Search Exotic Incidents Database

A 400-lb “pet” Bengal tiger bit his owner, Antoine Yates, on the arm, sending the man to the hospital. The tiger and an alligator were confiscated from the possessor’s apartment. Yates was sentenced on 10/07/04 to five months in jail for reckless endangerment.

During a magic show at the Mirage Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy was mauled by Montecore, a 7-year-old, 600-lb white tiger. When Montecore latched onto Horn’s arm, Horn tapped Montecore on the head with the microphone. The audience of 1,500 watched Montecore drag Horn offstage by the neck. The attack opened an artery in Horn’s neck. Show workers set off fire extinguishers backstage to distract the tiger. Horn remained in critical but stable condition at University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Thelma, a 20-year-old, 150-pound orangutan, bit the veterinarian’s hand at the Miami Metrozoo. Thelma, on loan from Oakland Zoo, was being treated for a small foot injury through the bars of her holding area when she grabbed the woman’s arm, pulled it through the bars, and bit down, crushing bones. The veterinarian wa treated at Baptist Hospital.

Little Joe, a 5-foot-tall, 300-pound gorilla, escaped from his cage at the Franklin Park Zoo by scaling a 10-foot-wide, 12-foot-deep moat, getting past electric wire, and leaving the zoo grounds just before closing. During the escape, Little Joe attacked an 18-year-old woman, throwing her several feet in air, stepping on her, dragging her, and biting her on her back. The woman was holding a 2-year-old girl who was snatched out of her arms and slammed to the ground. The child, whose front teeth were pushed back, was hospitalized after doctors stitched up her head. Little Joe was found two hours later, sitting at a bus stop, and was recaptured using tranquilizer darts as a crowd of more than 100 people watched. This was Little Joe’s second escape from the zoo this year.

A “pet” timber wolf bit an 8-year-old child on the left calf.

An escaped South African caracal cat was recaptured by an Animal Control officer after a confrontation with a German Shepherd dog.

A cougar was spotted roaming a wooded area in the township. The cat was suspected to be a cougar and someone’s escaped or set-free “pet.”

A 7-ft-long python escaped from its home and was found slithering in the front yard of a South Everett man’s home.

Lowell, a 300-pound, 19-year-old orangutan, escaped the confines of his cage at the Seneca Park Zoo and embraced a volunteer cleaning his area. The volunteer tried to slip out, but Lowell picked him up and carried him down a passageway before finally climbing back into his cage and pushing the volunteer out. The facility was locked down, all visitors were evacuated, and an ambulance called. The zoo reopened shortly after the incident.

A black bear escaped from an exotic animal collection. It took deputies more than an hour to get him back to his cage. Neighbors said this was the fourth time the bear had escaped from the man who had many other exotic animals, including a Bengal tiger, a cougar, and an alligator.