Search Exotic Incidents Database

A 2-year-old male giraffe, Makonnen, died in a barn fire at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. He was inside his stall for the night, which did not have access to an outside yard. Fortunately, two female giraffes were able to escape the fire to the adjacent corral and survive unharmed. Fire officials later determined that the fire resulted from a malfunctioning electrical outlet.

A gibbon at the Nashville Zoo, named Dixon, escaped from his habitat by jumping onto the shoulders of a keeper who was leaving the exhibit, and then leaping from there to a wooded area outside the enclosure. Zoo visitors were hurried to safety and remained protected until Dixon could be coaxed back into his habitat. He was then kept in “lockdown” while zookeepers determined how to prevent a repeat escape.

A family captured a stray African serval cat after he escaped from his possessor on 08/31/07. The local sheriff returned the cat to his possessor but was checking with the DNR to confirm that the possessor was properly licensed.

Animal Control offiers captured a 2-ft-long cayman after passersby noticed him crossing a road. The cayman was transferred to the Michigan Humane Soceity in Rochester Hills. White Lake Township police continued to investigate where the reptile came from.

Sheriff’s detectives entered pet store in 110-degree heat where 160 exotic reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates were without food, water, and air conditioning for three weeks. Scores of animals died. The 23-year-old pet shop owner told investigators he ran into financial difficulty and power to store was cut off on 08/03/07. He was later charged with 126 counts of animal cruelty. See 9/20/07.

Suffolk County SPCA officials rescued two alligators from a Centerport man who supposedly purchased them in Pennsylvania. The alligators were sent to a licensed reptile sanctuary in a neighboring state.

Reggie, the Los Angeles Zoo’s 7-1/2-foot, 114-pound alligator escaped from his enclosure by scaling a 5-foot wall adjacent to a chain-link fence. He was found near a loading dock and returned to his habitat without incident. Reggie had followed a path that led him past a zoo gift shop. Fortunately he was found just prior to the zoo’s scheduled opening time. Corrective measures were taken to keep Reggie from scaling the wall again. Reggie was believed to be an abandoned ex-pet, whose owner dumped him in a lake after he grew too large. He had eluded capture at the lake for two years prior to May 2007 when he was finally corralled, and later brought to the Los Angeles Zoo.

Two endangered Mexican gray wolves escaped their enclosure at the Phoenix Zoo for about 2 hours, after strong storm wind gusts forced open a gap in the locked metal enclosure gate. Park rangers secured the zoo’s 50 visitors in a nearby gift shop. Rangers opened the enclosure gate, allowing one wolf to re-enter on her own. They then netted and tranquilized the second wolf. Visitors and wolves were unharmed.

Tanzy, a 49-year-old African elephant, died at the Abilene Zoo. She had been receiving treatment with Xanax for stress, along with ibuprofen for arthritis-related comfort.

A couple’s rare white-bellied caique was killed by a 4-ft-long python. The rare female bird was nesting in her cage when the snake entered the cage and fatally constricted the bird. The couple contacted a zoo herpetologist who took possession of the snake.