Search Exotic Incidents Database

A serval owned by a woman named Beth Rhines was seized by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. It’s illegal to own a serval in Connecticut. The cat, named Noah, is in state custody at the Beardsley Zoo and Rhines was charged with illegal possession of a dangerous animal.

After being clocked speeding and crashing his car, a man fled on foot with a marmoset on his back. The man was arrested, and the monkey was released to a family member.

Ten animals were removed from Stump Hill Farm, a roadside zoo, after owners failed to comply with permitting requirements under Ohio’s Dangerous Wild Animal Act. The animals including a former Obie — the live tiger mascot for Massillon City Schools — as well as two pumas, two baboons and a chimpanzee.

The animals were transported to the state’s holding facility in Reynoldsburg.

Ali Iyoob was bitten by his pet king cobra and was in critical condition at a hospital, but survived.

Iyoob owned 18 venomous snakes, 16 nonvenomous snakes, one caiman, two turtles, four quail, and four fish, all of which were removed from his home. Possession of dangerous snakes is prohibited in Orange County, and Iyoob pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. He was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and must also pay $4,000 to the state for costs related to snake removal.

Deputies arrested Steven Vanbuskirk after finding methamphetamine and a 24-inch ball python in his backpack.

Travis Treder tried to steal a baby python out of the Animal House Pet Center store by stuffing it down his pants. The owner intervened to recover the snake, and Treder was arrested.

A white ball python fell from a ceiling vent after being loose in Tacoma General Hospital for a month. The owner brought the snake into the hospital in a cat carrier, then lost it.

The snake was given back to the owner.

Animal control and police officers removed six snakes, two alligators, a monitor lizard, and a spider from a home after Jeremy Loveland was admitted to a hospital with a bite from a venomous snake. The animals were owned illegally.

Police said more than two dozen reptiles had previously been removed from Loveland’s home by authorities in 2011 (see https://www.bornfreeusa.org/database/exo_incident.php?id=1651) and 2012 (see https://www.bornfreeusa.org/database/exo_incident.php?id=2395).

A man found a 3-foot-long python in an alleyway and brought it to Animal Control. The snake is not native, and is presumed to have been a pet.

A 5-6 foot long snake, tentatively identified as a non-venomous hog-nose snake by police, was seen in a residential neighborhood. The Department of Natural Resource’s Area Wildlife Supervisor believes it is an escaped pet.