Search Exotic Incidents Database

A female giant panda wandered out of its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo and bit one of its keepers. The keeper was treated at a local hospital, but the name and extent of injuries were not released.

A Capuchin monkey escaped and was found 2 days later in a neighbor’s tree. The possessor claimed that the monkey escaped during a break-in of her home. The possessor, who possessed the proper license for the monkey, was able to coax the monkey down and into a cage.

An Indian gaur, a type of wild cow, escaped its enclosure at the Zoo Miami and entered into the dromedary camel exhibit. The camels got stressed, started running around, and one elderly female camel fell down and sustained injuries. The gaur was corralled and returned to its enclosure. The camel was later euthanized due to her injuries sustained in the fall.

Yin, a red panda, collapsed and fell from a branch attached to her house. She was treated by the zoo’s on-site veterinary clinic but didn’t survive.

State wildlife agents confiscated four monkeys, 3 marmosets and a patas monkey, from a TX woman and FL man, who were subsequently convicted of cruelty to the monkeys who they dressed up as pirates and brought on to Bourbon Street in New Orleans before Mardi Gras, and for not obtaining permits. The woman claimed that the monkeys were service animals, which the state didn’t buy. The judge ordered them to forfeit the monkeys to the state of LA. Upon confiscation, the monkeys had diaper rashes and diarrhea.

The Houston SPCA seized ore than 300 domestic and exotic aimals from a ranch in Coyrell County, TX from deplorable conditions. The animals included 200 dogs, 40 puppies, 1 tamarin, 2 Bengal tigers, 2 mountain lions, 18 domestic cats, 5 birds, 1 lizard, 10 rodents, 1 deer, 1 raccoon and more than 30 horses and donkeys. Dead animals were alson found on the property.

A pet albino cobra snake bit a 25-year old New Jersey man sending him to a hospital in critical condition. The man was in possession of the cobra, a copperhead, and a rattlesnake. The incident is under investigation and the snakes were turned over to the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife.

A pet capuchin monkey bit and scratched a human care-giver and escaped from his cage and was later euthanized to test for rabies. The monkey was being kept in violation of a county ordinance prohibiting residents from owning exotic animals.

A 12-15 foot python weighing 150-200 pounds was captured behind a residential apartment complex. It was not known whether the snake escaped or was released intentionally.

Animal services officers captured a 5-foot long Monitor lizard wandering around a condo complex. Officers thought the lizard is an escaped pet.