A dead lion lays by the fence on Terry Thompson's farm near Zanesville Ohio (Pic: AP)

Police are still hunting more than eight "aggressive big cats" including tigers, lions and cheetahs after dozens of wild animals escaped from an Ohio animal farm.

Residents were urged to stay indoors for their own protection and schools were closed as officers with a shoot-to-kill order hunted the animals, which included wolves and bears, last night.

A total of 25 animals were shot dead by police before they switched to tranquilizer guns this morning.

Brown bear (Pic: Getty Images)

A brown bear

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz speaks to the media about exotic animals loose (Pic: AP)

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz at the press conference (Pic: AP)

One of them was a bear that attacked a law enforcement officer, Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, told ABC News.

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said: "There are 30-35 animals accounted for and may be more on the property."

Kim Hambel, director of operations for the Muskingham County Sheriff's Department, told CNN. "We're still concerned about animals that are out.

"We sent a deputy, a wildlife officer and a vet into the property to do a search and recovery. We think we still have 14 to 15 animals unaccounted for."

The alarm was raised by local residents who spotted the wild animals roaming free and dialled 911.

When police arrived at Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, east-central Ohioences, they found fences had been left unsecured and the animals' cages open. The owner Terry Thompson was lying dead nearby.

The caretaker told authorities the preserve's 48 animals had been fed on Monday. He said police were patrolling the 40-acre farm and the surrounding areas in cars, not on foot, and were concerned about big cats and bears hiding in the dark and in trees.

Officers said bears and wolves were among 25 escaped animals that had been shot and killed and there were multiple sightings of exotic animals along a nearby highway.

Speaking at the time Sheriff Lutz said: "These are wild animals that you would see on TV in Africa.

"This is a bad situation. It's been a situation for a long time.

"We don't know how much of a head start these animlas have had on us.

"We've got a list compiled...mainly there were grizzly bears and black bears. There were cheetahs, lions and tigers.

"Those are the primary things that we would be concerned with. Any kind of cat species and any kind of bear species is what we're mainly concerned about.

"The main concern, obviously, are the cats and bears.

"We have had two reports of a bear and a wolf - we think that there were three or four wolves."

Mr Lutz said four deputies with assault rifles in a pickup truck went to the animal farm, where they found the Mr Thompson dead.

He wouldn't say how Thompson died but said several aggressive animals were near his body when deputies arrived and had to be shot.

Mr Thompson, who lived on the property, had orangutans and chimps in his home, but those were still in their cages, Mr Lutz said.

The deputies, who saw many other animals standing outside their cages and others that had escaped past the fencing surrounding the property, began shooting them on sight. They said there had been no reports of injuries among the public.