Search Exotic Incidents Database

Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee County Zoo on Thursday announced the death of “Ringo” the harbor seal, a longtime zoo resident. He died on Nov. 26 during surgery, and the zoo said final necropsy results are expected in a few weeks. According to the zoo, Ringo was an estimated 46 years old. He was born in his natural range off the coast of California, and called the Milwaukee County Zoo home for more than four decades.

The zoo said Ringo had a slowly-progressing chronic eye disease in both eyes since 1985. He was essentially blind and used the touch of his whiskers to navigate. Ringo’s right eye ruptured in August, creating a hole in the cornea. The rupture site did not heal, and the zoo team determined the eye needed to be removed due to the risk of infection. He was anesthetized on Nov. 26 and experienced complications during the procedure and was unable to be revived. The zoo said anesthesia on seals can be complex at any age due to their unique anatomy and physiological dive response.

Calgary, Canada – Calgary Zoo officials confirmed on Wednesday that the recent death of a two-year-old gorilla was an accident resulting from human error. Eyare, a female western lowland gorilla, died at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo last week. The zoo’s investigation into the death included internal and external experts, and interviews with staff involved in the incident.

The animal’s death occurred last Tuesday around 9 a.m., when a gorilla care team member intended to activate a door that would separate Eyare from other animals for an individual training session, said Colleen Baird, zoo director of animal care, health and welfare. Eyare had been roaming around and interacting with other gorillas. The worker mistakenly activated the wrong door, resulting in the gorilla being struck by the door and sustaining traumatic head injuries, Baird said.

The gorilla team retrieved Eyare and immediately attempted to use life-saving care, including CPR, but the gorilla died from her injuries shortly after 9:30 a.m.

Zoo officials confirmed the doors were operating correctly at the time of Eyare’s death. The zoo’s gorilla care team will now participate in additional annual training that confirms their ability to use hydraulic doors that are designated for animal use.

Thrasher, TN – A Tennessee woman shot a vervet monkey she said tried to attack her, according to police. The monkey later died from his wounds at the Chattanooga Zoo.

The woman, whose name was not released, went to feed her cats Thursday afternoon in Thrasher, Tennessee, when the monkey approached her and tried to attack her. The woman said she recently had hip surgery and tried to get away from the monkey.  She told police she went to get her shotgun from her house to defend herself.

Officers found the wounded monkey in the driveway and transported it to the Chattanooga Zoo to be treated. A zoo spokesperson said the monkey arrived Thursday evening and was moved into the animal hospital. Unfortunately, due to the severity of the monkey’s wounds, the best course of action for the animal was humane euthanasia,” Jake Cash, the spokesperson for Chattanooga Zoo, confirmed to CBS News.

The Soddy-Daisy Police Department did not say whether the vervet monkey was a pet or if it had an owner, but local media reported the monkey had a collar.

Piedmont, OK – After more than two months of searching, an Oklahoma woman’s pet tortoise was found, only about 100 feet from home. In late August, Cherrie Zaidi put her two African Spur Tortoises, named Phineas and Ferb, outside of their Piedmont, Oklahoma, home, as she usually did. Normally, she explained, she would check on them every couple of hours. One day, she got preoccupied on a phone call. By the time she was able to go look, Ferb had shimmied his way under an area of their fence. From there, a search was on.

It had been nine weeks and four days without Ferb by the time her husband found him about 100 feet into a field behind their home.