Search Exotic Incidents Database

A black bear cub with Swenson’s Wild Midwest Exotic Petting Zoo was taken to a barnwarming where reportedly it nipped people. The bear died two weeks later of rabies after having potentially infected more than 400 people.

A 13-ft-long “pet” python squeezed its possessor’s 18-month-old son nearly to death after it slithered into the backyard. The boy was bitten in the face and required plastic surgery to repair damage to his eye. An Animal Control officer subsequently destroyed the python.

A “pet” monkey bit a police officer on the leg. The monkey had a history of biting people.

A 12-ft-long “pet” snake escaped from its home and was found in the neighbor’s yard.

A “pet” monkey escaped from his cage by chewing a rope used to hold the cage door shut and roamed the neighborhood. The monkey jumped on a 13-year-old boy’s leg, scratching him. The monkey then bit a police officer and pulled the hair of another before he was recaptured.

An employee at SeaWorld Orlando found a 27 year old man dead and naked on the back of a killer whale, Tillikum. The man apparently snuck in after dark and got in the pool with Tillikum and drowned. This same orca was involved in a death of a trainer in 1991 at the Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia and again in 2010.

Dusty, a terrier dog, was attacked by a 12-ft-long snake in his backyard. Authorities believed the snake was a “pet” that escaped from its cage. Dusty was not seriously injured. A neighbor subsequently shot the snake.

A “pet” python escaped from its possessor’s home. The python was subsequently found later the same day.

A tiger at the Safari Zoological Park bit a woman when she stuck her arm inside the cage. The woman was hospitalized for injuries and received rabies shots.

A 6-ft-long monitor lizard was on the loose in a residential neighborhood. Police shot the lizard. It was suspected the reptile was someone’s “pet.”