ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The owner of an exotic animal preserve who committed suicide after freeing dozens of lions, tigers and other beasts owed tens of thousands in unpaid taxes, and a fellow big-cat enthusiast said that he had taken in so many creatures he was “in over his head.”

A day after sheriff’s deputies with high-powered rifles killed nearly 50 animals set free by Terry Thompson, the sheriff refused to speculate why he did it. Meanwhile, neighbors and friends questioned why Thompson — a man who seemed to like animals more than people — would send his animals to their doom.

Thompson was mired in debt. Court records show that he and his wife owed at least $68,000 in unpaid taxes to the IRS and the county, and he had two federal tax liens filed against him last year. He had just gotten out of federal prison last month for possessing unregistered weapons.

Kenny Hetrick, who has six tigers and other animals on his property outside Toledo, said Thursday he used to see Thompson at exotic-animal auctions a few times a year in Ohio. Many of Thompson’s tigers had been donated to him by people who bought baby animals that they no longer wanted, Hetrick said.

“He really had more there than what he could do,” Hetrick said. “I don’t know what his deal was, but he was in over his head.”

On Tuesday, Thompson, 62, opened the cages at his animal preserve and then killed himself. His body was found near the empty cages with a bite on the head that appeared to have been inflicted by a big cat shortly after Thompson shot himself, Sheriff Matt Lutz said. It appeared his body had been dragged a short distance, Lutz said.

Deputies killed 48 animals — including 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions and eight bears. Only a monkey was still missing, and it was likely killed by one of the cats, Lutz said.

Thompson had run-ins with his neighbors and the law over escaped animals and conditions at his preserve. But whether he acted out of desperation or vengeance in setting the animals loose was unclear.