September 8, 2009 Elmira Heights, NY A 10-ft-long python snake escaped her possessor. Police charged a 20-year-old man with two counts of having an exotic pet without proper permits. Police cautioned residents not to touch the snake if they found her but to call the authorities immediately. Reptiles
August 31, 2009 Vancouver, WA Clark County officials searched for a small alligator spotted in the area. They theorized that someone kept the alligator as a “pet” and simply released her to the wild. Reptiles
August 30, 2009 South Bend, IN South Bend authorities reported that a big cat was spotted on the city’s east side near the Potawatomi Zoo. The cat was not one of the zoo’s animals, according to reports. The cat eluded the police and was not captured. Small Cats
August 29, 2009 Indianapolis, IN A 37-year old man was bitten by his pet kinkajou. The kinkajou was severely ill when the man was bitten and died shortly after the bite. The man was hospitalized and treated for blastomycosis, a fungal infection which causes pneumonia, disseminated infection, or rarely, cutaneous disease due to the bite. Other
August 29, 2009 Indianapolis, IN A 9-year-old pet kinkajou named Mynah became very ill, and bit her owner on the finger shortly before dying. A month later, his finger had swollen and his joints locked up. Tests revealed that he had a fungal infection called blastomycosis. He was treated and recovered. Other
August 27, 2009 Myrtle Beach, FL A man who received citation in March 2009 for keeping a hyena in his backyard agreed not to return the hyena to the city limits. Other
August 25, 2009 Glennwood Springs, CO Owners of a self-storage facility emptied several units searching for what a man described as a python snake resting on boxes inside his unit. The snake was not found. Authorities believed it could have been a bull snake and not a python. Reptiles
August 21, 2009 Leggett, TX A Texas man was required to relinquish two of his three Asian elephants — 40-year-old Jewel and 39-year-old Tina. The man would continue to keep the remaining elephant, Boo. Tina and Jewel were deemed to be dangerously underweight. The man agreed to pay a $3,000 fine in exchange for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropping complaints against him for not having proper purchasing permits for the pair. Tina and Jewel were transported to an undisclosed zoo. Elephants
August 20, 2009 Hollywood, FL A cable TV worker was bitten by a snake that officials feared might be an exotic snake. The Miami-Dade Venom Response Unit needed to know the species before administering antivenin. Reptiles
August 20, 2009 Denver, CO A 12-year-old gorilla named Charlie pushed through the wire mesh of his interior holding area into another service area for about three minutes before walking back to his enclosure. Primates