Search Exotic Incidents Database

A man performing as Santa Claus was bitten by a bobcat-type cat during a photo event at a local PetSmart store. Santa suffered bites to the wrist and hand and had to undergo a series of rabies shots as the possessor of the cat disappeared after the incident.

Police confiscated two Columbian red-tailed boa constrictors from two local residents. A city ordinance prohibits most residents from keeping “exotic” animals, except under certain conditions. The snakes were turned over to Kalamazoo County Animal Control.

Zoo Nebraska lost its federal license and tried to sell or give away its exotic animals. The zoo was closed since September 2005 when three chimpanzees escaped and had to be shot.

Residents reported seeing a very large black leopard or similar cat near Schaefer Road in Keene. It was believed that the cat either escaped from a local resident or was turned loose.

Rocky, a 700-lb grizzly bear, killed his trainer with one bite to the neck. Fire department officials who responded attempted to revive the man but were unsuccesful. Subsequent reports stated that authorities did not plan to euthanize Rocky.

Dozens of animals. including a wallaby and a fennec fox owned by A Zoo to You petting zoo were killed in an early morning barn fire.

County commissioners granted six months to an exotic pet “owner” to upgrade his facility to full compliance with county codes. The facility housed two African servals and other large cats.

A district court judge signed a temporary restraining order blocking state wildlife officials from seizing a 550-lb Siberian-Bengal tiger named Tony from the Tiger Truck Stop. The possessor attempted to have the Iberville Parish Council amend a 1993 ordinance that prevented him from getting a state permit needed to keep Tony.

An 18-year-old tiger named India escaped her enclosure at the Black Pine Animal Park but returned the next morning.

A man jumped into the Black Rhino enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo and was cited for violating a park code making it illegal to bother, harass, chase, or throw things at zoo animals.