Search Exotic Incidents Database

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden announced that 3-year-old Amali, a bonobo baby, has died.

“This loss comes after a week of supportive care, due to a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreak within the bonobo troop,” reads the announcement on the zoo’s website.

Like human babies, bonobo babies are also incredibly susceptible to RSV and secondary infections that can happen alongside the virus. The zoo did not say how many bonobos may have been affected by the RSV outbreak, or how many have gotten sick from the virus.

Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona, has closed its bird enclosures after discovering the presence of bird flu, which has claimed the life of at least two birds thus far.

Reid Park Zoo announced that they received positive avian influenza test results for three of the birds in its care.

As a safety measure, both of the Zoo’s aviaries are closed to the public until further notice.

An African elephant named Jana, formerly kept at Zoo Knoxville, has died following a rapid health decline at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

The health decline progressed rapidly in October when she fell and could not get up. Although she received immediate care from the sanctuary’s emergency response team, who helped her stand, she began showing more weakness and less interest in essential activities. The sanctuary decided to euthanize her.

An Illinois community in Decatur is on edge as a wild cat, an African serval, is at-large.

According to a Facebook post, the Macon County Animal Control said they are working with an exotic animal rescue to capture the serval.

Momo the monkey has been captured by authorities after “running rampant” for the night in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Momo, a male patas monkey kept as a pet, had broken into a vacant home in the Irongate Estates. The police trapped him inside a bathroom by shutting the doors. This wasn’t his first escape – apparently, Momo had previously escaped his enclosure back in July.

Since the escape, Momo has been turned over to Indianapolis Animal Care Services. He is currently being held under Chapter 531 at the Indianapolis Zoo for veterinary care. Prosecutors are looking further into potential charges, though a permit is not required to own a monkey in Indianapolis.

A 2-year-old boy was bitten by a monkey at the Bow Champs Exotic Petting Zoo in Hidalgo County, Texas. The boy’s mother said that their fun that day ended when her son approached the cage containing Chicharo, the zoo’s vervet monkey.

“The monkey was able to reach out, grab him by the neck, pull him in and bite him right above his eyebrow,” she said, adding that she and her husband immediately grabbed their son and washed his wounds with soap and water.

Petting zoo employees were not around when the attack happened, and the handler later assured her the monkey was vaccinated. “We still felt uneasy, we were not comfortable.”

Sanchez later found out the monkey was not fully vaccinated. She paid $250 to get monkey’s blood tested; those results are still pending.

Bow Champs Petting Zoo Tour Guide Jorge Garcia said this isn’t the first time Chicharo has hurt a customer.

Three employees, including the president, have been charged with animal cruelty at Noah’s Ark sanctuary. They are facing several misdemeanor charges.

The court alleges that the president of the facility, Shelly Lackly, failed to provide food, water, and sanitary conditions to several animals.

If convicted, each misdemeanor charge carries up to one year in prison. We hope that justice will be served accordingly, and that the animals will receive better care in the future.

The NYPD has ticketed a man who was found walking the Coney Island boardwalk with a wallaby in his arms. The police confiscated the wallaby and issued a court summons for the 22-year-old man

The Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport says a 4-year-old Brazilian ocelot named “Pipoca” has died suddenly due to complications from artificial insemination surgery.

The zoo says the surgery was intended to help the ocelot get pregnant.