Search Exotic Incidents Database

A leopard at the San Francisco Zoo attacked and mauled a zookeeper, causing deep wounds to the man’s neck.

Babe, a 36 year old elephant died of suspected kidney failure. Her calf also died stillborn last month after a stalled labor and Caesarian section on April 23. Babe would’ve been the oldest elephant to be bred and become a first-time mother in a No American zoo.

A leopard at a petting zoo bit a 7-year-old visitor.

Laurie Stober, a 25-year-old zookeeper was offering a grape to a caged polar bear when it pushed its teeth through the bars and grabbed her fingers. The bear chewed up her right arm almost to the elbow before biting it off and freeing her.

She survived and received reconstructive surgery, and the incident led to a lawsuit, a trial, and allegations that the zoo ignored danger warnings from Stober and other staff.

A rampaging elephant named Jo-Jo at Lion Country Safari gored a handler with her tusks after the animal lifted the man with her trunk, spun him around, and threw him twice to the ground after being disciplined. The handler survived after emergency surgery. The elephant later died when she was sedated to be moved to isolation.

An elephant at the San Francisco Zoo pushed an elephant keeper into the moat, causing him to suffer a fractured back.