Search Exotic Incidents Database

A 1-year-old “pet” vervet (African green monkey) bit and scratched a child. The vervet had previously bitten a child.

A komodo dragon bit and crushed the big toe of Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, while Bronstein was inside the animal’s cage on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Los Angeles Zoo. Bronstein was hospitalized for emergency surgery to reattach severed tendons.

A crested capuchin monkey squeezed through a small opening in its cage and wandered into the public area of the Los Angeles Zoo for about an hour. All patrons were removed from the area until the monkey was recaptured.

Monkeys escaped from their cages at the Austin Zoo and attacked a woman visitor, biting and scratching her. The woman received stitches and a tetanus shot.

A “pet” mountain lion escaped from her enclosure and was seen roaming the neighborhood. The lion was recaptured and returned to her enclosure.

A 10-ft-long python escaped from his homemade glass cage and crawled into the bed of a 5-year-old boy. The snake clamped onto the boy’s hand and coiled around his arm. The boy was treated for bruising and fang cuts.

Four “pet” Alaskan wolves escaped from their enclosure and attacked a neighbor woman. The wolves tore her clothes, but she escaped injury.

A 4-year-old boy was mauled to death by a wolf-hybrid. The wolf-hybrid bit the boy several times and severed his jugular vein.

A chimp owned by a private farm near Festus went on a rampage and was shot by a teenage boy trying to defend his friends. The chimp’s son, Travis, would also go on a rampage and critically injure and permanently disfigure a woman, Charla Nash, on 2/17/2009 in Conneticut.

Three chimpanzees wandered out from behind an unlocked fence at ChimParty, a facility that rented primates for parties and commercials. One chimp was shot by a neighbor who felt threatened by the animals; the chimpwas later euthanized.