domesticated wild animals that turned on owners

01

Mary (elephant)

A five-ton circus elephant named Mary was hanged by a crane in Erwin, Tennessee, 1916 — the first chain snapped under her weight. She had killed her trainer the day before. A town decided justice required a railroad derrick.

02

Terry Thompson

Ohio exotic-animal collector Terry Thompson opened every cage on his 73-acre property in 2011, releasing 56 lions, tigers, bears, and wolves — then died among them. Police killed 49 animals in a single night on rural roads outside Zanesville.

03

Topsy (elephant)

Coney Island's Topsy, a circus elephant who had killed three men, was electrocuted before 1,500 paying spectators on January 4, 1903. Thomas Edison's company filmed it. The footage survives.

04

Travis (chimpanzee)

Travis, a 200-pound chimpanzee raised as a human child in Stamford, Connecticut, mauled neighbor Charla Nash in 2009, leaving her without a face or hands. His owner called 911 mid-attack, saying: 'He's eating her.'

05

Dawn Brancheau

Dawn Brancheau, SeaWorld Orlando's most senior trainer, was pulled into the water and killed by orca Tilikum in front of an audience on February 24, 2010. She had 16 years of experience. The show had just ended.

06

Tilikum (orca)

Tilikum, captured off Iceland at age two in 1983, killed three people across two marine parks over 21 years. SeaWorld used him as its primary breeding bull anyway — he fathered 21 of the park's captive orcas.

07

Tatiana tiger attack

On Christmas Day 2007, a 350-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped her enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo, killed one visitor, and mauled two brothers. The moat wall was found to be four feet below the legally required height.