Search Exotic Incidents Database

Lily, an 18-year-old female white-handed gibbon, died. Lily and her parents were transferred to the new gibbon habitat at the end of December, after which zoo staff noticed that she was lethargic and wasn’t eating much food. She was returned to her old habitat for several days to see if she would improve, but she did not.

A zebra from a private collection of animals was found dead and had been skinned. The zebra lived in a herd of 113 zebras at Hearst Ranch. Ranch officials believe the zebra fell into a creek and drowned, and was skinned after it was swept into the ocean and washed up on a beach.

A man stole a 2-foot long black pastel python from A to Z Pets by putting the snake in his pants. The python was returned to the pet store five days later by a man who had purchased the snake then heard about the robbery. The thief has not been caught.

A 4.5-foot-long ball python was surrendered to the Hawaii Humane Society as part of the state’s Amnesty Program. Snakes are illegal in Hawaii.

Nikita, a 20-year-old female jaguar, was euthanized due to age-related health issues. Nikita had been treated for age-related issues for the past five years, and in addition to being a cancer survivor, the jaguar recently received three blood transfusions to treat chronic age-related concerns. In the days leading up to her death, staff noticed that she suddenly had trouble moving around and it was determined that her chronic spinal disease had gotten much worse.

AJ, a 28-year-old aardvark, died of heart failure.

Malindi, a 25-year-old Grevy’s zebra, was found unresponsive in her exhibit. Veterinarians discovered she had low blood sugar and neurological issues, and made the decision to euthanize her.

Kimmy, a 41-year-old gibbon, died. She had developed diabetes a few years ago, and her condition was treated with medication and diet. Her medical condition had recently worsened.

A 17-year-old Guam kingfisher, a species which has only 145 members in the entire world, died.

Tilikum, the orca prominently featured in the 2013 documentary Blackfish, died at age 36. He had spent over 33 years in captivity, and been at SeaWorld for more than 25 years. Veterinarians had been treating him for a persistent and complicated bacterial lung infection.