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These stories are from 2003-2008.  There are quite a few, so a search for keyword may be helpful. 

 

For news about Big Cat Rescue go HERE

 

Daily updates about Big Cat Rescue, the sanctuary, our coverage of field work and news about big cats around the world are on our web log page.  Click BLOG

 

For a list of incidents in FL including other dangerous exotic animals go HERE

For an Excel sheet of incidents by state, by year, by species and by country go HERE

See an interactive online map of exotic cat owners.  See people being stupid with big cats, endangering themselves and others HERE.  See the awful conditions these captive cats endure HERE.

 

Big Cat Attacks 

The following is a partial listing (537) of incidents in the U.S. involving captive exotic cats since 1990. The U.S. incidents have resulted in the deaths of 20 humans, 15 adults and 5 children, the additional mauling of 176 more adults and children, 144 escapes, the killing of 85 big cats, and 116 confiscations.  There have also been 153 big cat incidents outside the U.S. that have resulted in the deaths of 57 humans and the mauling of 86 humans by captive big cats.  These figures only represent the headlines that Big Cat Rescue has been able to track.  Because there is no reporting agency that keeps such records the actual numbers are certainly much higher.  http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm

To see a video of the mauling of a zoo keeper in 2006 go to http://www.bigcatrescue.org/animal_contact.htm

The Journal of Internal Medicine in 2006 estimated that 50 million people worldwide have been infected with zoonotic diseases since 2000 and as many as 78,000 have died. Read more about zoonotic diseases here: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/zoonosis.htm

To see the number of exotic cats abandoned each year go to http://www.bigcatrescue.org/animal_abuse.htm

To view a trend chart that shows the alarming escalation of big cat incidents here: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/Flash/BigCatBans/BigCatBanCharts.htm

The U.S. represents less than 5% of the entire global population, but up through 2006 79% of ALL captive cat incidents occurred in the U.S.  (Now that the US is clamping down on the exotic pet trade, the reports in 2007 show a decline in U.S. incidents compared to the rest of the world)  Likewise, Florida represents less than 6% of the U.S. population while 11% of all U.S. incidents occur in Florida.  Florida boasts the most comprehensive sets of regulations allowing private ownership of exotic cats while ranking #1 in the highest numbers of big cat killings, maulings and escapes. To view photos of fatal injuries from cases reported in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine click http://www.bigcatrescue.org/laws/AMJForensicFeline.pdf 

This video shows facilities that are currently licensed and approved by the USDA and the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission that have been operating at this level or worse for more than 10 years and yet are still open to the public.  These images are typical of those who allow cameras in but there are many worse ones who do not.   This shows precisely why we need to ban private possession of exotic cats. http://www.veoh.com/videos/v2570412PGPYhmr

 

For more images of people who have been mauled by cougars open this Word Document.

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May 1, 2008 Quebec:  The 70-kilogram king of the jungle, who goes by the name of Boomer, has been on the lam since he escaped last night from a house where he was kept as a man's personal pet. The lion, which is about four feet high, was last spotted beside Highway 105, near Maniwaki, about an hour north of Ottawa.

April 18, 2008 Los Angeles, CA: Five Circus Vazquez tigers have been evicted by Los Angeles animal welfare officials because the big-cats earlier attacked and killed another tiger in their small cage. Department general manager Ed Boks says the tigers killed one of their own in Huntington Park on March 31 and the U.S. Department ofAgriculture cited Circus Vazquez for having too many tigers in close proximity to each other. Los Angeles officials went to the San Fernando Valley where the circus was performing across from the Panorama City Mall and the tigers were close together in the same cage. Boks says it was believed to be a public danger.

April 18, 2008 San Francisco, CA: Nicki Phung, 31 and Steven Tieu, 38, admitted in federal court to trying to illegally import a real, stuffed tiger into the United States. The two were caught in December when a U.S. Customs official at San Francisco International Airport inspected a box labeled "toy tiger" mailed from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and bound for the couple's home in Hercules, CA.

March 29, 2008 Wellington, FL:  Judy Berens, owner of Panther Ridge Sanctuary, was showing off her two male cheetahs, Matt and Charlie, that she says she paid $40,000.00 for in Africa, when they knocked her down and punctured her arms and back more than 40 times before volunteers were able to rescue her.  Berens says she has to pay another $10,000. to the Cheetah Conservation Botswana and Cheetah Outreach as part of her deal with the US Fish & Wildlife Service who are not supposed to allow the import of endangered species unless doing so somehow enhances their species chances at survival.  Many of these Cheetah conservation centers are merely breeding facilities that supply cats to zoos and private collectors.  (The cats are not set free.)  Berens has more than twenty exotic cats in her 5 acre back yard and said, she fashioned herself after Katharine Hepburn's leopard-owning character in Bringing up Baby. "I figured if she can have a leopard, why can't I..?." Judy Berens' comment is exactly why displaying big cats as tractable is harmful to people and the cats. If show biz had not portrayed Hepburn as a master of the leopard, Berens might not have shelled out 7500.00 for her Jaguars nor the 50,000 for her pet Cheetahs. As long as people, like Berens continue to exhibit exotic cats as if they were tame, others will say, "...why can't I?"

March 28, 2008 Davenport, FL:  Darryl Atkinson of Horseshoe Creek says the animals have to go now that he won't be able to exhibit them for money.  He has more than 30 big cats in cages that have been cited more than 40 times for being too small and too flimsy. 

March 20, 2008 Ontario, Canada Bowmanville Zoo: A martial arts teacher knocked over by a lion during a photo shoot for Desi Life at Bowmanville Zoo says she is happy to have come away with four broken ribs and a bloodied lung.  "To be honest, the sensation I have is a great deal of gratitude to be alive," Gitanjali Kolanad said yesterday.  In the video, one minder kicks the baby lion in the neck while the other pulls on a leash. The lion takes a second, unsuccessful lunge at Kolanad as she lies gasping, before he is hauled out the door. "I couldn't breathe – that was the terrifying part. The muscles in my chest seized up and they didn't relax until I was in the emergency room and they gave me a muscle relaxant."  See it here: http://www.thestar.com/DesiLife/article/347684

February 23, 2008 Miami, FL:  A pet serval was turned in, no questions asked, at an exotic pet amnesty day sponsored by the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission.  100 owners dropped off bags full of pythons, scorpions and assorted other reptiles, birds and mammals.  "This is garden-variety stuff," said exotic pet veterinarian Thomas Goldsmith, who examined the submissions. "This is Miami. People have sloths and leopards and God knows what else."  The FWC then gave the dumped pets to new owners.  One of the people surrendering her pets, Christie Lyon said, "People have no idea what they're getting into."

February 21, 2008 Honolulu, HI:  A 245-pound Sumatra tiger named Berani was discovered wandering around an unsecured area just before the Honolulu Zoo's opening on Thursday. A startled female volunteer reported the escape after the tiger brushed past her. Zoo workers describe 8-year-old Berani as the tamest of three tigers at the zoo. Quintal says staff members who cleaned the tiger enclosure failed to properly latch a gate.

February 21, 2008 Johnstown, OH:  Ben Uditis was driving when he noticed a fire at 3159 S. County Line
Rd. Editis woke Rick Armstrong and helped him get his animals out of his garage, including a caged tiger.  Firefighters arriving on the scene had to work around the big cat to put out the blaze. ( Since no one was harmed, this is not included in the totals above as an incident although the first responders would certainly call it one. )

February 13, 2008 Bracebridge, Ontario: Provincial police were forced to shoot and kill a six year old jaguar named Bhino after he broke through a chain link cage at Guhu Exotic Animal Reserve. When officers arrived, they found the jaguar with the family's pet dog in his mouth. The dog was on a chain and therefore couldn't escape the jaguar and had to be put down because of severe injuries.

February 9, 2008 Davenport, FL: Brenda Chapman was clawed by a tiger named Kheira while cleaning out its cage, at Horseshoe Creek said Gary Morse of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.The incident comes on the heels of Darryl Atkinson's Feb. 1 arrest on charges of grand theft and signing a forged instrument. The commission said it found Atkinson accepting money from people on court-ordered probation in exchange for signing off on community service work they did not do. "That's just not what I need with all this other stuff," owner Darryl Atkinson said.

January 24, 2008 Seattle, WA:  Two declawed, yearling servals were found wandering around West Seattle. Animal Control picked up one on Jan. 1 as it was going after some cat food left on a doorstep. Officers picked up the second one on the grounds of Madison Middle School.  Officer Don Baxter suspects they both belonged to the same owner, who has not claimed them.

January 18, 2008 Mayes County, OK:  The fire at Safari Joe's Exotic Wildlife Refuge destroyed a large barn that housed big cats, monkeys, birds and reptiles. Joe Estes, who owns the refuge, says he was able to save some tigers and lions but at least two tigers housed on the property died in the flames along with about 100 other exotic animals.

December 27, 2007 Manitowoc, WI:  Two cougars escaped at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Mayor Kevin Crawford said "These animals can't survive in the wild.  People who think they are releasing these animals as a service to the animals are just wrong. They still have killer instincts and could have threatened area residents. A zookeeper saw cougar tracks in snow and discovered the animals had escaped between 7 and 8 a.m., Crawford said.

December 25, 2007 San Francisco, CA:  A Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped at the San Francisco zoo, killing17 year old Carlos Sousa who was in the cafe and mauled two other young men (19 and 23) before police arrived on the scene and shot Tatiana to death.  All three boys were from San Jose.  The zoo says they don't know how she escaped.  Tatiana's enclosure was reinforced after the cat's first attack two days before Christmas last year. In the attack that occurred last year, Tatiana chewed off keeper Lori Komejan's arm during a regular afternoon feeding at the Lion House.  The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health later ruled the zoo was responsible for that incident, blaming poor training and the way the tiger enclosures were designed. The city, which helps fund the zoo, has been sued by Komejan and is assessing whether it is liable for the Christmas Day mauling. 

The identity of the dead victim, Carl Sousa, Jr., has been made public and his parents have been interviewed on TV and elsewhere over the last couple of days. But the names of the two other victims, who are brothers and frinds of Sousa's, were not revealed. Until 12/29/07. From a report this morning by the AP's Jordan Robertson and Marcus Wolhsen:

The 4-year-old tiger, a female named Tatiana, went on a rampage near closing time Tuesday, killing Sousa and severely injuring the two others before police shot it to death.

Brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were at San Francisco General Hospital with severe bite and claw wounds. Their names were provided by hospital and law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the family had not yet given permission to release their names.

