Search Exotic Incidents Database

A 32-year-old visitor at the Miller Park Zoo climbed a 4-foot fence to pet a snow leopard. The leopard swiped at the visitor and punctured the skin of the left hand. Zoo staff tracked the trail of blood to the victim who declined to go to the hospital.

A 6-year-old child was in danger of losing her leg due to an attack by two “pet” wolves or wolf-hybrids.

An exotic “pet” serval cat and two “pet” emus were presumably loose on Whidbey Island after the house they resided in burned in an early morning fire.

A “pet” wolf hybrid was recaptured without incident and turned over to the Humane Society.

An 18-month-old “pet” zebra was killed after it escaped and ran onto a suburban highway where it was struck by a vehicle driven by a 70-year-old man.

Two elephants leased by the Hawthorn Corporation to Circus Vazquez rampaged through a church. Two church members were nearly trampled, and children were quickly ushered to safety. The elephants crashed into the church through a glass window, broke and buckled walls and door frames, and knocked a car 15 feet, causing an estimated $75,000 in damages. The elephants suffered cuts and bruises. One of the elephants had rampaged twice before (see 07/10/95 and 05/19/95).

A woman at a bar was bitten by a “pet” monkey on both of her hands which resulted in 16 puncture wounds.

A man bitten by a coral snake was in stable condition after receiving antivenin. It was uncertain how the man was bitten by the snake, but it was presumed that the snake was his “pet.”

A 6-ft-long python was found outside a woman’s home. The snake apparently escaped from his enclosure. This was the third time the snake escaped that week.

A “pet” monkey escaped and was on the loose.