In cases where escaped exotics are proposed as an explanation for a mystery animal, a lot of people argue that surely there would be some record or someone to be held accountable. But that doesn’t take into consideration that many of these animals are either illegal, not licensed, or have owners that do not want to claim responsibility for their escaped animal. They are more likely to search for it covertly or leave it be and hope no one fingers them for the incident. I would say that even in areas where it is legal to have a certain exotic animal, there are likely some people who do not go through the effort to register them in any way.

Often, unless the animal escaped from a zoo or if there is a clear registration record, there is only so much that can be done to determine the source of an escaped exotic.

the owners are absolutely liable for injuries or property damages, and most people just don’t want to take the chance. So they tell a few friends and get some people together to search for the animal privately, or they just don’t tell anyone and leave the animal to fend for itself.

That’s a spot on analysis Kittenz. Several years ago, someone’s “pet” black bear got away in our Missouri neighborhood. He didn’t tell anyone but when the bear started showing up in people’s gardens and trash cans, wildlife officials got suspicious. “That wasn’t my bear, that was a wild one” became his trademark statement in the local media. Funny, no one had seen a wild bear in our county since 1850 and literally overnight we had a booming population! He said he caught the bear and sent it to an animal shelter in Illinois. His proof – a Kodak instamatic photo of a bear in his living room! The court slapped him a hefty fine for improperly caging a dangerous animal. As for the bear, she was spotted for months afterwards and each time, seemed to be more wary of humans. I think she successfully reverted to the wild. The last sure sighting we had was on the nearby 4,500 acre wildlife refuge.

I fear that with the current economic downturn – recession – depression or whatever you call it, more and more exotic (and regular) pets are going to get dumped by people who no longer want the expense of caring for them. They don’t know what to do them or are too lazy to do the right thing. I used to get tons of reptiles that way, but that trend seems to have died down. Now it is apparently wild or semi-wild cats like Servals that are in. Sorry, they were not designed to be house pets. A sad waste of beautiful animals. .

It’s interesting that almost no one ever comes forth to claim these alleged escapees, even in areas where there are licensed owners and breeders.