After interviewing the brothers, police said Kulbir Dhaliwal was the animal's first victim.

As the tiger clawed and bit him, Sousa and the younger brother yelled in hopes of scaring it off him, police said. The cat then went for Sousa, slashing his neck as the brothers ran to a zoo cafe for help.

After killing the teenager, the tiger followed a trail of blood left by Kulbir Dhaliwal about 300 yards to the cafe, where it mauled both men, police said.

Four officers who had already discovered Sousa's body then arrived and found the cat sitting next to one of the bloodied brothers, police Chief Heather Fong said. The victim yelled, "Help me! Help me!" and the animal resumed its attack, Fong said.

The officers used their patrol car lights to distract the tiger, and it turned and began approaching them, leading all four to open fire, she said.  Read all of the stories online 

December 25, 2007 Dallas, TX:  A pet tiger who was wearing a collar was found shot to death alongside I-35E in a vacant lot near the Madison Point Apartments in Dallas, TX.  Big Cat Rescue is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible.   Officials believe the tiger was illegally kept, violently killed and unlawfully dumped on a city street.  "This is a horrible example of what humans are capable of," said Louis Dorfman. "Somebody out there thought they were going to make a pet out of this animal. These are never pets."  More HERE

December 20, 2007 A 50-year-old man, a school teacher, was mauled to death by a Bengal tiger at a zoo in Assam, India.  Two tigers who were in a cage pounced, with one of them tearing his hand and arm apart when the man extended his camera toward the cage for a better picture. The man, his wife and two children, were visiting the zoo in Assam's main city of Guwahati when the incident took place.

December 3, 2007 Acton, CA:  Chris Orr, a 40 year old caretaker who had worked at the facility for more than 20 years, was bitten on the neck and critically mauled by a 4 year old, 450 lb tiger named Alexander at the Shambala Preserve.  Orr was airlifted to a hospital and is in stable condition.  "It's a terrible, terrible thing that has happened," Hedren said, adding that many of the tigers in her sanctuary come from abused backgrounds. "Who knows what happened to this tiger? People have kept them in closets, basements. Two of them were kept in air-conditioning systems. What makes these animals so dangerous is for no reason at all this kind of accident can happen. It isn't the tiger's fault. It is the fault of the people breeding these animals in the first place that leads them to be here."She described the tiger in Monday's incident as a "mutt" that was probably bred in the United States as an exotic pet. The facility was established on 80 acres in 1972 by actress Tippi Hedren as a retirement home for lions and tigers that she co starred with in the movie Roar. About 70 big cats normally live there and include lions, tigers, ligers, leopards, servals, mountain lions, bobcats, a lynx and a Florida panther.

November 21, 2007 St. Louis Zoo, MO: A Cheetah cub named Zuri escaped by scaling a ten foot wall. Twenty-seven minutes later, the cheetah was found, tranquilized and returned to her exhibit. She is one of four born on Nov. 10, 2006, at the zoo. One of the cheetahs died a month later. The incident marked the third time since 2000 that a cheetah has escaped from the zoo.

November 19, 2007 Wakefield, Ohio: Pike County sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call of a lion "attacking" vehicles on U.S. 23 found Terry and Vicki Brumfield trying to capture the 550-pound feline. Lambert had broken out of his pen in Piketon. Brumfield raises lions as an escape from depression and owns two lions, Lambert and Lacey. Although he says he loves his pets, Brumfield said he was prepared to shoot Lambert. Ohio doesn't require permits for exotic animals, but that would change under an Ohio House bill now in committee.  Terry Brumfield faces three misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, including failure to provide his two lions with a clean, healthful environment. Pike County Humane Agent John Owens says an inspection of Brumfield's property showed that the cage where two lions were kept was caked with manure and littered with rotting animal carcasses.

November 14, 2007 New Hampton, IA:  A Chickasaw County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a tiger that escaped from Joseph and Dawn Schmitt. When the sheriff and two deputies arrived, the full-grown tiger was attacking the family's collie. The county doesn't have any licensing laws for exotic pets and the matter has been turned over to the USDA. The family also has two cougars and a bear.  Tiger news HERE

November 9, 2007 Inverness, FL:  5 tigers and a lion were seized from Susan MacKay's home by the FWC.  Witnesses and video showed the animals to be walking skeletons.  She and her late husband, Wild Bill MacKay, ran a roadside tourist trap and bred tigers for sale to private owners.  Reports say that the FWC was aware of the starvation for two years and had already seized another cat previously. MacKay claimed to be feeding a cut up tiger in her freezer to the living cats.  The cats were sent to another private owner who has 200 exotic pets including 14 big cats in his residential backyard lot that is only 2.5 acres.  That owner claims that he will find them yet another home, but zoos do not take castoffs from the exotic pet trade, so that means they will likely go to yet another ill equipped owner. Starving tiger news HERE

November 1, 2007 Mahopac, NY: An emaciated Serval seized from a squalid home. "What we're finding now is in its feces, there's a lot of Styrofoam," said Ken Ross, chief of the SPCA of Westchester's Humane Law Enforcement division. "It was eating whatever it could. It was extremely hungry."  Louis Pinto, 54, who is on parole after a drug conviction, was charged with animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, in the serval case. The serval wasn't the first large feline to lead Pinto to legal trouble. In 1998, DEC officers removed Dax, a 5-month-old domesticated bobcat, from his home.  In 2002, Pinto was charged with first-degree criminal possession narcotics after authorities seized $1 million worth of the illegal drugs.  Serval news HERE

October 25, 2007 Saginaw, Texas: Gizmo the pet serval escaped through an open window Thursday night and was last seen Tuesday morning in a field near a school, rec. center and residential area. Gizmo weighs about 35 pounds and has been de-clawed. The cat was later recaptured.

October 23, 2007 Mossel Bay, S. Africa:   Jurg Olsen, owner of the Jukani Wildlife Ranch and Care Centre near has had an operation to his hand after a black leopard bit him. As he was cleaning Diablo's night house he said "a miscommunication between animal and man" led to his left hand being bitten.

September 8th, 2007, Phoenix, AZ: An African Serval cat bolted from its owner and is loose on Valley streets far from its native African savanna. The animal has been Shaw's pet for about three weeks. She said she got it from a woman in Kentucky who had to get rid of it.  "The cat was being beaten with a belt from her soon-to-be ex-husband," Shaw said.  Shaw said the animal escaped 12 days ago while she was playing with it.  "She went straight bee-line, so fast it was unbelievable, right over that fence," Shaw said. Details HERE

September 4, 2007 Kaxakhstan, Almaty: A lion escaped from his cage at a Kazakh zoo over the weekend. The six-year-old lion called Adam sneaked out of his cage through a door that had been accidentally left open.  The lion roamed around freely for half an hour before zoo workers lured it back to safety. Just a month ago, three bears broke out of their enclosure in the same zoo in southern Kazakhstan.  Details HERE

August 22, 2007 Belize:  Canada Lynx dies in Hurricane Dean. Big Cat Rescue had been working with the Placencia Humane Society in Belize since February to try and relocate a Canada Lynx that had been confiscated by the government after her owners smuggled her into their country illegally. We had everything ready on our end, but despite the best efforts of the staff of the Placencia Humane Society, the veterinary community and concerned citizens, we could not get the Belize government to pay attention to the matter and process the necessary paperwork for her exportation.  On August 21 Hurricane Dean slammed into Belize as a Category 5 storm, killing 42 people and the Canada Lynx.  

August 8, 2997 Heritage Park, CO:  A serval named Sir Sidney escaped from Ken Koster's motorhome in Steamboat Springs while he was visiting with family.  Koster lives in Wyoming.   It is illegal to own a serval in Colorado, and DOW officer Haskins said Koster could face fines as a result of bringing the animal into the state.  Haskins said it’s become popular to own exotic pets such as servals, describing them as the latest designer pet. (Our definition of a pet is an animal who doesn't run away from you the first chance they get)

July 30, 2007 Xinyi, China:  A zookeeper in China was killed when he forgot to move a tiger out of its cage before going in to clean it. Police shot the tiger dead after discovering the zoo's only tranquilliser gun was also inside the cage. Zhang, a keeper in his 60s, drove a tiger into an inner cage before entering the outer cage at the zoo in a park, colleagues said, but forgot about the second tiger.

July 16, 2007 Patton Township, PA:  Sgt. Frank Monroe said officers received a report Friday night of a cheetah running across state Route 550, but the animal turned out to be a serval, a medium-sized wildcat native to Africa. Police are seeking the owners of the serval, because the animal could not survive a central Pennsylvania winter, Monroe said. Police have posted fliers asking residents to be on the lookout for the animal.

July 14, 2007 San Antonio, TX:  Jeff Tierney was in critical condition Saturday after a Sumatran tiger mauled him while he was inside the animal's enclosure at the San Antonio Zoo.  Around 2:30 p.m., 911 dispatchers received a call about a man who had suffered trauma at the zoo, in the 3900 block of North St. Mary's Street. As sirens wailed and visitors began to leave the park, emergency radio traffic blared that the man had suffered multiple injuries to his head and also to his body. Jeff Tierney, reportedly in his 20s, was airlifted to University Hospital. Tierney was in critical condition when he was taken into surgery late Saturday evening.

July 7, 2007 Yellville, AR: Brent Marshall was air lifted to Baxter Regional Medical Center after an attack occured while he was cleaning out the pen of his declawed cougar.  Marshall reported that the cat knocked him to the ground and began biting him on the back of the neck, head and leg.  His wife, Anna, ran into the pen and pushed her fingernails in the cat's neck and made him retreat to the back of the pen. She pulled her husband out of the pen, closed the door and called 911.  This happened just moments before the couple were to release the cougar to a sanctuary because they were moving.

June 24, 2007 South Africa, Morokweng village: The North West provincial government remains mum on the action to be taken against the owners of the lions who killed a nine-year-old boy on a farm near Bray last weekend. Tshepo Gaorupi was mauled by two lions when he reportedly stuck his hand through the fence of the enclosure housing the lions on Woodborrow farm. All that remained of the nine-year-old boy was a small piece of his skull. The Congress of South African Trade Unions is threatening to stage protest marches against the departments of justice, safety and security and agriculture for the failure to protect the rights of ordinary people.

June 23, 2007 Africa, Johannesburg:  An 18-month-old baby girl is in a serious condition after she was attacked by a leopard through a fence at a game farm just outside Heilbron in the Free State, paramedics said on Saturday. "According to eyewitnesses on scene, the girl's father was holding her in his arms when the leopard somehow managed to grab her through the fence," said Beech. She said the little girl sustained serious facial injuries and was transported to the Midvaal Hospital, in the Three Rivers area. She was in a serious condition. "Her father sustained injuries to his left hand and was also transported to hospital in a stable condition," she said.

June 21, 2007 Polokwane, South Africa: A Zimbabwean illegal immigrant was killed and his brother narrowly escaped death when they landed in a lion enclosure at a game farm in Limpopo, police said on Thursday.

June 5, 2007 Mexico City, Mexico:  A tiger and lion kept in small cages on a store rooftop fatally attacked their caretaker.  Mexico City police say the man was feeding them when the felines swatted at the man's legs and pulled him down. The tiger died from complications due to sedation and shoving a block of wood in his mouth.  The 56 year old owner had raised the cats from cubs and kept them on the roof of his meat packing plant. See Video HERE

May 11, 2007 B.C. Canada:  A 32 year old woman named Tanya Dumstrey-Soos was mauled to death, in front of her horrified children, by a tiger owned by Kim Carlton of Siberian Magic.  Witnesses at the scene said she was killed by being too close to the cage.  Kim Carlton's business puts on exotic and magic shows and offers photos with the big cats.  Two years ago a vet had determined these animals’ living conditions (12 x 12 cages) were putting them in distress and the SPCA wanted to move in but had not found anywhere suitable to place them.  The SPCA noted this would have been avoided by a ban on the private possession of big cats, such as many other Canadian provinces already have. 

April 11, 2007 Krugersdorp on Gauteng's West Rand, Africa: The Ngonyama Lions Lodge which was owned by Dirk Brink, is set to be auctioned off. Brink was found dead in the lion enclosure last month. He signed the mandate for the auction just hours before his death. The business will be auctioned in May. Steve Van der Berg, Aucor property's spokesperson, says Brink made arrangements with him to sign the mandate. This has paved the way for the lodge, which houses several amenities and wildlife, to come under the hammer.

April 26, 2007:  Unknown locality.  This event did not make the regular news, as many of these cases do not, but was caught on tape and aired at LiveLeak.com  This video of a man being mauled, to death and back, is very disturbing.  Do not open this link unless you are over 18 and can handle the horrific scene.  Video Here

March 20, 2007 Kenya, Africa: TV presenter Simon King was mauled by a cheetah, which pounced on the star at the Lewa Wildlife Conservatory during filming for BBC show TOKI'S TALE - in which he releases a cheetah he hand-reared for four years into the wild. King was taken to a nearby hospital after the wild beast inflicted a large wound in his arm. He was treated along with a female colleague, who was also attacked by the cheetah, and both were given anti-rabies treatment.

March 13, 2007 Podgorica, Montenegro: A Siberian tiger at a private zoo in Montenegro bit off an arm of a woman who tried to feed the animal. Slavka Sekulovic, 58, had put her arm into the cage with two Siberian tigers when one of them grabbed it and bit it off, said doctor Zoran Srzentic who admitted the woman at a nearby hospital."The tiger just wouldn't let it go," he said. The tigers were brought into Montenegro last year from Bosnia. The authorities initially had detained three people on suspicion of smuggling the animals but no formal charges were raised. The owner, Stojan Sekulovic, has claimed the tigers were a present for his private zoo.

March 4, 2007 Harare, Africa: An Australian embassy worker is recovering in a Pretoria hospital after being attacked by lions at the Lion and Cheetah Park outside Harare earlier this month. Gemma Huggins, 27, was the second diplomatic worker mauled by lions at the park and now safety concerns have been raised about conditions at the park.  In 2005 a Japanese embassy employee died of her injuries in a similar attack at the same park.

February 24, 2007 Denver, CO:  A 27 yr old Denver Zookeeper, Ashlee Pfaff, who has worked at the zoo for a year, was mauled to death by a 6 yr old, 140 lb jaguar named Jorge as she was working inside the animal's cage.  It is unclear why the zookeeper entered the animal's enclosure while the jaguar was in it, said Tiffany Barnhart, a spokeswoman for the zoo. Pfaff was taken to Denver Health Medical Center but died from her injuries. An autopsy showed death was "due to injuries to the neck, including blood vessels, spinal column and spinal cord."  Zookeepers who entered the jaguar's enclosure to rescue the injured worker shot the jaguar to death when it approached them, said Bannhart. The jaguar, named Jorge, came to Denver from Santa Cruz Zoo, Bolivia, in March 2005.  More...

February 23, 2007 China:  A six-year-old girl named Rui Xin was mauled to death by a performing tiger at the Kunming Zoo in Yunnan province.  The animal lunged at the girl's head when a flashbulb went off as the child was being photographed.  The tiger held the child's head in its mouth for over a minute as frantic trainers beat the animal with clubs and a chair, trying to force it to let go of Rui Xin. She was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead with a crushed skull. Her mother was also bitten on the arm.

February 21, 2007 Napavine, WA: Paul Mason had to give up his 4 Siberian Tigers when he got evicted from his rural Lewis County home.  Problems started when Paul Mason defaulted on payments on his rent-to-own property.  Four huge Siberian tigers, Samson and Delilah, Romeo and Juliet lived in a divided 40-foot cage in the backyard of Paul Mason's home. Juliet is believed to be pregnant.  (Since they were surrendered they are not included in statistic summary above.)

February 13, 2007 Spain:  The two year old tiger called Melody, owned by José Antonio Roca (the man in prison on remand and said to be at the centre of the Malaya corruption case in Marbella), which has, like her owner been kept behind bars since his arrest, has been moved to the Noah's Ark animal recuperation centre in Alicante.  The Málaga Animal Protection Society had said that the tiger was in danger of becoming schizophrenic if left where she was.  The animal, which came originally from a circus, had been kept in a cage the size of two rooms of a house.  In Alicante she is now sharing space with two male tigers, Charly and Cuqui.

February 12, 2007 Olmense Zoo, Belgium:  Karen Aerts, 37, entered the cheetah cage, apparently by staying in the zoo after it closed.  She was a donor to one of the cheetahs, named Bongo, and it appears that she thought they felt the same way about her, that she did about them.  She was later found dead in the cage. 

February 9, 2007 Bangladesh, Dhaka Zoo:  Panic gripped the visitors at Dhaka Zoo yesterday noon when a Bengal Tiger attacked its keeper and escaped for about half an hour.  The victim, Mujibar Rahman Sheikh, 40, narrowly survived with injuries to his arms, thighs, neck and chest. Earlier, a zoo tiger killed a visiting child in 1996 and a bear killed a zookeeper in 2004. A lion also escaped a few years ago.

February 06,2007 Edinburg, TX: A bobcat slipped silently through the front door of the Museum of South Texas History's gift shop. “…he just sat there like he owned the place," said Sandra Luna. The bobcat was almost certainly an escaped or released pet. "A wild bobcat would not come inside," said John Young, a mammologist with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife in Austin. A wild one "would be going frantic to get back out." (Because the cat could not be verified as a pet, it is not listed above in the totals of exotic cat incidents.)

January 21, 2007 San Angelo, TX:  A woman was bitten by a lion cub at a mall and treated at the Emergency Room for punctures.  The lion cub was being used for photo ops by a traveling magic show.  After the victim demanded that the cub be destroyed, it was picked up by San Angelo's Animal Services. 

January 19, 2007 Novosibirsk Zoo, Russia:  An unidentified man, fuelled by booze,  decided that it would be a really good idea to climb into the tiger's enclosure and give him a hug.  The tiger didn't think so and bit him on the arm.  Director Shilo denied that the zoo was able to prevent a determined person from getting into the animal cages.

January 8, 2007 Center Point, IN:  A cougar scaled a 14 foot high fence and escaped Joe Taft’s Exotic Feline Rescue Center about 50 miles west of Indianapolis. The non-accredited facility currently holds nearly 200 big cats.  According to media reports a month later the cat has still not been found.

 

 

December 23, 2006 San Francisco, CA: "The tiger ate her hand. It slowly proceeded to eat the rest of her arm." That's how Vikram Chari described the horrifying spectacle that he and his 6-year-old son witnessed.  A 350-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana attacked her keeper at the San Francisco Zoo during feeding time Friday afternoon as dozens of visitors looked on. The keeper, who sources identified as Lori Komejan, was taken to San Francisco General Hospital.  "The right arm was in the tiger's mouth," said Chari "The left arm was just being held there (in the claws) and the right arm was being eaten. She was screaming and flailing away." This same keeper appears in the 2005 episode of Dirty Jobs called Cheese Maker (available on DVD from Discovery Ch.) In the episode, she is in the lion house, and in front of visitors and the camera, she repeatedly reaches her arms into the lion and tiger cages, hugging, scratching and kissing them and invites her host to do the same.  While feeding you can see her stick her whole arm into the cage while tossing horse meat and a whole rabbit. The Cal-OSHA report said zoo officials knew the Lion House posed a hazard, because the cats were known to be able to reach through the bars. It also found officials were remiss for not training workers in safety procedures, such as a buddy system or the use of specialized equipment.  More HERE

December 22, 2006: Washington, DC:  The National Zoo was briefly shut down Friday after a clouded leopard was discovered missing from a wire-mesh enclosure.  Mook, a 5-year-old, 24-pound female, apparently escaped overnight, zoo spokesman John Gibbons said.

December 20, 2006 Searcy, AR: The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission thinks the marauding Mountain Lion is a former pet who has killed three calves, chased a girl into her home, clawed a tractor as a farmer was trying to flee and chased after a woman walking her dog. "We don't have mountain lions in Arkansas," said Keith Stephens, assistant chief of communications for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "There are probably some feral ones, which would have been a domestic animal at one time, someone's pet. It might've gotten too wild. When they get them as kittens they are lovable and playful, but when they get to be 100 pounds, they overwhelm a person, and they just release them into the wild." Sasse agrees with Stephens, that what is being seen in Arkansas are mostly released pets stating "There was one owned by a drug dealer in Arkansas a few years ago, and he basically let it run free."

December 18, 2006 Kiev, Ukraine: (AP)  A tiger bit off the ear of a 33 year old man who fell into her enclosure at a zoo in southern Ukraine.  The tiger attacked the man, biting off his ear and scratching his neck. He was hospitalized in a serious condition. "The man, his sister and their friend drank a bottle of vodka and then came to our zoo for entertainment," Kyrychenko told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

December 11, 2006 Jacksonville, FL:  Julie Johnson’s fears were eased after a man rescued her pet bobcat, who got himself stuck in a tree a week ago and would not come down.  She was concerned that with recent freezing temperatures and no food or water, the 7 month old bobcat's life may have been in danger as he precariously clung to a small branch 80 feet above the ground.

