| 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.
| 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] | |
| 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. [11] [12] | |
| 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. [13] It inspired the 2023 film Cocaine Bear . [14] | |
| 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. [15] [16] [ 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. [17] [18] | |
| Goose | 27 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. [19] [20] [21] | |
| 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. [22] [23] [ unreliable source? ] [24] | |
| Alan the dachshund | 14 January 2013 | 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. [25] [26] | |
| 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. [27] [28] |
The Bronx Zoo is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States by area, comprising 265 acres (107 ha) of park lands and naturalistic habitats separated by the Bronx River. On average, the zoo has 2.15 million visitors each year as of 2009. The zoo's original permanent buildings, known as Astor Court, were designed as a series of Beaux-Arts pavilions grouped around the large circular sea lion pool. The Rainey Memorial Gates were designed by sculptor Paul Manship in 1934 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Topsy was a female Asian elephant who was electrocuted at Coney Island, New York, in January 1903. Born in Southeast Asia around 1875, Topsy was secretly brought into the United States soon thereafter and added to the herd of performing elephants at the Forepaugh Circus, who fraudulently advertised her as the first elephant born in the United States. During her 25 years at Forepaugh, Topsy gained a reputation as a "bad" elephant and, after killing a spectator in 1902, was sold to Coney Island's Sea Lion Park. Sea Lion was leased out at the end of the 1902 season and during the construction of the park that took its place, Luna Park, Topsy was used in publicity stunts and also involved in several well-publicized incidents, attributed to the actions of either her drunken handler or the park's new publicity-hungry owners, Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy.
Whipsnade Zoo, formerly known as ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, is a zoo and safari park located at Whipsnade, near Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of two zoos that are owned by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats.
Montgomery Zoo is a 40-acre (16 ha) zoo located on the north side of Montgomery, Alabama. The zoo is an independent city department, and is supported in part by The Montgomery Area Zoological Society. It is home to approximately 750 animals representing 140 species. After not renewing their Association of Zoos and Aquariums membership in 2013, the zoo opted to remain accredited solely by the Zoological Association of America. The Mann Wildlife Learning Museum opened in January 2003 and serves as the administration building. The museum features taxidermy displays with a focus on native wildlife, game species, and wildlife management.
Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near the town of Hythe in Kent, England is set in 600 acres (2.4 km2) and incorporates the historic Port Lympne Mansion, and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, for Sir Philip Sassoon.
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is a zoo and botanical garden located in Oklahoma City's Adventure District in northeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Zoo Zurich is a zoo located in Zurich, Switzerland. It is considered one of the best zoos in Europe. Opened in 1929, it is the third oldest zoo in Switzerland and it accumulated a collection of 2,200 specimens of 300 species by its seventy-fifth year. It is located on Zürichbergstrasse, on the lower reaches of the Zürichberg in the Fluntern quarter.
The Louisville Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Louisville Zoo, is a 134-acre (54 ha) zoo in Louisville, Kentucky, situated in the city's Poplar Level neighborhood. Founded in 1969, the "State Zoo of Kentucky" currently exhibits over 1,200 animals in naturalistic and mixed animal settings representing both geographical areas and biomes or habitats.
Adelaide Zoo is a zoo in Adelaide, Australia. It is the country's second oldest zoo opening in 1883, and is operated on a non-profit basis. It is located in the parklands just north of the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia. It is administered by the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia Incorporated, which is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and which also administers the Monarto Safari Park near Murray Bridge.
In legal history, an animal trial was the criminal trial of a non-human animal. Such trials are recorded as having taken place in Europe from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth. The most documented of these trials being from France, but they also occurred in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and other countries.
Woburn Safari Park is a safari park located in Woburn, Bedfordshire, England. Visitors to the park can drive through exhibits, which contain species such as southern white rhino, elephants, tigers and black bears. It is part of the estates of the Duke of Bedford that also includes Woburn Abbey and its 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) deer park. The Safari Park itself covers 360 acres (150 ha).
Shanghai Zoological Park, or commonly Shanghai Zoo in short, is the one of the two main zoos in Shanghai. It is located near the township of Hongqiao and is administratively in Changning District. Shanghai Zoo was formerly known as " Xijiao Park", which is still a common name used locally for the zoo.
The Greater Vancouver Zoo is a 49-hectare (120-acre) privately-run zoo located in Aldergrove, British Columbia, Canada. The zoo was established in 1970 as the Vancouver Game Farm. Since then it has undergone two name changes, being briefly renamed as the Greater Vancouver Zoological Centre in 1995, before it adopted its present name in 1999. As of 2023, the zoo is home to 180 animals, representing over 100 different species, including several orphaned, rescued and otherwise non-releasable individuals. The zoo's mission statement is "to inspire appreciation of our ecosystems and support conservation efforts by engaging the community."
Tennōji Zoo (天王寺動物園) is a 11-hectare (27-acre) zoo located at Tennōji Park in Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan, opened on January 1, 1915. It is the third zoo to be built in Japan and is located southwest of the Shitennō-ji temple, the first Buddhist temple in Japan.
ZooAmerica is a zoo located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1910 by Milton S. Hershey with a few animals, including bears, birds, and deer. Today, it covers 11 acres and is home to more than 75 species and 200 individual animals, including some that are rare and endangered.
The Central Zoo is a 6-hectare (15-acre) zoo in Jawalakhel, Nepal. It is home to some 969 animals in 109 species, and is operated by the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC). Although it was originally a private zoo, it was opened to the public in 1956.
The Kurumbapatti Zoological Park is a second largest zoo in Tamil Nadu next to Arignar Anna Zoological Park, situated in the foothills of the Shervaroyan Hills, 10 km from Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. It was set up in 1981 as a small museum and was later extended to 69 Ha. The zoo houses many species of wildlife, with monkeys as the major attraction, and is in the vicinity of reserve forest, permitting visitors the opportunity to also experience the flora and fauna there. The park has a gentle topography, areas of bamboo and woodland and semi-perennial streams. Facilities include a children's playground area.
It is tragic, absurd, excessive: quintessential turn-of-the-century 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.]
At Goldsboro, N.C., occurred one of the most novel suicides of the century, the victim being a monkey owned by Mr. Rockwell Syrock.
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.
But as kooky as it sounds, it's a true story.
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.
The bizarre incident occurred between innings of a Toronto Blue Jays-Yankees American League baseball game at Exhibition Stadium in early August.
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.
They got their hands on it after an exhaustive cross-country search, and detail its bizarre history on their website.
...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.]
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.
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.
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.
...despite Fabio's misgivings, it now does appear his "goosing" was indeed an isolated mishap.
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.
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.
The Conde Nast magazine welcomes on board a new dog following the death of 'Tatler Alan' in a freak accident
