List of unusual animal deaths

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Lists of unusual deaths
Antiquity
Middle Ages	Renaissance	Early modern period
19th century	20th century	21st century
Animal deaths

This list of unusual deaths includes unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded for animals, noted as being unusual by multiple sources.

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  Postcard of the death of Jumbo
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  Photo of questionable authenticity depicting the execution of Mary ^[1]
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  Cocaine Bear on display in Kentucky, 36 years after her death

Animal deaths

Name of animal	Image	Date of death	Details
Jocko the monkey		July 1880	The performance monkey from Goldsboro, North Carolina, was found dead after he hanged himself with a makeshift noose made with clothesline. It is believed that Jocko did it as an experiment after watching public hangings with his owner Rockwell Syrock. [2] [3] [4]
Jumbo the elephant		15 September 1885	The celebrity elephant was hit by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario. He died shortly thereafter. [5] [6]
Topsy the elephant		4 January 1903	The elephant was executed by poisoning, electrocution, and strangulation. A 74-second film of the electrocution was recorded and preserved, possibly the first death captured on film. [7] [8]
Mary the elephant		13 September 1916	The day after the five-ton cow elephant killed a trainer for the Sparks World Famous Shows circus in Sullivan County, Tennessee, she was hanged by the neck from a railcar-mounted industrial crane. [1] [9] [ verification needed ] [10]
Tubby the cocker spaniel		7 November 1940	The cocker spaniel was the sole fatality of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge over the Tacoma Narrows, Washington. When the initial collapse began, Tubby's owner initially escaped from his car and got off of the bridge on foot but later attempted to rescue the stranded dog along with other bystanders. Frightened, Tubby bit the hand of one of his rescuer moments before the bridge finally collapsed, causing the dog to fall to his death. [11] [12]
Stuckie the dog		c. 1960	The posthumously named mummified dog was discovered by Georgia Kraft Co. loggers in 1980, lodged in a chestnut oak approximately 28 feet (8.5 m) from the base. The low moisture and tannins found in the tree, combined with a circulated airflow, preserved his body and kept the smell of natural putrefaction away from scavenging animals. He remains on display at Southern Forest World in Waycross, Georgia. [13] [14]
Seagull		4 August 1983	During a Major League Baseball Yankees-Blue Jays game at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium, Yankees right fielder Dave Winfield threw a warm-up ball which hit a seagull, killing it. After the game, Toronto police charged Winfield with causing "unnecessary suffering of an animal". The charges were dropped the following day. [15] [16]
Cocaine Bear		1985	A 175-kilogram (386 lb) American black bear died in Georgia in 1985 after overdosing on cocaine. The cocaine had been dumped from an airplane piloted by Andrew C. Thornton II, a former narcotics officer turned convicted drug smuggler. [17] It inspired the 2023 film Cocaine Bear . [18]
Deer		14 August 1987	During practice for the 1987 Austrian Grand Prix, Stefan Johansson hit a roe deer with his McLaren MP4/3 after it wandered onto the circuit. It was struck by Johansson traveling at close to 140 mph (230 km/h), killing it instantly. Johansson survived. [19] [20] [ unreliable source? ]
Olympic doves		17 September 1988	During the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, hundreds of live doves were released as a symbol of world peace. Many of the doves landed on the Olympic cauldron just prior to it being lit. When the cauldron was lit, over a dozen of the doves resting on the rim of the cauldron and flying directly above it were burned alive by the Olympic flame. The death of the birds marked the last time that live doves were used. [21] [22]
Goose		30 March 1999	On the inaugural ride of the Apollo's Chariot rollercoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, male model Fabio was struck in the face by a goose during the first drop. The goose was killed, while Fabio's nose was bloodied and required stitches. [23] [24] [25]
Dove		24 March 2001	During a Major League Baseball spring training game, pitcher Randy Johnson threw a fastball just as a bird flew through the pitch's path, killing it instantly. [26] [27] [ unreliable source? ] [28]
Alan the dachshund		14 January 2013	The dachshund and Tatler magazine's "office dog" saw a man approaching the revolving doors of Vogue House and walked after the man. As Alan tried to rush through the revolving doors, his neck got caught in it, also getting the worker stuck in the door. Two fire engines rushed to the scene, where they freed the man, but could not free Alan, who died at the scene. [29] [30]
Kabibe the gorilla		7 November 2014	The 15-month-old western lowland gorilla was accidentally crushed by a hydraulic door in her enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. [31] [32]

