Search Exotic Incidents Database

Gracie, a 17-year-old, 80-pound chimpanzee, escaped from her enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo and roamed freely for 45 minutes, forcing closure of the zoo and evacuation of some 9,000 visitors. It was Gracie’s fourth escape since the chimpanzee habitat opened in 1998. Zookeepers cornered Gracie and fired a tranquilizer dart, but that only grazed her. She returned to the exhibit on her own a short time later. Gracie was involved in a previous incident of 08/02/98.

A 14-year-old girl was mauled by her father’s “pet” tiger while she was inside the cage taking pictures. Her father owned four tigers and after the incident shot and killed all four.

A gorilla named Evelyn escaped from her enclosure and was tranquilized about 45 minutes later. Evelyn never left the Great Apes building, and officials at the time said the public was never in danger.

Three Mexican gray wolves escaped from their exhibit at the Binder Park Zoo by slipping through small hole they created in the chain-link fence around the exhibit. Two of the wolves were quickly recaptured but the third, named Apache, scaled the zoo’s 9-foot-high perimeter fence. Apache was found dead two months later, apparently hit and killed by a train.

Thelma, a 20-year-old, 150-pound orangutan, bit the veterinarian’s hand at the Miami Metrozoo. Thelma, on loan from Oakland Zoo, was being treated for a small foot injury through the bars of her holding area when she grabbed the woman’s arm, pulled it through the bars, and bit down, crushing bones. The veterinarian was treated at Baptist Hospital.

A “pet” 4-year-old African serval escaped and was on the loose. Native to Africa, servals can grow to be 24 inches tall and weigh more than 20 lbs.

Visitors to the Toronto Zoo found themselves face to face with a 330-pound Siberian tiger when gates were left open and the female tiger escaped. The tiger roamed between the high fence of enclosure and the lower fence meant to keep visitors at distance. Zoo workers coaxed her back into the enclosure while others stood by with tranquilizer guns.

A pigtailed macaque monkey bit a 49-year-old man on his left thumb.

Samson, a leopard or jaguar at Charlotte Metro Zoo, while being used in a television commercial for the Carolina Panthers, bit the zoo’s owner. In a separate incident, a cobra used for a Carolina Cobras football team commercial got loose during filming.

A 10-year-old boy was mauled to death by his aunt’s “pet” tiger. The tiger pulled the boy under a fence and into his cage. The tiger was shot and killed. The boy died before he reached the hospital.