Search Exotic Incidents Database

A deer gored a 79-year-old man to death while the man was working on a fence. The deer was the man’s “pet.”

A 9-year-old female pygmy hippopotamus died. A necropsy found pulmonary congestion and a buildup of fluid in the hippo’s lungs.

A man was hospitalized and given 10 vials of antivenin after his “pet” cobra bit him in the stomach.

An escaped “pet” capuchin monkey was recaptured after spending the weekend running loose.

Two red pandas were found dead the day after aluminum phosphide pellets, which mix with groundwater to form poison phosphine gas, were buried in their yard. This rat poison resulted in the accidental poisoning of the pandas.

An exotic cat was found along a Florida highway. The cat’s possessor claimed the animal was stolen.

A Suphan cobra bit a zookeeper at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium while being fed a dead rat. The zookeeper, who had 20 years of experience handling reptiles, was reported in stable condition at a local hospital.

A 200-lb “pet” cougar escaped from a family’s backyard, where the “owners” admitted to keeping other exotics like a bear, a tiger, and a baboon.

An elephant escaped an exhibit at a shopping mall after he heard police sirens.

Customs officials at the Los Angeles Airport confiscated four exotic birds and two pygmy monkeys from a California man, Robert Cusack, returning from Thailand. The four birds of paradise were hidden in the man’s luggage and the two monkeys were hidden in the man’s pants. The man was arrested on smuggling charges. The monkeys are listed as a threatened and endangered species. 50 rare orchids were also confiscated. The monkeys were turned over to the LA Zoo.