Since time immemorial, the only creatures that have been known to commit crimes are human beings. This is because human beings have higher intelligence than other creatures. There exist two types of criminals, those born in crime and those who grow into crime. However, it is so fascinating that there also exist criminal animals. The big question is, how can an animal be charged with an act of crime since it cannot answer to charges?
Moose Helicopter Attack
On the mention of a moose attack, most of us are quite aware of its attacks on vehicles. However, on May 3, 2007, a moose in Alaska surprised the world when it brought down an aircraft. A biologist in Gustavo, Alaska, ran into a surprise while tracking a moose from a low flying helicopter. After trying to sedate the moose with a tranquillizer, the biologist angered the moose, which charged forward, jumping at the tail of the flying chopper bringing it down. Luckily, neither the pilot nor the biologist was injured in the ordeal. The moose, on the other hand, had to be put down because its injuries were fatal after running into a spinning blade. At least it didn’t have to be charged with murder.
The Baboon Gang
In 2010, Fred the baboon was identified by Cape Town police as the leader of a baboon gang that terrorized tourists. Fred was notorious for identifying the cars of poor drivers who left food visible while passing through his territory. Being the group leader, Fred always led a mob of other baboons who would open the doors of cars, hijack the vehicles, and ransack their interiors. After causing serious injuries in an attack, Fred was labelled aggressive, and monitors were employed to find and restrain him.
The monitoring program, unfortunately, failed after Fred began violently assaulting any human who got in his way. With their efforts bearing no good results, officials captured Fred in a trap and sentenced him to death by lethal injection. In the autopsy that followed, Fred’s body was discovered to be full of shotgun bullets from previous attempts to stop him.
The Cat Burglar
Oscar, an 11-year-old cat from North Island New Zealand, had a rather strange character. After moving to a new house, the cat would enter neighbouring homes at night and start looting socks. He allegedly stole over 3,000 socks in one neighbourhood. No one knows whether the cat was stealing the items from the cloth line or creeping into houses through open windows. The strangest thing is that the cat would always bring the stolen items to his owner.
The owner was forced to start looking for the property owners to return the loot. The family posted flyers around the neighbourhood in an attempt to return the stolen items to their owners. Their effort to reach the owners was a big challenge since not many people care about lost socks. The owner then decided to donate them to charity.
Canuck The Knife Crow
Crows are known to be unaggressive omnivorous birds who feed on kitchen remains. On May 24, 2016, a man set fire to a car in a McDonald’s parking lot in Vancouver. He then confronted police officers with a knife before being restrained and arrested. However, Canuck flew onto the crime scene and escaped with the knife that was about to be collected as evidence.
Police had to chase Canuck down the street before he dropped the knife. Dissatisfied after being deprived of his new-found toy, the crow tried to steal an officer’s glasses and then attempted to make off with gear from a TV news team. Finally, the officer in charge trapped the crow and labelled him with red tape.
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The Orangutan Pirate
Having been raised in a camp in Borneo, an orangutan named Princes learned human skills such as sign language and, of course, piracy. After learning, princes became a notorious canoe thief. She stole and used canoes kept on the river banks to cross the river while looking for food. Surprisingly, she promptly deserted those canoes after they served their purpose. She taught the habit to other orangutans in the park, turning the habit into a menace.
Locals then started tying the canoes after use to prevent the snatching. However, it didn’t bear the expected results; Princes learned how to untie them. Eventually, the canoe owners in the area had to sink their canoes using stones as a way of preventing such thefts and could only remove and use them when the need arose. They were forced to wise up when the monkeys became geniuses.
The Monkey Activist
Monkeys are known to have an intense thirst for bananas. However, for some Indian monkeys, they seem to be unique; it turns out they have an interest in politics. What a fascinating character! In what could almost be called a political assassination attempt, a monkey assaulted an Indian politician on October 20, 2007.
It pushed him off his balcony, leaving him with serious head injuries from the fall. This was part of a series of monkey problems in the Indian city of Delhi. It wasn’t long before it was finally decided that a group of monkeys should be trained to stop the evil monkeys from terrorizing the city.
Crocodile Hijacking
Crocodiles are one of the largest and fiercest reptiles in the world with a bite force stronger than any living thing. They not only wage attacks on prey larger than them but also on humans who invade their territory. On August 25, 2010, around 1 p.m a flight approaching Bandundu airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo crashed into a house, killing 20 people. Guess what! The accident wasn’t caused by a technical problem. While boarding the plane, one passenger smuggled a whole crocodile into the plane in a big sports bag planning to sell the reptile.
As the plane approached the destined landing airport, the crocodile tore through the bag and came out of the overhead compartments, something that frightened passengers, causing a stampede in the plan. Everyone ran towards the cockpit, which seemed to be the only safe place. It resulted in a sudden shift in weight, causing the plane to come down half a kilometre to the runway. The crocodile survived the crash but succumbed to a blow from a machete wielded by one of the onlookers.
The Kidnapping Chimpanzee
In Tanzania’s Kasakela chimpanzee community that lives in Gombe National Park near Lake Tanganyika, there existed a male chimp named Frodo, who was unusually large, weighing almost 54 kilograms. He was part of a group of apes that were the first ones seen eating meat. Frodo was an aggressive hunter of smaller monkeys. He had learned to throw stones as weapons from an early age as a defensive mechanism against humans who tried to observe him.
In 1989, he waged an attack on a primatologist thrashing her head violently in an attempt to break her neck. In 2002, Frodo committed his worst crime ever. He abducted a 14-month-old baby belonging to one of the researchers and jumped with it into the trees. After disappearing into the forest, he later spotted eating flesh, which looked like a human limb.
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Bear Car Theft
A family in California was woken at 3 a.m in August 2017. by a car alarm only to find that their car was being driven away by a bear. The bear had broken into the car while foraging for something to eat or probably just looking for a warm place to pass the night. When he tried to come out, the doors got shut, forcing it to fight violently, trying to break out. In the process, the bear knocked the gear shift changing it to neutral mode. The car, having been parked on a slightly slanting ground, charged forward. The car then crashed into a building, causing it to stop, which allowed the bear to break out.
The Hostage-Taking Cat
In 2014, a family in Oregon became the hostage of their family cat, who lost control of himself and blocked them from leaving the house. The pet owner named Palmer was forced to call in the police to apprehend the cat and help them get out of their bedroom where they were trapped. The cat had become aggressive and was threatening the whole family with snarls and attacks. Later, the cat was diagnosed with feline hyperesthesia, a syndrome that is responsible for the loss of one’s self-control. Fortunately, the condition was treatable, and the cat did not need to be put down.
Author Bio – Billy Oduory is an author and editor with a vast experience in creating interesting entertainment reads. He has an eye for the fine interesting details that mainstream media ignores. Learn more about me and get in touch on Twitter