Random Zookeepers Share Horrifying Stories Of Resident Animals Eating Each Other (18 items)

• (#1) And That, Folks, Is A Feeding Frenzy

  From Redditor /u/aleatorictelevision:

  "My favorite story is when I was doing audience shows at an aquarium in New Jersey. We had yellowfin tuna in the ocean tank which was 780,000 gallons, if I recall correctly, maybe 70-by-70-ft wide from overhead. Now, yellowfin are some of the ocean's best and fastest swimmers. They can get up to 45 mph underwater, which is cool when you would see the small school of them zip back and forth in the tank, but they'd have to stop every 70 ft or so because of the wall or make a quick pivot and try to circle around the tank.

  So one day I'm helping out with a dive show where divers are in the ocean tank behind a 50 foot tall window and there's amphitheater seating in front of it. The amphitheater is packed with kids on field trips and they're watching as the tuna are zipping back-and-forth from one end of the tank to the other. The show people are yakking on about sea creatures, and the school of tuna are coming back this way full blast. And one of them doesn't make the turn fast enough. So I am looking right at it as it slams into the thick acrylic window at full speed. It went like:

  *tuna tuna tuna EXPLOSION*

  Now there are other carnivorous animals in this tank, including 11 sand tigers sharks, sand bar sharks, a couple of 17 ft long stingrays, and some loggerhead turtles (not carnivorous but they'll eat whatever) and lunch has been served!

  It's a feeding frenzy and the amphitheater of school kids is screaming bloody murder. Chaos erupts! Everyone is shocked. Some kids are trying to run away and climb over each other. The girl with the mic has no idea what to do. The diver in the tank just looks up as the swarming mass of ocean fury is taking place over his head. After about a minute it's more amazing than horrifying and people are glued to their seats.

  Eventually the sharks tear the tuna up into so many pieces every thing dissipates and chunks of tuna sail around the tank all day and you can see the turtles biting at a tuna head. Best day at the aquarium ever!"
• (#2) Little Hunt On The Prairie

  From Redditor /u/Whiptail:

  "My lecturer told us that about a decade ago in the local zoo a prairie dog exhibit was set up beside the cheetahs. Apparently the prairie dogs tunneled their way into the next exhibit and the cheetahs would sit by the holes waiting for a head to pop up."
• (#3) Timing Like A Hawk

  From Redditor /u/slimpickens42:

  "At Disney World they used to release doves at the end of their Beauty and the Beast stage show. They had to stop when the local hawks had figured out the show's schedule and decided to come have a snack after each show."
• (#4) An IRL Duck Hunt

  From Redditor /u/JackXDark:

  "I won't name the zoo I worked at, but it's in the south of England. They're all about trying to let the animals seem to be in as natural an environment as possible, with a minimum of fencing or bars between them and the public. In some cases, that means putting ones that weren't likely to swim on small islands in large ponds, with covered bridges connecting back to their houses. It's fairly artificial, as there's an enclosure all around the outside, but it's carefully structured so that it gives the impression of openness.

  But, essentially, what you've got, is monkeys (macaques, if I recall correctly, it's been a while) on an island in a large pond. So, of course, you get water birds landing on the pond. They're wary of the monkeys and don't tend to go on the island, but one day, a couple of the monkeys have been stashing some of their dinner, and they sit at the side of the pond, throwing the food to the ducks.

  A crowd of school kids gather. I stopped to watch too.

  'Aaawww, lookit da cute monkeys feeding the duckies...' I think you can see where this is going.

  These two monkeys are luring the ducks onto their island. Stupid ducks, of course, think that the monkeys are just acting like stupid humans do (even though they're not supposed to), so they venture onto the island.

  Another couple of the monkeys have been waiting in ambush to the side, and the first duck hops onto the island and has some more monkey food... Seems legit, so a second and then a third duck follow. As soon as there is an even number of ducks and monkeys who are in on the plan, the scene changes. The monkeys run in at great speed, grab their ducks, rip their heads off, and howl in victory, like a predator that's just taken a spine.