References

1. Schroeder, Joan Vannorsdall (17 June 2017) [Originally published May/June 1997]. "From the Archive: The Day They Hanged an Elephant in East Tennessee". Favorite Articles. Blue Ridge Country. Retrieved 20 November 2024. It is tragic, absurd, excessive: quintessential turn-of-the-century America.
2. "Lages-Neuigfeiten" [Location News]. Der Deutsche Correspondent (in German). 6 July 1880. p. 1. Retrieved 23 September 2024– via Chronicling America. Goldsboro, N.C., war soeben der Schauplatz eines Selbstmordes, der wohl einzig in seiner Art dasteht, da das Opfer eine Affe gewesen ist.[Goldsboro, N.C., was just the scene of a suicide that seems to be the only one of its kind in that the victim was a monkey.]
3. "Suicide of a Monkey". Washington Evening Star . 8 July 1880. p. 3. Retrieved 23 September 2024– via Chronicling America. At Goldsboro, N.C., occurred one of the most novel suicides of the century, the victim being a monkey owned by Mr. Rockwell Syrock.
4. Clay, Jeremy (5 April 2014). "Victorian strangeness: The death of a curious monkey". BBC News . Retrieved 6 August 2024.
5. "Jumbo the elephant: The life and mysterious death of the world's first animal superstar". The Current. CBC Radio . 5 January 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
6. Chan, Emily (16 May 2024). "The Life And Strange Death Of The Most Famous Elephant In The World, Whose Ashes Are Housed On A College Campus". Chip Chick. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
7. Barrow, Jo (6 December 2013). "From LSD to a public hanging...three cruel and unusual elephant deaths". The Independent . Retrieved 23 September 2024.
8. Daly, Michael (2014). Topsy: The Startling Story of the Crooked-Tailed Elephant, P. T. Barnum, and the American Wizard, Thomas Edison. Grove Atlantic. ISBN   978-0-8021-4605-2 – via Internet Archive. In 1903, an elephant named Topsy was electrocuted on Coney Island, and ever since, this bizarre execution has reverberated through popular culture with the whiff of urban legend.
9. Olson, Ted (2009). The Hanging of Mary, a Circus Elephant. University of Tennessee Press. pp. 219–227.
10. Krajicek, David J. (14 March 2015). "'Fed up' circus elephant lynched for 'murder' in 1916". New York Daily News . Archived from the original on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016. But as kooky as it sounds, it's a true story.
11. "Tacoma Narrows Bridge history - Tubby trivia". Washington State Department of Transportation. Retrieved 18 June 2025. "Tubby" the dog fell into fame when Galloping Gertie collapsed on November 7, 1940. As the only victim of that great disaster, Tubby has earned a special place in the hearts of many. His death symbolizes the drama of that terrible day.
12. Zasky, Jason. "Suspended Animation - The collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge". Failure Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2025. After Coatsworth lost control of his car he was forced to abandon it with Tubby still inside. At this point, the story becomes the stuff of legend.
13. Serena, Katie (22 January 2018). Kuroski, John (ed.). "Meet "Stuckie" — The Mummified Dog Who Has Been Stuck In A Tree For Over 50 Years". All That's Interesting. Retrieved 28 May 2025. After finding the mummified pup, the loggers decided to take it to a museum, to show off the rare sight to the world.
14. Vercellone, Chiara (17 August 2021). "Fact check: 'Stuckie the Mummified Dog' is real, on display at Georgia museum". USA TODAY. Retrieved 28 May 2025. You can file this one under strange but true.
15. "American League: Winfield hits bat and bird in Yank win". Sports. The Robesonian . AP. 5 August 1983. p. 1B. Retrieved 22 October 2024– via Google Books. The New York Yankees, who seem to get involved in one bizarre incident after another these days, had one for the books – and for the birds – Thursday night.
16. "Winfield's return is picture perfect". The StarPhoenix . CP. 3 February 1984. p. C2. Retrieved 23 September 2024– via Google Books. The bizarre incident occurred between innings of a Toronto Blue Jays-Yankees American League baseball game at Exhibition Stadium in early August.
17. "What's the real 'Cocaine Bear' story?". WAGA-TV . 2 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022. You may have seen the over-the-top trailer for the upcoming 2023 thriller, "Cocaine Bear," based on the bizarre true story of a North Georgia bear that consumed a stash of cocaine.
