April 11, 2007 San Diego, CA A 35 year old trainer at SeaWorld suffered minor injuries when a killer whale knocked her off of the wall she was sitting on causing her to hit her head. Marine
December 31, 2007 North Fort Myers, FL A young zebra jumped out of the back of a moving trailer and crossed US 41, running into the Heron’s Glen Community before being recaptured by a local Animal Control officer. The zebra suffered injuries. Workers employed by the Shell Factory Zoo declined to disclose where the zebra was being transported. Other
December 25, 2007 Dallas, TX A young male tiger was found shot to death along Interstate 35 near Dallas. Officials received an anonymous tip and found the tiger lying on the road. The tiger wore a collar and leash and had been shot five times. The tiger was taken to the Dallas Zoo where a necropsy showed that he had been in good health at the time of his death. State and federal officials were investigating. Big Cats
December 25, 2007 San Francisco, CA Tatiana, a Siberian tiger, escaped from her enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. She killed one visitor and mauled two others before being shot and killed by police officers. The zoo was closed temporarily out of respect for the victims and an investigation was undertaken to determine how Tatiana escaped. Her enclosure had been fortified following an attack on a zookeeper in 2006, and had only been re-opened since September. In that 2006 incident, Tatiana seriously injured a zookeeper during a regular afternoon publicly viewed feeding. The zoo was later ruled responsible for that incident by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), who blamed the incident on poor training and the way the tiger enclosure was designed. (see previous incident of 12/22/06) Big Cats
December 22, 2007 Hollywood, CA Actress Christina Ricci told Parade Magazine that she had to face her primate fear recently as she co-starred with a monkey, Willie, in the upcoming movie, Speed Racer. The monkey freaked out and grabbed her left breast. Her co-actors eventually helped remove the monkey. Primates
December 18, 2007 Zeeland , MI A resident of Holland Township was shocked to find the body of an armadillo lying on the road. It was suspected that the armadillo was someone’s “pet” as armadillos are not native to Michigan. Other
December 13, 2007 Olympia , WA The landlord of a local duplex found an American alligator abandoned in a small aquarium. The occupants were recently evicted. Animal Services officials attempted to place the alligator in an animal refuge in Anacortes called Predators of the Heart. The alligator was second such animal taken in by Animal Services. Reptiles
December 7, 2007 Rockville, MD A Montgomery County judge overruled a county animal board and ordered that a “pet” monkey named Armani, seized from a Rockville woman in May, be returned to her. The judge also ordered police to reimburse thousands of dollars the woman incurred to have a zoo in Thurmond care for the monkey. Primates
December 3, 2007 Acton, CA The 40-year-old caretaker at Tippi Hedren’s Shambala Preserve was attacked and mauled by a tiger as he was cleaning the big cat’s enclosure, leaving him in critical condition with multiple bites, according to a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman. Big Cats
December 2, 2007 Hildebran, NC A store clerk tried to pet a monkey belonging to a patron of the Family Food Mart and was attacked and bitten on her right cheek. The monkey’s possessor said that the monkey had all his shots and then quickly left the store. The clerk received treatment at an area hospital and was put on strong antibiotics. The local sheriff’s office was investigating the incident. Primates