  What happens next is that the schoolkids all burst into tears (and a couple of the duck heads were thrown their way too, exacerbating the horror), and the rest of the troupe of monkeys notice what's happened, so they launch themselves at the hunter-monkeys and everything degenerates into a terrible scene of flying feathers and blood, screaming schoolchildren, and monkey-on-monkey violence that seemed to include more mounting and humping than hitting or biting.

  I had to write a report up about this, which some of the zoologists got very excited about. There was also a fence put around the island."
• (#5) Oh Deer, Oh Dear

  From Redditor /u/SeriousBlack:

  "One time a deer (not another zoo exhibit, just a normal deer) jumped into the lion pen at the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington DC. The adult lions tore it apart in front of a group of people."
• (#6) Feather For Your Troubles

  From Redditor /u/But-I-Must-Internet:

  "I used to intern at a zoo in Pennsylvania and I will always remember the time I was in the primate house when a curator walked in with a handful of peacock feathers in her hand. She walked over to me and gave me one. I was pretty stoked. This zoo allows a flock of peacocks to wander around freely, so I asked her if she liked to collect the feathers they dropped.

  'Oh no,' she said, 'these are from a peacock that flew into the Asian bear's enclosure and got eaten. He usually just ignores them but every now and again he'll get hungry and attack one and we have to distract him with treats so we can stop him from eating the whole thing. I just got back from carrying the body away and plucked a few of these for the education center.'

  At this point I became very aware how moist the tip of the feather felt... It was a very eye-opening experience. I always wonder if some visitor caught it on camera and it's on YouTube somewhere."
• (#7) 'Are You Not Entertained?'

  From Redditor /u/trancenental:

  "Feral ducks are a massive issue for us. Lots of birds and water birds, and naturally migratory ducks, want to find a good place to post up and get free food. With that comes lots of baby ducks, who wander off into the darnedest of places away from their mothers.

  A small group found their way into the Orangutan enclosure, and sh*t got disturbing pretty quick. Long story short, in front of a large group of guests, our alpha female picked one up and began to forcefully masturbate with it. In and out, in and out of her big, hairy, orange cooter, all the while she stares back blankly at the crowd that's gathered and is losing their minds. The alpha male, not to be outdone, scores himself a little duckling. But he ends it quick: he squeezes it until it pops in his hand, and he forcefully throws it into the glass barrier where the guests are, and its little dead body smears down the glass, streaking it. Little kids are now screaming and crying, and the male is in there like Russell Crowe, 'Are you not entertained?'"
• (#8) SeaWorld's Latest

  From a deleted user:

  "We go to SeaWorld and I'm about nine at the time and we go to look at the crocodiles. They are in a circular pit and there are dozens of people around. They start throwing chicken breasts at the crocodiles and most of the time the chicken breast would just hit the crocodile in the face. So pelicans would come down and take them, and one of the pelicans swoops down and tries to take a chicken. Out of nowhere a crocodile flies from the water and bites this huge pelican. While the pelican is still twitching trying to get free, another crocodile chomps down on the other part of the pelican and the two crocodiles rip it in half. There were kids screaming everywhere. I love SeaWorld."
• (#9) The Most (En)Dangerous Game

  From Redditor /u/CNDNFighter:

  "Large cat keeper here. 

  For a number of years, the zoo I worked at had the most successful Amur Leopard breeding pair in the country. For reference, the Amur Leopard is among the most endangered animals on the planet with about 30-40 left in the wild and approximately 150 in captivity.

  Anyways, one of our two leopards ended up dying simply on account of old age. After a little while, we decided to try and move another one in for breeding purposes. To be clear, when we are dealing with an animal with the importance of an Amur, any major move is not done before lengthy consultations with vets, behavioral experts, those who raised the animal, etc, etc. Every single person (including myself admittedly) green-lighted the move and were all very confident.

  After a fairly easy move, the two seemed to be hitting it off just fine. They were monitored throughout the day and night for several weeks before it was determined that they would be adequate partners.

  Quite literally the day after our monitoring program was removed, we came back the following morning and the male had eaten the female almost completely. The incident spurred on even further monitoring and more stringent procedures with our breeding pairs.

