The mass execution of 48 exotic animals on Tuesday evening has caused outcry from animal lovers across the country and now the mayor of Zanesville, Ohio, is getting hate mail wrongly blaming him for the killings, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.

"I’ve had a lot of people calling and complaining, and some really nasty e-mails," Mayor Howard ‘Butch’ Zwelling told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Terry Thompson opened the cages and gates of the 56 exotic animals that he kept on his ranch -- including bears, cheetahs, wolves, lions, camels, giraffes and a white Siberian tiger -- prior to giving himself a fatal, self-inflicted gun shot wound.

An autopsy revealed that within a minute of his death he was bitten on the head by a large cat, most likely a Bengal tiger.

The owner of the 48 wild animals, who reportedly released them from their cages and menageries before killing himself, was well-known by many in the town, and RadarOnline.com has new insight into Terry Thompson, the man behind the great escape.

"He was an unusual fella," Zanesville, Ohio Mayor Howard ‘Butch’ Zwelling told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview. "I thought he had a few exotic animals but I was astonished to find out he had 48.

"I never considered him a menace, but if I'd known that he had that many then I might have thought he was," Zwelling revealed to RadarOnline.com.