that these animals were killed. Since my first exposure, I've heard about it on the radio and read a different news account of it. The radio guy posed a question-was this guy selling the animals?
This to me is a legitimate question. Why would a person have all those animals in the first place? As far as I know, it's not a zoo. It's not a rehabilitation center that partnered with a zoo. They were not in the circus as far as I know. So-why have these animals?
I have a number of questions I'd like to ask, if there was actually a person who could answer them.
1. How were these animals treated? Were they provided for appropriately? Hmm...there is a report that the owner was cited for animal abuse and neglect.
2. How did the owner afford to care for these animals?
3. What laws were broken? Were any laws broken?
4. Who was allowed to care for the animals?
5. What training did the owner have to even make it plausible for him to care for these animals?
In my opinion-it was a dumb idea to have all these animals in the first place, assuming the owners/caretakers were just common people with no training.
Furthermore-to set them free! OK, obviously, the poor guy-yes I do feel somewhat sorry for him, was out of his mind. He had all these animals. He set them free! He killed himself. What a great idea to endanger his entire community and the rest of the nation. The nation might be a little extreme but honestly-you never know how fast and how far an animal can travel. It was just highly ill-conceived, irresponsible, and senseless to just set the animals free! If he didn't want them anymore all he had to do was turn them over to a reliable care center, authorities, or someone! I just don't think they needed to die!
Instead, the police officers came ill-prepared with no tranquilizers and had to shoot all those animals! I feel for the officers as it does seem they had no choice and their jobs are to protect the public. The deputy sherrif that was interviewd by ABC news does seem regretful and remorseful for the duty done, but also feels a sense of obligation to serve and protect. He didn't have much choice. But, I just wonder if maybe some of the animals could have been saved if they were better prepared. I also wonder if quite frankly, shooting them, is just much easier. I'm sure they were scared out of their minds because I would be, and killing an animal is ensuring your safety but did it kind of just become like a mob-mentality? Where, they just shot because the animals are big and dangerous but perhaps not ALL of them were actually being dangerous. I'm sure I will never know.
In my opinion, this massacre was a total tragedy. No one won. Yes, no one was hurt except for the owner that commited suicide but it's just heartbreaking for all those animals.
I also wonder about the health of these animals. One monkey is rumored to have a virus that is very dangerous to humans, what about the rest of them. Perhaps the rest of them were infected and that is why he let those loose. An even more reckless thought.
Another thought-the wife of the man who set them free and killed himself, Oh, how she must be feeling. I wonder if she has the support of the community or has been ostracized. I wonder, to what extent, she's mourning. I want to know what all she knows about those animals and their care. If animals could talk, I'd love to hear their story-at least the 6 that are still living. the 49 that are dead, well, they're story won't be told now.
My little animal rights statement: Animals don't have a voice. We, responsible humans, need to express their voice and fight for their rights.
My final, last opinion on all this, I'm not sure the slaying of all these animals will be justified in any way by passing legislation on the rules and regulations of owning "exotic pets."