  This remains to this day, by a wide margin the most significant, most detrimental incident that zoo has ever seen. In my 10 years working at a zoo, I have never seen behavior even remotely similar to this among cats at any point. It was unexpected to say the least.

  We brought in further experts following the incident and they could not agree concretely on what had happened."
• (#10) To Be Fair, This Is Standard Dragon Behavior

  From Redditor /u/ShillelaghLaw:

  "I was told a story by one of the people who work near the komodo dragons at Disney's Animal Kingdom that a wild rabbit got into the enclosure one day. Some lady started yelling and screaming that they needed to go save it. It didn't take long for the komodo to smell it and suddenly there was no more rabbit.

  From what I was told the lady wrote a letter about how no one would jump in the enclosure and help the poor rabbit."
• (#11) Victory For The Otter

  From Redditor /u/ironictwostepper:

  "I saw a river otter jump six feet in the air and chomp a bird at the Dallas Aquarium. It then barked a victory song and seemed quite happy as the workers tried to get everyone to move along."
• (#12) Further Proof That Geese Are Jerks

  From Redditor /u/YoungGreezy:

  "At the zoo I worked at, a goose got into the cheetah exhibit, which contained a few baby cheetah cubs at the time. The geese in our area are protected from humans by law so they have developed massive egos over the years and believe they can't be harmed. Due to this, once this goose came into contact with the cubs, it tried to stand its ground rather than simply flying away. The cheetah cubs cornered it (geese need a running start to take off) and basically took turns attacking it until it died. Then they ate it."
• (#13) A Not-So-Wise Owl

  From Redditor /u/bacon_butters:

  "At Colchester Zoo in England an owl was taking part in a show where it would fly a loop round the zoo and return to its handler. One day it flew too low over the lion enclosure and one leaped in the air and knocked it out of the air with its paw and quickly devoured it in view of several shocked families."
• (#14) Gators Get Gruesome

  From Redditor /u/mikerg:

  "We have a children's zoo at our local jail. The animal's (most are rescue or seized) are cared for by the inmates and a full-time farmer.

  We once had two alligators in a pen together. When we got them, they were both about three feet long. As they grew, one got a bit larger than the other (about four feet). One morning, the farmer and the inmates found only the larger one and, um, leftovers of the other.

  Apparently, the is natural behavior for gators. You don't want to be the runt of the litter."
• (#15) 'Is It Okay?'

  From Redditor /u/DeweyIsOverrated:

  "I volunteered at a zoo as a young teenager. Once, one of the baby chickens (that was the owner's grandson's 'pet') got loose and went into the lion and tiger den. This was right in front of a group of about 10 kids all under the age of eight. The lion started toying with it, and the kids started yelling, 'Look they're playing!' before the lion ripped the back half of the chick right off. Chicken was still alive when one of the kids said, 'Is it okay?'"
• (#16) The Flight Plight

  From Redditor /u/namkash:

  "Not my story but a friend's memory (he worked at a zoo for one year).

  Whenever they received new animals, they put them in quarantine before putting with other animals. Once they received 34 tropical birds from a seizure of illegal exotic animals. After two weeks, a keeper made a mistake and six of them escaped from their cages. Unfortunately, two flew to the jaguars' exhibition (eaten in matter of minutes), one flew to monkeys' exhibition (they beheaded and then ate it), two flew to the lynx exhibition (eaten in seconds), and the last, well, no one ever knew where he went. But two days later his half-eaten corpse appeared nearby the zoo entrance."
• (#17) Birth In Reverse

  From Redditor /u/Shastarooski:

  "We were at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha looking at the mongoose exhibit. One of them was giving birth. If that wasn't an interesting enough experience, another mongoose grabbed one of the babies (as it was 'entering the world') and I thought 'Oh, how sweet; that one is taking it to a safe place.' 

  NOPE. Ripped it's head off and ate it. Man, mongoose don't mess around."
• (#18) Welcome To Dead Lobster

  From Redditor /u/The-Dudemeister:

  "I work in a restaurant not a zoo. However one little known fact is that the lobsters you see in the lobster tank are not fed. If one breaks one of his bands and manages to get his claws free, they'll generally start eating the other lobsters."

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking