Just saw that the owner apparently let the animals out and then killed himself. So I think it's safe to put 100% of the blame on him for what's happening now. Everybody else is just picking up the pieces.

Also read that tranquilizing during the dark at night isn't advisable especially considering the large number of animals being dealt with. If it was just one animal then yeah, they probably could have tried tranquilizing, but it probably simply isn't feasible to outfit everybody that is looking for them with a tranquilizer gun on a moment's notice, don't you think?