Search Exotic Incidents Database

A snake-handling pastor who appeared on a National Geographic television show died after being bitten by one of the rattle snakes he used to perform during his services. Paramedics were called later to his home, but he refused services and dies later that night. Poisonous snakes are used at his congregation to prove their unwaivering faith. His son told authorities that his dad had been bitten 8 times prior to the one that killed him.

Authorities arrested a Connecticut mom and took away her pet marmoset after it scratched the woman’s 10-year old daughter. State law prohibits residents from owning primates that weigh more than 50 pounds. The woman was charged with illegal possession of an exotic or dangerous animal. The marmoset was confiscated.

A inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed that an adult spider monkey had lost tissue on his back toes, exposing bone. Additionally, an adult male Hamadryas baboon had a lesion on his genitals, and an adult male Western baboon had a lesion on his finger. An adult male rhesus macaque was not using his right arm while he walked, and kept it tucked in close to his body.

An employee at an Ohio Car dealership was bitten by a customer’s pet spider monkey when he reached in to pet him. The man in charge of the monkey did not have a permit to own an exotic pet and it was not clear to whom the monkey belonged. The man and his twin brother had previously been arrested for being in possession of stolen gibbons. The spider monkey that bit the dealership employee was euthanized and tested for rabies.

Several Manatee County residents have been reporting monkey sightings. The monkey has not been caught.

Zookeepers exhibited three tiger cubs without any distance or barriers between the animals and the public, and two members of the public were injured by tigers.

Zoo owner Tim Stark slapped tiger cubs who bit customers’ clothing.

A baby sugar glider still nursing from her mother was stolen from a pet shop.

A woman was hospitalized at the Survival Outreach Sanctuary when she sustained a serious eye injury after being gored by a deer. The injured woman is the sister of the owner of the sanctuary. This is the same sanctuary whose lion escaped the week before.

A peacock escaped his pen at a petting zoo and froze to death.