LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The owner of a southern Indiana zoo is denying new accusations that he removed animals before the state could take them from his property.
Last week, a court appointed the Indianapolis Zoological Society to remove animals from Charlestown's Wildlife in Need and care for them. According to court documents filed Monday, some of the animals on the inventory, including a sloth and monkeys, weren't there when investigators returned to the zoo Sunday.
"Several animals worth approximately $170,000 are missing," Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill during an interview Tuesday. "Some of those animals were found on a neighbor's property, located in a box truck, sealed up with no water, no ventilation, in deplorable conditions."
Stark refutes those accusations. Instead, he said he was asked to crate up some of the animals for the zoo and put them in a box truck on his neighbor's property.
Wildlife in Need in Charlestown, Indiana
"Now, they're wanting to say I was trying to hide them," Stark said. "If I was going to hide the damn thing, do I look like an idiot? I wouldn't have hid them right there in plain sight."
Court documents also accuse Stark of inciting violence towards members of the Indianapolis Zoo during a profanity-laced video posted to Facebook.
"If you've got time to sit here f---ing watching me rant and rave, your a-- should (have) already been out there on my property throwing rocks at them motherf---ers," Stark said, according to the documents.
Stark said he was drunk when he made the video, which lasted more than two hours, and that it was taken out of context.
"You better duck and run you motherf***ers," Stark said in the video. "That doesn't mean duck and run from a fucking bullet. You better duck and run, because I'm coming after your ass. Six, seven, eight times, I specifically stated these are not physical threats."
Hill calls the comments a serious situation.
"We want to make sure that everyone, including the zoo staff, our staff, are safe when they're taking care of the animals," he said.
The state is asking for Stark to return the rest of the missing animals or he will held in contempt of the court order and be put into the custody of the Marion County Sheriff until all animals are removed from the zoo, citing Stark's "extensive history of disobeying court orders."
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