Kangaroos, monkeys, giant lizards, snakes and a 2,000-pound white rhinoceros are among more than 140 animals that escaped from captivity in Florida since 2022, state wildlife records obtained by News 6 reveal, including almost two dozen in Central Florida.<\/p>\n
The escaped animals, which include some exotic and non-native species requiring state licenses to possess, slipped away from enclosures located in homes, businesses, wildlife sanctuaries and accredited zoos.<\/p>\n
[WATCH: Kangaroo on the loose in Florida community of Pierson after bear scare (from 2024)]<\/b><\/p>\n
Only certain species of captive animals<\/a> must be reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission when they escape. The state agency believes those escapes are under-reported due to the owners\u2019 apprehension and fear of enforcement action.<\/p>\n According to FWC records, escaped animals in the Central Florida area since 2022 include:<\/p>\n Argentine black and white tegu<\/b> \u2014 Titusville (Brevard County), Jan 2022; escaped from a screened patio enclosure during cage maintenance, traps were set and it was recaptured, then moved to locked indoor enclosures; sanctions: verbal warning.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Asian water monitor<\/b> \u2014 Orange City (Volusia County), Apr 2022; tried to get into a screened porch, then was captured by an invasive-wildlife volunteer who was allowed to keep it; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Siamang <\/b>\u2014 Disney\u2019s Animal Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista (Orange County), July 2022; fell from a rope outside a moat but stayed inside the public barrier, staff secured it and sent it to the vet; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Savannah monitor<\/b> \u2014 Merritt Island (Brevard County), Sep 2022; slipped out through a doggy door and was later trapped nearby; sanctions: warning.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Giant river otter<\/b> \u2014 Brevard Zoo, Melbourne (Brevard County), Oct 2022; likely tunneled under enclosure fencing at the zoo and got stuck under the boardwalk, then was anesthetized with a pole syringe and recaptured, and the enclosure perimeter was reinforced; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Howler monkey<\/b> \u2014 Brevard Zoo, Melbourne (Brevard County), Jan 2023; escaped through a door gap during a water-bowl change, was chemically sedated and returned to quarantine, and staff tightened safety-entrance procedures; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Lanner falcon<\/b> \u2014 Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament, Kissimmee (Osceola County), Jan 2023; flew off after being improperly leashed and spooked by a guest, disappeared with the leash still attached, and the facility handled it with internal discipline; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Red-tailed boa constrictor<\/b> \u2014 Ocoee (Orange County), Jun 2023; about 5 feet long, found behind a water heater in an unfinished new-construction home, no microchip, captured and rehomed; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Burmese python<\/b> \u2014 Oviedo (Seminole County), Jul 2023; about 8 feet long and found under a vehicle, owner unknown, the python was slated for hold\/transfer then euthanasia per the report; no sanctions noted <\/p>\n<\/li>\n Argentine black-and-white tegu<\/b> \u2014 Orlando (Orange County), Jul 2023; escaped from a wire dog-kennel on a pool lanai, neighbors reported traps\/trail cams were set, but it was still missing at the time of the report; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Kangaroo<\/b> \u2014 Fort McCoy (Marion County), Sep 2023; got out when a bungee cord on a dog-kennel door failed during cleaning, was recaptured: citation for no license plus three written warnings <\/p>\n<\/li>\n Asian water monitor<\/b> \u2014 Ocala (Marion County), May 2024; a roughly 3\u2011foot lizard found roaming in a yard, transferred to a licensed facility; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Red tegu<\/b> \u2014 Orlando (Orange County), May 2024; initially hid under a porch during a neighbor\u2019s attempt to catch it, turned over for placement at a permitted facility; sanctions: owner fined $273 after pleading no contest to possessing non-native lizard without a permit<\/p>\n<\/li>\n American alligator<\/b> \u2014 Sanford (Seminole County), Jun 2024; a 5\u20136\u2011foot female slipped out of an open-top zoo pen after a chain-link tie broke, was spotted behind exhibits and coaxed back with voice commands, and the pen was reinforced; no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Reticulated python<\/b> \u2014 Casselberry (Seminole County), Aug 2024; about 7 feet long, found on a sidewalk at dusk, captured by a resident and turned over to FWC, owner unknown; no sanctions noted<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Lesser yellow-headed vulture<\/b> \u2014 Universal Studios, Orlando (Orange County), Sep 2024; overshot a stage perch and flew out an open-backed theater during a show, captured about 2,100 feet away by volunteer with Audubon Center for Birds of Prey; sanctions: verbal warning.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Asian water monitor<\/b> \u2014 Lady Lake (Lake County), Oct 2024; 40-inch lizard was caught on a leash after a neighborhood sighting and returned the next day, and a follow-up found it got out through rusted\/light-gauge wire in a homemade cage; sanctions: two written warnings for escape and improper cage materials.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Bennett\u2019s Wallaby <\/b>\u2014 Howey-in-the-Hills (Lake County), Dec 2024; jumped a 4\u20326\u2033 stall gate, escaped once and was recovered, then escaped again and was still missing at report time; sanctions: owner fined $450 and sentenced to 6 months of probation<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Kangaroo<\/b> \u2014 St. Cloud (Osceola County), May 2025; reported loose off Hickory Tree Road, held up in thick vegetation with a crowd nearby, darted and trailered to a permitted facility, then held pending enclosure fixes; sanctions: two citations and two warnings<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Albino African crested porcupines (2)<\/b> \u2014 Citra (Marion County), Jul 2025; a storm dropped a tree that crushed their enclosure and the back of the house, neighbors were alerted, and both animals later returned on their own and were recaptured; <\/b>no sanctions noted.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Burmese python<\/b> \u2014 Port Orange (Volusia County), Dec 2025; found by a landscaper near a retention pond and contained by deputies\/FWC, owner unknown, placed in an FWC facility enclosure; no sanctions noted<\/p>\n<\/li>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kangaroos, monkeys, giant lizards, snakes and a 2,000-pound white rhinoceros are among more than 140 animals that escaped…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":931991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[3184,3425,16335,723,43917,38410,129031,196104,31650,159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":["post-931990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-snakes","tag-animals","tag-escape","tag-florida","tag-fwc","tag-investigators","tag-kangaroo","tag-lizards","tag-monkeys","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}