December 7, 2006 Coral Gables, FL:  Goya Foods executive Francisco Unanue hired Corinne Oltz of Wild Animal World to bring a 62-pound cougar to entertain his 7 year old and their guests.  The party ended badly when the cougar mauled a 4-year-old guest. An investigator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told the Herald that the cat's bite "was a fraction of an inch from going to the brain stem. That would have killed the kid instantly." The Kendall-based Wild Animal World -- who has been cited in two similar past attacks -- faces a misdemeanor charge of allowing injury to the public. The girl suffered severe lacerations to her eyelid, left cheek and ear. Doctors sewed back part of her severed ear.  Georgia, the cougar, was euthanized last week as part of a rabies test.  In 1999, Oltz was cited in a similar attack, also in Coral Gables. In 2001, a Wild Animal World leopard attacked a child at a company picnic in Broward County. "That one was a fraction of an inch from going to the brain stem." remembered FFW Lt. Pat Reynolds, who is investigating the Coral Gables attack.

December 6, 2006 Beijing, China:  A leopard was shot dead by local police after escaping from its cage the Yuanyangchi Zoo. The zookeeper failed several times to shoot the leopard with a hand-made bow and anesthetic arrow before being attacked and injured by the irritated animal. The police then shot the leopard dead. The zoo did not have a valid operation license. The animal keepers were also found to lack official qualifications for raising wildlife.

December 3, 2006 Zafra, Spain: A circus tiger in Spain ripped off the left arm of a 31 year old Polish man when he moved closer to have his picture made.  Hospital officials in Zafra said the man was in a serious condition.

November 24, 2006 Ontario, Canada: The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals removed a lion, eight dogs, six cats, two cockatoos and one turtle from the Kerwood Wildlife Education Centre after receiving complaints about animals in distress. "The (lion's) pen was built into the wall," Grandel said. He was in his own filth and the stench of dead flesh could be smelled from the road, more than 30 metres from the home.

November 19, 2006 Nashville, TN: Wildlife Coordinator Walter Cook says the animal spotted at large near Warner Park is either an African caracal or a Eurasian lynx and not a cougar as was thought previously. Both animals are legal to own as pets without a special permit and are often turned loose when they are no longer wanted.

November 15, 2006 Gulf Breeze Zoo, FL: For the second time in less than a week, The Zoo in Gulf Breeze has had difficulties with its large cats. The compound was closed after two cougars escaped from their pens for several hours. About 30 visitors had to move to secured areas while a search was conducted. According to news reports, an opening in the animals' enclosure was big enough to allow them to slip away.  One cat was recaptured after about an hour, but the second cougar took a little longer to find. It was hit by two tranquilizer darts, but hid until an Escambia County Sheriff ’s Office helicopter used infrared cameras to find it.

November 13, 2006 Gulf Breeze, FL: Nineteen-year-old Adrienne Leopard, a zookeeper at the Zoo of Northwest Florida, was taken to a local hospital after she was injured by a leopard.  "She was too close to one of our big cats," said Doug Kemper, executive director of the zoo. The leopard snagged her sleeve with one of its claws and pulled her arm inside (the cage). "He was just being playful," Kemper said. "But even when they don't intend to hurt us, they have all the tools to do so. (Our bodies) just can’t stand up to it."  The Zoo of NW FL is located at 5701 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Gulf Breeze, Florida.

November 11, 2006 Berlin, Germany: A Persian leopard attacked and killed a zoo worker who was cleaning its cage.  The zoo director found the 23-year-old dead from a bite to the neck. A door between the stall and an outdoor cage for the Persian leopard appeared to have been accidentally left open.

November 7, 2006 Aurora, OR: A three year old male Serval escaped from Crystal Bacon’s home in the 12000 block of Fargo Road NE and remains at large. Deputies found the cat about 1:30 a.m. today, and Bacon came to get it but she told deputies the animal got away again on her way home.

November 1, 2006 Plymouth, England: The new owners (Mee Family) of a Devon wildlife park faced a serious challenge when a jaguar escaped. Big cat Sovereign found a way out of his pen and into a tigers' enclosure at the Dartmoor Wildlife Park before he was sedated by keepers. Campaign group, the Captive Animals' Protection Society (CAPS), said the escape was "not acceptable". The escape, believed to have been caused by human error, is being investigated by South Hams Council.

October 25, 2006 Coply, TWN, OH:  USDA inspector, Norma Harlan, was attacked by a white tiger during an inspection at Summit County's L&L Exotic Animal Farm owned by Lorenza Pearson. The 14 year old female tiger reached out and pulled her toward the cage, then managed to get her arm into her mouth.  Harlan was treated at Akron General Medical Center.  She previously had inspected the farm on Oct. 12 and was concerned about two tigers and one lion cub.  In 1983, Pearson's 2-year-old son was killed by a Bengal tiger. In 1997, his 2-year-old grandson was attacked. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited Pearson for 900 violations. Witnesses described Pearson's farm as largely unsanitary, lacking in federal safety measures and nutritional standards, and extremely lax in veterinary record-keeping regulations.

October 16, 2006 Fleetwood, NC: Susan Thomas received severe injuries at the New River Zoo when she crossed the safety barrier fence and put her arm into a leopard's cage.  Owner Keith Stroud, after a short struggle, was able to get the leopard to release Thomas' arm. The recommendation from the state was that the leopard be euthanized which has already occurred. "This is a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. My hands were tied after the state made their recommendation and I had no choice. I was unable to save the cat's life" said the Animal Control officer. Susan Thomas told authorities that the zoo owner, Keith Stroud was with her and encouraged her to cross the barrier and pet the leopard.  As a result, the zoo has been closed pending a full investigation. 

October 9, 2006 Red Rock, NV: The owner of a bobcat that mauled three dogs in Red Rock has been found.  The escaped bobcat's name is Katrina, and she is thirteen months old. The Antelope Valley owner told county workers she was tied up on a leash Thursday night, and somehow got away. One dog, Ace, was put down after suffering life-threatening injuries.

October 8, 2006 LaFollette (Wate) TN: Police arrested Jerome Love on 87 counts of animal cruelty after discovering nearly a hundred pets in his yard. Officials describe the animals living conditions as deplorable. An African serval was confiscated as part of the exotic menagerie.

October 7, 2006 Los Angeles,CA:  Tiger Escapes Handler Before Photo Shoot in Hesperia. The tiger got loose at the Cinema Safari Zoo, a facility at which animals are trained for film and educational programs. Officials said a handler was preparing the tiger for a photo shoot when it tried to attack a donkey. The tiger was shot with a tranquilizer and officials surrounded the animal. Officials from the Hesperia Zoo repeatedly declined to comment, stating that the zoo is private property and the media is not welcome.

October 4, 2006 Beijing, China: A circus lion startled by the audience at a show in eastern China leapt a two meter high barrier and plunged into the crowd, injuring three people including a woman who suffered a miscarriage. The lion was performing for a small roaming circus. Frightened by noise from the 200-strong audience, it lunged into the panicked crush of spectators. "One pregnant woman was crushed and suffered a miscarriage from the shock," the report said. "Because the lion was rented, it didn't trust the trainers," it added. Circus staff and police chased the escaped lion as it jumped walls and rooftops, but nets and anesthetic dart guns failed to catch it, and police shot the animal dead.

September 27, 2006 Las Vegas Zoo, NV: A sick and starving mountain lion was dropped off at the Las Vegas Zoo. The 50 lb, declawed, neutered cub was obviously a house pet, but wore out his welcome when he started to get bigger. The zoo director says the one year old was dropped off in the middle of the night, found in a wire cage at the front entrance. Staff members say he'd clearly been starved and was severely malnourished.

September 22, 2006 Alaska Hwy B.C.: Police and conservation officials caught a Siberian tiger that escaped from a truck during an accident in northeastern B.C. The accident left one person in hospital with serious injuries.  The crash occurred near a former exotic animal petting zoo, where the tiger continues to live. The feline was being taken from his home when the accident occurred.

September 13, 2006 FL Hillsborough County, Balm: Lancelot Kollmann stumbled inside a cage with a 250-pound tiger named Rula. He paid in blood. The last in a long line of lion tamers escaped the cage with cuts on his left shoulder and a gash on his lip that took stitches to close. Kollmann's family has been in traveling circuses for more than 200 years. His grandfather was a lion tamer. His father and uncles owned big cats.  He is licensed by the state of Florida and USDA to exhibit exotic animals, including two leopards, four jaguars, one elephant, five lions and 14 tigers.

September 8, 2006 Queensland Zoo, Australia:  Tim Husband locked 30 staff into a lodge on the Out of Africa Lion and Animal Reserve while he threw rocks at Goldie the 2 year old lion and shouted at him until the big cat eventually crawled back through a hole in his enclosure at the zoo that was caused by a grass cutter. 

September 7, 2006 Davenport, FL: Darryl Atkinson, founder of the Horseshoe Creek Wildlife Foundation was arrested on charges of keeping a Bengal tiger in a cage that is too small and unsafe, said a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrest report. Since 2003, Atkinson has been cited more than 20 times for not having large enough cages for animals kept on the animal farm west of Davenport. He was cited an additional four times in December 2005 on the same charges, the wildlife commission said. The citations usually result in a fine, but Atkinson faces 11 first-degree misdemeanors because of the numerous previous charges he has racked up over the years.

August 26, 2006 Chippewa Falls, WI: A bobcat was killed at the Irvine Park Zoo in Chippewa Falls after it wandered into the cougar cage.  A keeper had left the door open, but officials also say that the antiquated cages were partly to blame.

August 22, 2006 Tampa, FL Lowry Park Zoo: An open cage at Lowry Park Zoo led to Sumatran tiger named Enshalla being shot to death by the zoo's chief executive officer Lex Salisbury.  The CEO had recently fired a long term keeper who was considered too concerned about the animals' welfare in favor of hiring staff who would not speak up for the animals.  A keeper with only two weeks of training with tigers was left by himself in charge.  AZA, USDA and the FWCC all acknowledged that there is no standardized training required. To view a list of all of the incidents reported in the press about Lowry Park Zoo click HERE

August 22, 2006 Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough's Riverview Zoo: For the second time in a year a bobcat has escaped an open cage at the zoo.

July 18, 2006 Saratoga County Fair, NY:  A white tiger owned by the the Ashville Game Farm scratched 4-year-old Riley Willard of Milton at the fairgrounds. The boy suffered a gash about an inch long and needed 14 stitches to close the wound. He was sitting on a bench positioned in front of Calcutta the 2-year-old white tiger on display as part of the backdrop for pictures of kids holding exotic animals.  The game farm's owner, Jeffrey W. Ash, of Lick Springs Road, was charged with a misdemeanor and was cited for a violation after the incident, according to the DEC.  The Environmental Conservation Police charged Ash with failing to exercise due care in safeguarding the public from attack by a wild animal that caused bodily harm. The charge carries a punishment of up to one year in jail and a $500 fine. Ash was also ticketed for violating a condition of a DEC permit that states he must maintain the tiger in a cage that is not in contact with humans. The violation is punishable by up to 15 days in jail and a fine of $250. Ash was in court Jan. 2007 to answer a felony forgery charge in connection with providing a forged insurance certificate to the Saratoga County Fair last summer, officials said.

July 12, 2006 Dublin Zoo, Ireland: A teenage girl has been savaged by a rare tiger in a zoo. The 19-year-old put her arm through a wire mesh fence where two Amur Siberian tigers were resting. Parents and children looked on in horror as the tiger lunged at her and grabbed her arm trying to pull her through the fence. She was taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital where her condition was described as stable.

July 2, 2006 Moscow Circus:  Doctors used nearly 100 stitches on Artur Bagdasarov for slash and puncture wounds when a tiger named Caesar attacked during a performance. "The tiger attacked him and started to maul him.  I rushed in and shot (a stun gun) into his jaws, and he pulled back." said a co worker. "This tiger is just four years old and he's been in our troupe since birth, so no one ever expected this kind of event to happen.  But, if we were to shoot every tiger that attacks us, there wouldn't be any remaining," his sister said.  Read more HERE

June 26, 2006 Atlanta, GA: An African serval escaped from its pen at a Buckhead home about a week ago. The wildcat weighs about 30 pounds and belongs to a licensed breeder, who has taped "lost serval cat" fliers to mailboxes in the area.  The cat, named Webbie, is declawed, according to fliers posted by her owner, Fred Boyajian, around the Mount Paran neighborhood. Boyajian is the same breeder who last year had a lynx escape from his Buckhead property. That wildcat was recaptured after a two-week period.

June 21, 2006 Kaufman, TX: A tiger chased down and mauled Donnie Roberts at Zoo Dynamics when a 300 lb Bengal tiger jumped a fence.  He says the tiger threw him down on his hip and got on his neck.  Roberts says he thought the tiger would kill him, but managed to stay calm. The tiger ripped off his ear and left claw marks over his body. Roberts says he believes he has about two thousand stitches.

June 5, 2006 Fayetteville, NC: Animal control officer, Christine Gallagher, found herself dealing with a serval, a cheetah look-alike native to East Africa pacing nervously in a neighborhood. The big cat was rounded up and taken to Cumberland County Animal Shelter.

June 4, Kiev, Ukraine: A lion killed a man who climbed into its enclosure at the Kiev zoo.  He used a rope to climb down into an enclosure with four lions. Witnesses said the man told them that he believed God would not allow the lions to hurt him.

May 16, 2006 Little Rock, AR:  Michael Haney was forced to turn over his pet mountain lion to an animal shelter by the Game & Fish Department because Haney refused to apply for a permit to keep her.  Haney says it would have never hurt anyone. He even has pictures of his daughter playing with the lion. "When she was little, I couldn't keep her out of the bed with my kid," says Haney. "She's going to Gainesville, Fla.," he says. "I've got to have a kidney transplant and I don't have anywhere to keep her anymore."

May 14, 2006 White Hills, AZ: Jonathan Kraft runs Keepers of the Wild animal sanctuary. He told long-time friend Linda Faso that two of his tigers -- Zeus and Nico -- attacked a woman this month sending her into surgery at University Medical Center.  USDA spokesman Darby Holladay stated, "There is an open investigation against Keepers of the Wild." Holladay also said the agency started investigating this week. "Suspension of license. Revocation of license or civil penalty or monetary fine," he continued could result.  

May 7, 2006 Johannesburg, Sun City, South Africa: Tiger nearly rips arm off 5 year old girl at Predator Park. Helen Catherine Grant, 5, from Rustenburg, was injured after she had tried to stroke the tiger while on a family outing to the park. The tiger got hold of her hand and then her arm. Her uncle had to kick the tiger, Ruby, in the face before she let go of the girl. The arm was attached only by a piece of skin on the upper arm by the time the tiger let go. Last Friday doctors were worried that the arm was too cold, and they feared that veins might have collapsed. "The arm is making good process and the surgery was successful. We don't know yet if follow-up surgery would be necessary and how long she will have to remain in hospital," said Grant.

May 7, 2006 Bulgaria:  A tiger has managed to escape its cell in the Varna zoo, on the Black Sea coast. Soon after that, however, the beast was caught and fetched back to its house, local media informed. The Varna zoo is located literally on the premises of the unique Sea Garden of the city, where hundreds of families take regularly a weekend walk.

April 21, 2006 Shanghai, India:  Lions at the Shanghai Zoo scratched a man who was teasing them by sticking his leg through the bars and wiggling it around. He admitted to having done so daily for three years before getting caught.

April 20, 2006 Gonzales County, TX:  After a 7 year battle to rescue 2 tigers and 11 bears from living in transport cages on David Richtman's farm authorities were finally able to seize the animals under cruelty charges and failure to register and place them in accredited sanctuaries.  The tigers were living in 41/2 x 8 foot enclosures for the past 9 years and the bears could not even stand up in their cages.  Read more...

April 6, 2006 Duxbury (15 Mi. E. of Sandstone) MN:  Cindi Gamble was mauled to death by one of her tigers at the USDA inspected Center for Endangered Cats that she had co owned with Craig Wagner who was wanted for animal abuse in WI.  Wagner now runs Great Cats World Park in southern Oregon. The sheriff said one of the drop doors was apparently left open, leaving Gamble exposed to the tiger. Investigators said the tiger was so out of control that they had to kill the cat to get to the body. Vet reports revealed that the 10 year old tiger only weighed 260 lbs; half of what it should because it was starving. Read more...

March 19, 2006 Palatka, FL: The Putnam County Fair will still open Monday even though a fair worker was bitten by a tiger in an exhibit there the day before.  Josip Marcan's traveling side show of white and tabby tigers has had a fair worker mauled. According to reports a tendon was severed and the worker was rushed to Shands hospital.  The state's Fish and Wildlife Commission inspects every traveling exotic exhibit like this one. This particular show passed a state review just two weeks ago, Officer Kelley said. That is precisely the problem.  Read more...

March 25, 2006 Santa Barbara, CA: State of California orders Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch to be shut down and now Jackson is selling off his exotic animals, including elephants, tigers, orangutans, crocodile, and giraffes. A later report states that Jackson's tigers went to Shambala but that he never paid for their care. (The Daily Record)

March 9, 2006 Point Breeze, PA:  A 42 pound African Serval named Mr. Bigglesworth was confiscated from Mark Nernberg after his second escape.  The bottle raised pet had been loose for over a month back in August (eating what?) and was returned to his owner with the understanding that the owner aquire a permit to keep him.  At the time of his second reported escape the owner had failed to obtain a permit and so the animal is being held pending the outcome of the case. To see video of people who advocate the keeping of dangerous animals as pets, while downplaying the escapes and risks involved, visit this link CLICK HERE

March 4, 2006 VA: Marc Bradley, of the Snowflake community, was charged with importing and possessing an undesirable and predatory animal.  The lion is 7 months old and is still considered a cub, but it weighs about 100 pounds and "is big enough to put a hurtin' on somebody," said Julia Dixon, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.  The cub was confiscated pending trial.

February 26, 2006 Moscow Zoo: Girl loses Finger Stroking “Cuddly” Leopard.  A snow leopard in the Moscow Zoo bit a finger off a girl’s hand and ate it when she tried to pat the animal that she thought looked cuddly. A 19-year-old student, Elena, was walking in the zoo with her friend, Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported on Sunday. Passing the big cats section, she was delighted to see the beautiful snow leopard, or ounce. The animal looked so peaceful that Elena decided to touch it through the cage and it instantly clawed hold of her and would not let go.  Elena managed to free her hand, but half of her right-hand middle finger remained in the show leopard’s mouth. The animal swallowed its prey in a second. The girl’s friend called an ambulance, and the doctors took the victim to the hospital and attended to her wounds. In a day she was able to leave hospital. http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/02/26/fingeroff.shtml

February 25, 2006 Devon Zoo, UK: A Devon zoo maintenance worker had his hand punctured by a lion while trying to mend a fence. Indu, a two-year-old Asiatic, bit the worker's hand as he replaced a fence separating the lions from tigers at Paignton Zoo. ''A first aider was able to help until paramedics arrived.'' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/4735920.stm

February 15, 2006 Birmingham Zoo, AL: A worker at the Birmingham Zoo is being treated for scalp wounds Wednesday after being attacked by a lion. Dr. William Foster, director of the zoo, said Melissa Wright was taken to UAB Hospital. Foster said she was conscious and talking. The attack happened as zoo workers fed animals and moved them from their overnight holding area to their outdoor exhibit area. http://www.nbc13.com/news/7085199/detail.html#

February 1, 2006 Willmar, MN:  The 80-pound female cougar was spotted Tuesday morning near Kennedy Elementary School. Police and local animal professionals tracked the cat around the neighborhood for two hours, shot it with four tranquilizers and finally corralled and caged it around 10 a.m. Since then, nobody has come forward to claim the cougar, but officials believe it isn't wild. "This is not a releasable animal," said Dr. John Baillie with the Wildcat Sanctuary. "This is not a wild animal that strayed there. This is someone's pet."

January 10, 2006 Wellington Zoo, New Zealand: An unlocked door allowed two lions to get into an enclosure at Wellington Zoo while their keeper was laying out their food. When keeper Bob Bennett tripped trying to escape, they mauled him as patrons watched. He suffered 20 puncture wounds to his arms, back, shoulders and neck, and spent three days in hospital after the 20-minute attack. "I remember those canines sinking into my shoulder, and I thought my days were over," said Bennett. You can watch that video of the mauling HERE

January 6, 2006 Center Hill, FL: Girl mauled when cougar escapes at Robert Baudy's Savage Kingdom. A teenage volunteer was mauled by a mountain lion when he escaped after she left the door open.  It is alleged that alcohol and drug abuse is to blame for the continued decline of Savage Kingdom and that the facility's owner tried to keep the press and authorities from knowing about the incident by treating the mauled young woman with expired antibiotics.  A tree worker managed to get ropes around the escaped cat's throat and he was strangled to death.  The girl ended up in the hospital and Florida's Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated the matter.  More about Savage Kingdom.

 

 

December 18, 2005 Zoo tiger kills man who was fleeing arrest. Gerber said the man was naked when he was found. His clothes had been ripped from his body and the shreds were found in the enclosure too. The man fell about 10m into the tigers' den. Marks indicated that the body was dragged. More...

December 13, 2005 NJ: Bergen County Zoo's escaped ocelot is recaptured.  Zookeepers believe she had been wandering in and around the zoo's property, feasting on field mice and squirrels for two weeks. Last week's snow may have cut off the food supply, forcing the ocelot back toward home, said Tim Gunther, the zoo director.

December 9, 2005 Foley, AL: Joe Higginbotham, owner of Kids Country Zoo said the 2-year-old male tiger became unruly so he killed him. The tiger's body has been send to a taxidermist for mounting and will be on display here at the zoo," Higginbotham told the Mobile Register.

December 1, 2005 Greensboro, NC: Sabre's owner, Megan Morris, could be cited by animal control if the loose Serval turns out to be Sabre again. The feline would then be given to a humane society or wildlife refuge or euthanized if no appropriate home can be found.

November 30, 2005 Delmont, SD: A declawed mountain lion was shot by a hunter.  That indicates the cat probably was raised in captivity. (duh) "The hunter claimed it just stood there about 10 feet away from him," he said. Vandel said it might be difficult to find out where the cat came from because the GF&P does not regulate captive wild animals. "A lot of times, unless there are some local ordinances, they may exist as somebody's pets - we don't find out about them for a long time," he said.

November 19, 2005 Greenwich, NY: Jeff Ash, owner of the Ashville Game Farm was cited by the DEC in 2004 after a wolf escaped from the zoo and was never found. Ash pleaded guilty to a charge that he didn't provide proper housing for the animal. After Tahan, a 300-pound golden tabby tiger, broke out of her cage the DEC issued Ash a ticket for the same violation. Tahan was sedated with a tranquilizer dart about two miles away from the game farm after she broke through the roof of her cage. PETA sent a letter to the USDA calling for the agency to investigate Ash referring to USDA reports from 2002 and 2003, in which PETA called Ash a "chronic violator of the Animal Welfare Act" because of accusations he failed to maintain clean cages, allowed water troughs to freeze over and failed to keep accurate records.

November 11, 2005 Lisbon: A circus tiger tore off a woman's arm when she put her hand into its cage to stroke it, a newspaper reported. The 24-year-old Romanian woman worked at the Circo Atlas circus but was off-duty when the attack occurred.  Her arm could not be re attached.

October 23, 2005 Knox County, OH: Siberian Tiger Bites Boy at road side zoo. A 10-year-old Columbus-area boy got too close to a Siberian tiger that bit him Knox County Sheriff David Barber said. Ethan Newman of 1011 Colony Way in Perry Township was bitten on the leg in a fenced compound at the Siberian Tiger Foundation off Deal Road, Barber said. The park is 2 miles southeast of Gambier. The foundation is owned by David and Diana Cziraky who charge customers for a "close encounter" in which they enter a compound with Siberian tigers chained to posts, the sheriff said. The boy and his father, Robert, were in the compound with a trainer for a close encounter when the incident occurred.

October 7, 2005 Deluth, MN: A Lake Superior Zoo's keeper was bitten by a 400-pound Siberian tiger was hospitalized with puncture wounds. The zookeeper was bitten Thursday while he helped move the tiger to its cage from the Lake Superior Zoo's animal care center. "If you've got a tiger attached to your arm, (30 seconds) is a long time. "Getting a tiger to release when it's semiconscious is quite challenging. The jaws go into a lock position. He's not about to let go.'' The zookeeper who was hospitalized was being held overnight at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth . Doctors cleaned out his wounds and were monitoring him for nerve damage, Janis said.

September 28, 2005 Alfred, Canada: A tiger was found wandering down the highway. The zoo is trying to figure out how the tiger was able to leave its enclosure. The family-owned and operated Papanack Zoo has been breeding exotic animals and birds since the early 1980s.

September 23, 2005 Shelbyville, IN: DNR is poised to seize 24 tigers, 6 leopards and 1 mountain lion from Dennis Hill's Flatrock Exotics because the conditions they reported as being horrific.  Dennis Hill was the breeder of Shere Khan.  The tigers were found living in a six-inch deep mixture of mud, feces and urine.   Free Online

September 16, 2005 Dallas, TX The 4-month-old male tiger was found darting in and out of traffic near the Leary exit on Interstate 30. How the cub ended up on the interstate was a mystery until Thursday. Horn said the tiger's owner was driving through Bowie County on his way to the Dallas area when the animal escaped from a kennel in the back of the owner's truck. "The tiger jumped out while the truck was moving." The owners passed through Bowie County about 1:30 a.m. Monday and did not realize the big cat was missing until they reached Dallas.

September 14, 2005 San Diego, CA: Officials with the San Diego Zoo had some anxious moments Wednesday when one of its more exotic cats got out of its enclosure. A caracal, a reddish brown wildcat native to Southwest Asia and East Africa, escaped when a zookeeper was cleaning its cage and a hose got caught in gate. Zoo officials told NBC 7/39 that animal-care staff then surrounded the caracal with nets, cages and tranquilizer guns. About 45 minutes after it escaped, a zoo worker grabbed the caracal and it was quickly returned to its cage.

September 5, 2005 Coal Valley, IL: A male lion cub born in June at the Niabi Zoo here died Saturday after a door to his exhibit area malfunctioned and fell on him. The cub was half-way between the indoor and outdoor portions of his exhibit area, he said, when a pulley on the 80-pound door that separates the areas broke, causing the door to fall on him.  "We are not sure why it broke. We are investigating," he said.

August 22, 2005 Zimbabwe, Africa: A 50 year old Japanese diplomat was visiting a 49 acres Lion and Cheetah wildlife park when she was attacked and killed by a hungry lion. 

August 18, 2005 Mound Valley, KS: (AP) - A Siberian tiger attacked and killed a teenage girl who was posing for photos at a family-run animal facility called Lost Creek Animal Sanctuary.  Free Online  Update: 11/18/06 Lost Creek Operators Doug and Keith Billingsly cannot engage in any activity for which a license under the Animal Welfare Act is required, until 2011 according to the ruling from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.  That includes, breeding and selling, exhibiting or any public use of the big cats. In its 10-page decision issued Nov. 3, the Agriculture Department cited several violations of the Animal Welfare Act at Lost Creek, including allowing the public to have direct contact and pose for photographs with adult tigers. It also did not establish and maintain a program of adequate veterinary care to prevent and control injuries, the ruling stated. The ruling says there were not adequate methods of tranquilization available at the facility. Doug Billingsly's nephew and authorities had to shoot and kill Shakka after the animal attacked Hilderbrand. The ruling also alleges that the Billingslys did not allow officials with the Agriculture Department's animal inspection service to inspect the operation on four separate occasions from September 2004 to January 2005, months before the Siberian tiger attacked and killed Hilderbrand. Under the terms of the probation, the Billingslys can be fined $12,600 each if they violate the Animal Welfare Act again. They also were ordered to get rid of all animals subject to the act.

August 15, 2005 Clackamas, OR: Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a pet lynx after it pounced on a six-year-old girl and began clawing her head.  Deputies said the owner reported the pet missing Friday to a Clackamas veterinary clinic, which contacted the sheriff's office.  Attempts to trap the animal had failed. Free Online

August 6, 2005 Mayfield, NY: A baby Siberian tiger was confiscated by NY DEC from Steve Salton. The cub was purchased in OH for $1000.00 and declawed and spayed but the owner was in violation of NY license laws and the state is waiting for the cub to heal before placing her in a sanctuary.

August 1, 2005 Brit Spaugh Zoo, KS: Bart the cougar walked through an open door on his cage in the North American section of the zoo and came face to face with a family.

July 23, 2005 Africa: The owner of the Addo Croc and Lion Ranch, Lourens van Straaten died after being mauled by a lion that he had bottle raised. Van Straaten, a taxidermist by trade, was given a suspended fine in 1994 for trading in rhino horn. He was also at the centre of controversy in 2004 when allegations were made about the condition of his lions and whether he had the necessary "performing animal" permits for the public handling of lion cubs. Van Straaten is not the first Eastern Cape lion breeder to fall victim to his charges. In 1996, Shumba Safaris' owner, JP Kleinhans, was mauled to death by one of his lions at his lodge near Patensie.

July 21, 2005 Pelican Rapids, MN: Dr. Roy Alexander Cordy is in violation of his order to remove all of the exotic animals from his farm and the tiger will be confiscated and killed if he doesn't find a place for the cat.  Cordy, 43, pleaded guilty last year to depriving an animal on his farm of necessary food, water and shelter.

July 6, 2005 East London: Lion Park A bottle raised yearling tiger attempted to rip out the jugular of a 17 year old girl visiting him at the zoo. She was stabilised at the scene and taken to St Dominic's Hospital where she underwent a two-hour operation to repair the damage to her throat. Free online ...

July 1, 2005 Richmond, IA:  Craig Perry, 42, of Center Point, Iowa, said a tiger mauled his left leg moments before he was to pose with 14 of the animals for photographs at an arena on Hawthorn Crop.’s property, at 9819 N. Solon Road, Richmond.  Perry is the owner of Iowa-based Perry’s Wilderness and Zoo Inc. The facility where the alleged attack occurred is the Hawthorn Corp. which was charged in April 2003 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with 47 violations of the Animal Welfare Act after 16 of its elephants were exposed to a human strain of tuberculosis.  In May 2004, Hawthorn Corp. admitted to 14 animal-welfare violations and agreed to pay a $200,000 fine and remove the elephants from the property.

June 27, 2005 Punta Gorda, FL:  Charlotte County gives Lions, Tigers and Bears 6 months to leave or get rid of their lions, tigers and bears for violation zoning laws.  Free online...

June 25, 2005 Little Falls, MN: AP- A lion and tiger, two of ten caged cats at Best Buy Auto, owned by auto mechanic Chuck Mock bolted from their cage and pounced on a 10-year-old boy leaving Russell Lala of Royalton, MN., fighting for his life at Hennepin County Medical Center. The child is now a quadriplegic and on a respirator due to the severe injuries to his spinal cord and brain.  Free Online...

June 22, 2005 TX: Two rare white tiger cubs seized from a man trying to drive them into Mexico have found a new home in Wise County.

June 21, 2005 OH: Heaven's Corner owner Kord McGuire recalls the day a run-in with the 200-pound cougar almost cost him his life. "I was transferring Zeb, who I bottle-fed when he was a baby, to my traveling van to go to an educational program for some Cub Scouts in Camden . Suddenly Zeb leaped up and took my arm in his mouth. He also bit me on the side, narrowly missing my kidney. As I fought him off, he went for my foot, shredding the brand new Nike tennis shoe I was wearing. I finally escaped by climbing on top of the cage."

June 14, 2005 Conway, AR: An unemployed sheet metal worker, facing an order to appear in court and a possible fine, says he'll go to jail before he gives up his aging pet cougar because of his violations of the exotic pet regulations.

June 11, 2005 Lima, OH: Perry Township resident Bradley Craft, 33, was attacked June 11 by his 3-year-old, 160-pound pet mountain lion, Niko. Health Commissioner David Rosebrock said Craft grabbed the cat's tail to prevent it from attacking his mother. Niko then turned on Craft, who was building an enclosure for the exotic pet at the time. Craft was bitten in the leg by the animal, Ellis said, adding that he had treated other animal attack victims at his practice. One of those lost a foot because of a pet bear.

June 11, 2005 Underwood, MN: Acrhangel Lion killed after escaping from cage in Otter Tail County. Attempts to contact the owner Mrs. Mears, were unsuccessful. On May 28th she was given 10 days to find homes for the 9 tigers and the lions in the basement her boyfriend David Piccirillo had left behind when he took tiger cubs to Florida for photo ops. 

June 7, 2005 Beaverton, OR:  Deborah Walding admitted buying and selling of endangered ocelots as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. As part of her guilty plea, Walding agreed to pay a $25,000 fine, cooperate with investigators probing animal trafficking and, in a unique twist, to speak publicly about her conviction at two upcoming national exotic cat conferences.

June 6, 2005 Johnson City, TN: A bobcat escaped after his owner died and is being sent to a wildlife rehabilitator in Unicoi county.

June 2, 2005 Princeton, NJ: "I could feel the bones cracking and the warm blood in my eye," Blakney recalled. "After some time, I decided he finally has me and I should play dead before I pass out. He remembers that the right side of his lower jaw was in about 17 pieces and that a doctor told him it wouldn't work to try putting them back together. So instead, surgeons made a metal jaw. Blakney quickly pointed out that he didn't feel the attack was the mountain lion's fault. "He was just playing out his instinct and was a very good lion through all my years with him," "I raised him on a bottle from the age of six weeks said Blakney.  He had the lion killed so that he didn't have to have rabies shots and had the mate killed as well so that she wouldn't hurt anyone, despite the fact that she was not involved.  He sold their pelts to his neighbor. More...

June 1, 2005 Long Island, NY: A Long Island man accused of chaining and beating his wife as two leopards crouched nearby had created a zoological horror show at his home. In the house were stuffed endangered animals and rotting animal carcasses. Suffolk police busted Anthony Barone on Sunday for the May 20 assault on Anastasia Barone, 33, and in the process discovered the leopards in a dank, feces-laden room. In an unplugged freezer investigators found the rotting carcass of a lynx. Anastasia Barone told authorities the lynx mauled the couple's 8-year-old son last winter. After the attack, Anthony Barone chained up the lynx, until it strangled to death. Barone was in the process of buying two black leopards, describes himself as a "big-cat trainer, animal lover". More...

June 1, 2005 Salisbury, NC: Rowan County Park told 6NEWS a veteran employee was feeding the animals when he was bit on the left leg by one of the park's new bobcats. The worker was treated and released from the hospital.

May 28, 2005 Underwood, MN: Underwood woman must get rid of 9 tigers and lion after three people were bitten by cats at her animal farm called Arcangel Wildlife. Mears has 10 days to find homes for the cats or the county will confiscate them.

May 19, 2005 Omaha, NE: A serval on the loose has found a new home. The big cat was captured Wednesday at 59th and Franklin.

April 30, 2005 Minneapolis, MN: Tiger attack victim remains in hospital after being attacked by the animals, whose owner, Grant Oly, was in jail on charges he failed to register them. In 2003, a tiger at the site was euthanized after it bit a 31-year-old pregnant woman.

April 25, 2005 Lacey, WA: Serval lost and hybrid found. Donny Roder reported loosing his 40 lb Serval and authorities nabbed a Serval hybrid while looking for the lost pet, but this cat was larger and no owner found.

April 23, 2005 Coon Rapids, MN: A Serval was discovered in the rafters of a garage and taken to the Humane Society. No owner has come forward.

April 21, 2005 Branson, MO: Animal control officials are trying to track a black panther that apparently has been roaming southwest Missouri . McRoy suspects the panther is someone's pet. Wildlife biologists confirmed from the video that the panther is not native to the region, McRoy said.

April 18, 2005   Jinan, China: A tiger forced out of its pen and mauled a zoo worker to death Sunday in Laizhou city of east China's Shandong Province, zoo officials and hospital sources confirmed on Monday.

April 12, 2005 China: A desperate father fought in vain to save his eight-year-old son from being mauled to death by a tiger at a zoo in Changde, Central China's Hunan Province . Mei Changhua climbed over a 3 foot-high barrier to get a better view of the big cats, when a tiger attacked him through the bars of its cage. Despite his father's efforts, Mei bled to death before reaching hospital.

April 12, 2005 Thackery, IL: A 4-year-old McLeansboro girl is recuperating from injuries sustained Saturday evening when she was bitten by an adult cougar. The animal's owner, Terry Biggerstaff, 58, shot and killed the animal. Holly Higgins was taken to Hamilton Memorial Hospital where she was treated for a broken arm and lacerations to her hand and arm. Her parents said it took numerous stitches to close the wounds. An emergency room physician asked Holly if she was allergic to anything and she replied, "nothing but big cats".

March 10, 2005 KIEV:  An Amur tiger at Kiev zoo mauled a keeper to death who mistakenly walked into her enclosure.

Mar. 6, 2005 Dent, MN: (AP) Stephanie Truesdell said she was petting a large tiger through the bars of a cage at the Arcangel Wildlife farm near Underwood when the cat gave her a "playful" swipe with its paw and snagged her hand with its claw. Doctors closed the cuts with about a dozen stitches. Since then, an infection set in that required operations to drain the infection, re-close a wound that didn't heal properly and graft healthy skin to the area. Archangel's owner, David Piccirillo abandoned the adult cats and headed to Florida to make money off photo ops with the cubs, but was busted at a Motel 6 for not having a FL permit. He left behind his girlfriend with 9 tigers in the yard and lions in the basement in MN.

February 26, 2005 Palm Beach County, FL: A 500-pound tiger escaped from its cage at Panther Ridge Sanctuary located at 14755 Palm Beach Pointe Blvd. Wellington. Judy Berens, the sanctuary owner, stated that Tristan was not her cat and that he was being boarded and cared for by his owner Gail Laviola,  who was solely responsible for the escape and that it was Laviola who was cited for escaped captive wildlife, a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by 60 days in jail or a $500 fine. Panther Ridge has 16 large cats, including Amos, a black leopard, and Eros and China, two spotted leopards. Some were left with her; others Berens bought. Video Tristen, the escapee & conditions. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel )

February 23, 2005 Sima Valley, CA: A 400 pound tiger was shot after being tracked for 8 days across 29 miles of heavily populated areas of Ventura County. Abby and Emma Hedengran, owners of Wild World/Tiger Creek Foundation were licensed with a 10 year permit to possess 30 big cats as of 2004.  When the permit expired they could not renew and had to move with 25 cats to the Moorpark area where they rented a trailer and barn and had all of their cats in transport cages and carriers until Ventura County sent them packing.  Federal authorities said charges were filed relating to the possession of exotic cats by Gert "Abby" Hedengran, 56, and his wife, Roena "Emma" Hedengran, 52 in the escape and death of Tuffy the tiger. Their cats were confiscated and relocated to NV. Free Online.

February 12, 2005 Oldsmar, FL: Marcus Cook of Zoo Dynamics, fka Zoo Pros was cited with unsafe handling of captive wildlife, resulting in injury to Sandra Hopps-Caraballo when a white tiger cub he was using for photo opportunities with people and their children bit her on the hand. Cook said the cubs belonged to Ken and Nancy Kraft of Bearcat Hollow who had been indicted on 55 counts of violating the Endangered species Act and the Lacey Act. Marcus Cook was also charged in this grand jury indictment for his involvement. After the cub bit the woman FWC ordered Cook to remove the baby tiger from his public petting routine while in FL. Cook said he was sending the cubs back to the Krafts who have relocated from Racine, MN, to SD where the laws are less strict, but his handler said the cubs had been shipped off to a show in Las Vegas. Two children were reported to have been bitten by Cook's tiger cubs while he was traveling through TX and one of the cats in his side show was reported to have killed a woman by ripping her arm off. ( St. Petersburg Times )

February 12, 2005 Cut and Shoot, TX: Woman mauled in leopard attack at 6912 Dusty Lane at Wildlife Extravaganza, owned by Reginald "Lefty" Parr. Parr owns two leopards, a cougar, several tigers and a lion. There have been two prior incidents where cats escaped from Parr's facility. In 1998, two tigers escaped from their cages after a trainer had left them open. Both tigers were later shot. In another incident, two cougars escaped from their cages. At that time, the animals were just housed in cages, which violates the Animal Welfare Act, she said. Following the second incident, Parr lost his exhibitor license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also was found guilty of several violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including constructing and maintaining housing facilities for animals that are not structurally sound and in good repair, failing to utilize a sufficient number of trained employees to maintain the prescribed level of husbandry practices and failing to establish and maintain programs of disease control and prevention, euthanasia and adequate veterinary care under the supervision and assistance of a veterinarian.

