Search Exotic Incidents Database

A firefighter at the Crossett Zoo was bitten on his right hand by Tigger the tiger. The firefighter was inside the fence which separated Tigger’s cage from the rest of zoo when Tigger bit and clamped down for more than 30 seconds. Surgery repaired a deep laceration and the severed tendon of a finger. The tip of the thumb was bitten off but the firefighter had an “excellent chance” to regain full use of the finger.

A 40-lb, 6-1/2-ft-long Asian water monitor escaped from her cage after prying the cage top loose.

Two baby zebras jumped the fence of a traveling circus and made their way down southbound Expressway 83. Trucks with ropes corraled the zebras. Animal Control also set up fences. The zebras were finally herded into the back of a truck. A police officer and an onlooker received scratches when the zebras kicked them. The zebras were treated for wounds.

A man was bitten on the shoulder by one of several poisonous snakes he kept in his apartment. Police confiscated 10 poisonous snakes.

A large cat, likely a cougar, was spotted roaming the neighborhood.

An 80-lb Burmese python, Lurch, escaped his cage and wrapped himself tightly around the leg of his possessor’s mother. Paramedics arrived and freed the woman.

A goral goat antelope discovered a hole in the fence of its exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo and escaped before the zoo opened.

A “pet” piranha attacked and bit a small child on the finger. The child was rushed to the hospital and expected to be fine.

A man was attacked by his “pet” bear.

A “pet” tortoise was found roaming a neighborhood. The reptile was subsequently recaptured and returned to her home.