THE DAILY WIRE · FLORIDA, USA · 2026-08-26
Florida's Animal Jailbreak Report Reads Like a Rap Sheet
Florida state records reveal more than 140 captive animal escapes since 2022, a rogues' gallery that reportedly includes skunks, warthogs, and monkeys, according to documents reviewed by local reporters.
The records, compiled from state wildlife files, catalog incidents across the state involving licensed and unlicensed animal keepers, though full details on outcomes for each escape have not been made public in the initial reporting.
This reporter has covered enough Florida wildlife news to know the state does not do small headlines, and a three-year tally of triple-digit critter breakouts confirms it. Somewhere in a filing cabinet, an underpaid records clerk has become the foremost living expert on warthog whereabouts.
Cletus, an area gator who has watched the state's wildlife permitting system from the vantage point of a roadside canal for the better part of two decades, shared his professional assessment of the numbers.
State officials have not indicated whether the pace of escapes is expected to slow. This reporter would not hold his breath, or any of his eight legs.
“140 escapes in three years? Son, that's just Tuesday. I personally let myself out of a golf course pond back in '09 and nobody wrote a single word about it, which honestly still stings.” — Cletus, area gator
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