18. Massie, Graeme (1 December 2022). "True story of bear who consumed duffel bag of cocaine and got Hollywood treatment". The Independent. Retrieved 3 December 2022. They got their hands on it after an exhaustive cross-country search, and detail its bizarre history on their website.
19. "Johansson atropela e mata um veado na pista" [Johansson runs over and kills a deer on the track]. Jornal dos Sports (in Brazilian Portuguese). 15 August 1987. Page 6, column 6. Retrieved 14 September 2024. ...o acontecimento que mais chamou a atenção dos espectadores do primeiro treino oficial para o Grande Prèmio da Austria foi o talvez mais inesperado acidente já registrado na história da Fórmula-1.[...the event that most caught the attention of spectators at the first official practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix was perhaps the most unexpected accident ever recorded in the history of Formula 1.]
20. Jindal, Subham (12 July 2020). "F1 car hits deer: Bizzare [sic] incident when Stefan Johannson's car hit a deer at the 1987 Austrian GP". TheSportsRush.
21. "10 of the most bizarre endings in Summer Olympics history". Southeastern Conference . 17 August 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
22. "Olympic opening ceremonies: A history of controversies and embarrassments". Olympics 2021. News Nine. Agence France-Presse. 23 July 2021. Archived from the original on 11 June 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2024. A bizarre and cringeworthy choice was made by the organisers in the 1988 opening ceremony where several white doves were burnt alive after the flame were [sic] lit in Seoul, South Korea.
23. "Fabio goosing remembered as park reopens". Greensboro News and Record . Knight Ridder. 28 March 2000. Retrieved 23 September 2024. I think everyone understands it was a bizarre incident. Nothing like that has ever happened in the history of the park, in 25 years. We've had no incident before then and none since then.
24. "Today is the 17th anniversary of that time Fabio was smashed in the face by a goose at Busch Gardens" . Tampa Bay Times . 30 March 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2024. And it was on that day in a much simpler 1999 that the god-like humanoid suffered the bizarre, odds-defying injury of goose to face while plummeting down the ride's first drop at 70 mph.
25. Collette, Christopher (29 March 2019). "24 years ago, Fabio got goosed at Apollo's Chariot opening at Busch Gardens Williamsburg". WVEC . ...despite Fabio's misgivings, it now does appear his "goosing" was indeed an isolated mishap.
26. Brown, Maury (24 March 2018). "17 Years Ago: Randy Johnson Makes Bird Explode In Spring Training Game". Forbes . Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2022. It wasn't on purpose; it would have been impossible to do. The timing was too perfect, and in the end, well... shocking, tragic, crazy... you pick the superlative, history was made.
27. "Remember When: Randy Johnson Hit a Bird With His Fastball". NowThis News. 10 June 2018. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021– via YouTube.
28. Buchanan, Zach (21 March 2021). "Randy Johnson threw a fastball, and a bird disappeared: 20 years since baseball's wildest moment" . The Athletic. The New York Times. Retrieved 23 September 2024. A bird meeting its demise at the hands of one of the game's most intimidating pitchers remains among the weirdest things to happen on a baseball field.
29. Quinn, Ben (15 January 2013). "Tatler's dog, Alan, dies in bizarre revolving door accident". The Guardian . Retrieved 27 February 2022.
30. Silverman, Rosa (31 October 2013). "Tatler introduces its latest canine recruit, Geoffrey". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 20 November 2024. The Conde Nast magazine welcomes on board a new dog following the death of 'Tatler Alan' in a freak accident
31. "Gorilla Crushed by Door in Freak Zoo Accident". U.S. News. NBC News. 9 November 2014 [Originally published 8 November 2014]. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
32. Sabin, Lamiat (9 November 2014). "Kabibe the 16-month-old baby gorilla dies in freak accident at San Francisco zoo". The Independent. Retrieved 23 September 2024.