August 23, 2003 Thurston County, WA A black bear escaped from his home and was later recaptured. This was the fourth time the bear had escaped. Bears
August 23, 2003 Everett, WA A python was found in Everett’s Silver Lake. It was suspected that the snake was someone’s “pet.” Reptiles
August 20, 2003 Tuscarawas County, OH A gray fox wearing a collar was spotted alongside a road. The fox had been kept in a ferret cage. Other
August 18, 2003 Whetstone Township, OH A “pet” mountain lion escaped his home and attacked and injured a neighbor’s dog. The dog was rushed to a vet hospital with more than 100 lacerations, where he was treated and released. Big Cats
August 14, 2003 St. Louis, MO Halala, a female cheetah at the St. Louis Zoo, used vines to climb halfway up the 10-foot moat wall and leap over it to freedom. After only 20 minutes, Halala was herded back into her enclosure without incident. Big Cats
August 12, 2003 Town and Country, FL A man who was bitten six times on his forearm and wrist by his “pet” mamba was rushed to the hospital. The man also possessed 26 poisonous snakes and 4 small crocodiles in his mobile home where four small children also resided. Reptiles
August 6, 2003 Chicago, IL A “pet” rhesus monkey escaped from her home after she opened the cage latch and window and climbed out. She was subsequently recaptured in a stairwell. Primates
August 5, 2003 Milwaukee, WI During a Siberian tiger act at UniverSoul Circus, the tigers seemed unwilling to obey commands from their trainer, the only person in the cage with them. The tigers do perform some tricks, along with some errant behavior and several threatening swipes at the trainer. Big Cats