Sure, we love our cats and dogs, but Atlantans have always had a soft spot for the wilder side of the animal kingdom. Over the years, local residents have made plenty of headlines with their exotic pets, often when said pets escape, generating hullabaloo and amusing—or terrorizing—the surrounding neighborhood.
Here’s a look back through history at some of Atlanta’s most memorable pets and the chaos they’ve caused.
Illustration by Zac Crawford
1935
A Georgia Court of Appeals rules in favor of a North Druid Hills woman who had $60 stolen from her purse by a rogue baboon, property of Asa Candler Jr., eccentric youngest son of Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler Sr. Buddie, as Candler Jr. was known, built a private zoo on his sprawling estate on Briarcliff Road that included Barbary lions, elephants and, yes, cash-hungry baboons.
The Court of Appeals orders Buddie to pay the woman $10,000 in damages for the “severe nervous shock” she experienced from the escaped monkey; Buddie closes the zoo shortly afterward and donates the animals (baboon included) to what ultimately becomes Zoo Atlanta.
Illustration by Zac Crawford
1966
Atlanta’s new football franchise, the Falcons, unleash the team mascot, a live falcon named Thor. Unfortunately, the unleashing proves literal: During the inaugural season, Thor flies out of the team’s open-air Atlanta Stadium ahead of a game against the Cleveland Browns. “He’s the first bird to quit the squad,” Falcons publicist Jan Van Duser lamented to the Atlanta Constitution (he wouldn’t be the last).
The team tries three more falcons, only to lose them the same way. The franchise ultimately swaps the live bird for a human-powered falcon mascot, who can’t fly away without HR red tape.
Illustration by Zac Crawford
1982
Susie the chimpanzee makes the front page of the Atlanta Constitution after a night out with her human owner, David Putnam. At a bar, Putnam allows other patrons to ply her with beer, though he tells reporters she prefers margaritas. Susie becomes drunk, refuses to head home with Putnam, and begins running down the street; police shoot her with a tranquilizer gun on Piedmont Road.
Sadly, Susie escapes again a few months later and bites several people, and police, lacking a tranquilizer, shoot her to death.
Illustration by Zac Crawford
2014
A drug bust in Woodstock unearths more than marijuana when narcotics officers discover a house full of unlicensed animals, including a rare tegu lizard. Native to Central and South America, tegus—which can grow up to five feet long and are highly intelligent—are prized as exotic pets because they can be housebroken. Considered an invasive species, they are illegal to own in Georgia.
Three people are charged in the drug bust, and the animals are removed to be rehomed, including the tegu lizard and a squirrel—which, officers note, is also illegal to own.
Illustration by Zac Crawford
2023
Rapper Rick Ross rankles his neighbors when his pet buffalos escape his Fayetteville property and take a little tour of the nearby homes. Ross was gifted the two buffalo for his birthday by the underwear brand Ethika; according to TMZ, Ross named the larger one—which weighed 700 pounds—Timbuktu.
Ross acknowledges the great buffalo escape in an Instagram story, where he praises his Fayetteville neighbors and tells them to give his “kind and peaceful” buffalos a carrot if they see them again. “Make sure you keep a collar on your animal,” he says, though he adds, “Mine don’t have a collar because you know it’s mines.”
Illustration by Zac Crawford
2024
A pair of enormous pythons go viral on social media when they’re filmed slithering casually around Piedmont Park. The snakes are allegedly domestic pets belonging to a man who often brings them to the park and lets passersby pose for pictures in exchange for tips.
Fulton County Animal Services decline to collect them—“Free-roaming snakes are not within [our] purview,” a spokesperson tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution—but the owner removes them from the park without incident. “Nice to see my exes getting some sunshine,” jokes one Instagram user about the unexpected wildlife.
This article appears in our June 2025 issue.
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