Search Exotic Incidents Database

A 3-ft-long alligator was found in a creek frightening nearby neighbors. Since alligators are not native to Maryland and it is illegal to own them in the state, it was suspected that the animal was released or escaped from its “owner.”

A 2-year-old white Siberian tiger named Como knocked a pin out of his gate and attacked a 7-year-old girl at B.E.A.R.C.A.T. Hollow animal park. The facility’s owner got the cat to let go of the girl. The girl suffered a half-inch bite and torn skin on her back. Como was euthanized to test for rabies; he tested negative.

A tiger at B.E.A.R.C.A.T. Hollow pushed his way out of his pen and grabbed a 7-year-old girl, inflicting two puncture wounds. The park was closed to the public but the girl and her mother were allowed in to take fundraising pictures.

A “pet” wallaby escaped from his possessor’s lawn by digging his way under a fence. Wallabies are not allowed to be kept in Denver.

A man was bitten by his “pet” Asiatic spitting cobra and flown to a Florida hospital for antivenin.

A “pet” iguana escaped through a dryer vent and roamed through the neighborhood.

A 3-ft-long alligator was discovered in a retention pond across the street from a water park. The police suspected that the alligator was an exotic “pet” of a private “owner” that escaped or was abandoned.

Rusty, a 31-year-old orangutan, died after suffering from a pneumonia-like lung infection for more than four years. Surgeons removed the Rusty’s infected right lung, but he died 26 hours later of heart failure and endotoxic shock related to the infection.

An iguana was found hiding in a tree for almost a month before animal catchers were able to capture it. It was believed that the iguana was someone’s “pet.”

Frightened by a falling water drum, an elephant ran out of the bathing area at the Denver Zoo and knocked over a baby stroller before being recaptured. The baby was treated at a local hospital and released.