February 7, 2005 Baton Rouge, LA: Eric Drogosch is accused of violating the Animal Welfare Act for denying USDA inspectors access to his facilities, animals and records; providing insufficient housing and care to the animals; and failing to "handle tigers carefully," which led to a child being injured. "The gravity of the violations alleged in the complaint is great," the order says. "(Drogosch) has continually failed to comply with the regulations and standards, after having been repeatedly advised of deficiencies." After five years and the deaths of several tigers USDA finally revoked his license. Free online.

February 4, 2005 Sacramento CA: Sacramento zoo lion kills mate of 15 months. In a zoo there is nowhere to run. Zookeepers describe such killings as rare, but on a national scale, they cannot say how rare. No one, either in industry groups or among federal overseers, keeps nationwide records on captive animals that kill their fellows - or on virtually any other cause of captive animal deaths.

February 1, 2005 Vero Beach, FL: The large golden African Serval, scared and lashing out, was dragging its left leg through the underbrush due to a broken back. Sadly, the animal had to be euthanized. Dangerfield estimated that it was about 2 years old and said it had not been declawed. The cat may have escaped from someone's private collection, said Dangerfield. ( www.tcpalm.com )

February 1, 2005 Winfield, IN: Video and still pictures of the animal aren't clear enough to determine what it is, Davis said, but the tracks show it's a feline. Davis estimated it may weigh about 25 to 35 pounds, similar in size to a bobcat - and much smaller than a cougar, which can weigh up to 150 pounds. The animal appeared to be black. Last summer, Davis said, the DNR captured a mixed-breed cat of about the same size and proportions in Hobart , north of Winfield. A dead bobcat was found near Indiana 49 near Chesterton earlier this month by the DNR. The department did not know if it was a wild feline or a former family pet. People sometimes buy exotic animals and then find that they don't make good pets, he said.

January 30, 2005 Los Angeles, CA: Hollywood Hills residents were under warning today that a serval -- a spotted, long-eared African cat that apparently escaped from whoever was keeping it as a pet -- is roaming their area. "Keep small children and small pets indoors. Do not leave small children unattended outdoors," said a Los Angeles Department of Animal Services statement.

January 29, 2005 Sioux Falls, SD: A critically endangered tiger might have to be killed after a man reached through a chain-link fence Tuesday at the Great Plains Zoo and was bitten by the animal. When people are bitten by wild animals, their heads have to be cut off to be tested for rabies, because there are no rabies vaccines approved for use in animals other than cats and dogs.

January 28, 2005 Toronto, Canada: A stripper mauled by a tiger in a Canadian safari park sued for $8,000,000.00 in damages (winning 838k) because her scars meant she could no longer work. Her musician boyfriend, David Balac, won $1.78 million because his injuries left him unable to work as an accordion player. African Lion Safari, near Hamilton, Ontario, west of Toronto, said it is reviewing the ruling, but it insisted the park was safe.

January 27, 2005 Moorpark, CA: Abby and Emma Hedengran, owners of Wild World/Tiger Creek Foundation transferred their cats from a Temecula facility to their new residence and facility in Moorpark. During the move, a Siberian lynx and an adult male Siberian tiger escaped. The lynx was found on the porch of a home near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and tranquilized. The tiger was later shot and killed.

January 13, 2005 Petal, MS: A bobcat is on her way to a sanctuary. The adult bobcat was emaciated and infected by buckshot wounds. Her collar was so tight it embedded in her fur. She was spayed and declawed and trailed a chain, adding to the theory that someone illegally kept her as a pet. Unable to hunt without her claws, Rose nearly starved before someone grabbed her chain and turned her over to a local rescue group. Most animals in her situation don't end up getting placed like she did. Only one out of 20 or 30 avoid being euthanized.

January 11, 2005 Sacramento, CA: A 400 pound DEAD tiger escaped from the back of a truck as the vehicle swerved on Highway 99 in on the way to a lab for a necropsy.

January 9, 2005 Charlotte, Kings Mountain, NC: Two 75-125 pound tiger cubs were found wandering in a neighborhood full of children. These cats are banned in this area and even after the media has shown their pictures all over T.V. no one has stepped forward to claim them. One cub suffered a broken tail and the other a dislocated pelvis when they were apparently thrown from the back of a moving vehicle with electric cords tied around their necks. The cubs were separated and sent to separate animal shelters that are only equipped for dogs and cats. More.

 

 

December 10, 2004 Cassville, MO: At 1:14 p.m. Wednesday, Lisa (no last name) at St. John's Hospital reported a man with a cougar bite.

December 7, 2004 Copenhagen, Denmark: (AP) A rare Siberian tiger was shot and killed Tuesday after it escaped from a downtown zoo by climbing over a 16-foot electrified fence in southern Denmark.

December 5, 2004 Laredo, TX: Texas circus worker bitten by Bengal tiger. A circus staffer working at a show in Texas was injured after getting too close to the tiger cage. The worker's hand was bitten and mangled by a Bengal tiger. The tiger belongs to the Great Circus of China. Circus managers say the tiger was properly caged at the time. They added that workers know not to go into the cages.

November 20, 2004 St. Augustine, FL: (AP) A 14 year old boy was mauled by a 450 lb tiger that was being walked on a leash at the St. Johns County Fair by the cat's owner, Curt LoGiudice, owner of the Catty Shack Ranch at Jacksonville. The boy and some friends were watching the tiger being moved to the truck when the tiger went for the boy, hooking the boy's thigh and pulling the boy under him. That's when the deputies shot the tiger with the Tasers. The handler tried to get between the tiger and the boy, and after the tiger released the boy, it then bit the handler around his neck and head, Suchy said. At one time, the handler's head was in the tiger's mouth, Suchy said. LoGiudice has been questioned four times for attacks: One of his cougars bit a 19-month-old in 1999, while an elderly woman was bitten on the arm by a tiger cub in 2000, a trainer suffered 23 puncture wounds from a cougar and a woman sued LoGiudice after the same cougar attacked her, but Florida Game and Fish officials say that these attacks will not cause Curt LoGiudice of Catty Shack Ranch to lose his license to exhibit the cats.  ( Associated Press ) Free Online.

November 10, 2004 Gentry, AR: A tiger pulled the flesh off the right middle finger of Angela Pruitt, 36, of Vian, OK at the Wild Wilderness Drive Thru Safari. The owners of the safari refused to comment on the woman's injury or provide safety tips for visitors attending the park.

November 10, 2004 Columbia, TN: An 19 month old Serval named Nyla escapes while her owner, Talisa Bowers is out of town when the family dog forced open her gate to get to her food. Nyla had eluded recapture for more than a month last October when she escaped by pushing the door open herself. At this time the declawed Serval is still on the loose with only domestic pets to feed on since she is incapable of capturing real prey. Free Online.

November 3, 2004 Taipei City Zoo: A man who suffers from a mental disorder jumped into the lion's pit at the zoo. The man climbed the two-story high concrete wall and jumped down into the animal's home. He suffered only minor bite wounds, unlike the innocent lions, who were anesthetized and quarantined. Free online.

October 2004, CA: Saugus High School hosted a display by Sid Yost of Amazing Animal Actors, who took a lion to a homecoming assembly at the school. Yost has been repeatedly cited and was fined $2,000 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act-including failure to handle animals in a way that ensures public safety and the welfare of the animals-after one of his chimpanzees bit someone.

October 29, 2004 Shawnee County, KS: The Wichita Eagle: A mountain lion was found dead shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday night in Shawnee County. "It was a young one, only 50 to 60 pounds, and had been declawed and its canine teeth had been filed down," We have not been able to verify if this animal belonged to a few people in the area who have permits for mountain lions or if it might have belonged to someone who was keeping one illegally without a permit and then dumped it there," Ladner said. "They did try to make it appear like the animal was crossing the road." Free online.

October 22, 2004 Bangkok, Thailand: (Reuters) The bird flu toll among tigers at a Thai zoo has risen to 83, but the keepers who looked after them are free of the deadly disease which has killed 31 people in southeast Asia this year, officials said on Friday. Free online.

August 31, 2004 Ft. Polk, LA: AP 40 soldiers, several trappers and others searched a military installation and surrounding area for a 100 pound, collared pet tiger for several days. Free online.

August 19, 2004 Punta Gorda, FL: (AP) Two lions were running down Highway 17 in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley.

August 23, 2004 The big cat crises was the August 23, 2004 Cover Story of TIME Magazine.  Read more in that issue by clicking on the cover. Articles cover the threats of vanishing habitat, their endangered status and the problems associated with them being kept as pets.

July 30, 2004 Queens, NY: 450 pound Cole Brothers Circus Tiger Escapes in New York. Sighting of the tiger walking along the road and through a park causes multi-car accident that resulted in injuries to four adults and a child. The city was sued for 3.5 million by the victims of the wreck.  The circus was restrained from bringing their big cats and elephants to their next gig.

July 27, 2004 Bullitt Co., KY: A two year old Snow Leopard escaped in Shepherdsville, Kentucky from his private owner and has been missing for days.  The owner says he would probably run from people, but that kids and pets shouldn't be let out.

July 12, 2004 West Palm Beach, FL: Tiger escapes private owner in West Palm Beach and eludes authorities.  In February 2002, Bobo, the 750-pound tiger mauled a woman who was helping Sipek during a photo shoot at his compound. She was bit on the head. After eluding capture for two days, Bobo was shot and killed.

June 14, 2004 Elgin, Canada: A 10-year-old Toronto boy is in London hospital with serious neck and head injuries after being attacked by a tiger. The owner was showing the visitors his 160-kilogram Siberian tiger and led the tiger out on a leash. When the tiger lunged, the boy turned to run and was attacked in the back of the head and neck, suffering injuries that sent him to Children's Hospital of Western Ontario in London.

June 9, 2004 Copley Twp. OH: Trucks haul away 29 exotic animals. Pearson's L&L Exotic Animal Farm loses bid to keep lions, tigers, leopards. This is not the first time the farm has drawn attention from the law and from the media, reported Costen. In 1983, tragedy struck when a 250-pound tiger killed Pearson's 2-year-old son. 2006 Update: The U.S. Department of Agriculture filed a complaint against Pearson and the L&L Exotic Animal Farm in 2002, but the process to revoke his license stagnated after the hearing was temporarily halted in September 2003. When the hearing resumed Pearson faced 953 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, from February 1997 through February 2006.

May 30, 2004 Chillicothe, OH: (AP) A man whose pet lioness attacked his daughter has given away his second big cat. Charles Peters had to shoot and kill Sheba on Friday evening after the lioness wouldn't let go of the arm of Peters' 33-ye