Claims never seem to be routine when animals are involved. Asinsurance professionals told National Underwriter, animalscomplicate matters by chewing, devouring, stomping, or even justlying motionless. Indeed, while incidents involving animals alwaysmake a strong showing in NU's unusual claims recap, thisyear our furry, feathered and scaly friends stole the entireshow.

Jim Redinger, principal engineer at Hartford Steam Boiler, saidhe has seen a number of claims where animals cause damage bygetting into problematic areas. In office buildings, for example,he said claims arise when mice get into breaker panels. “It doesn'tseem like a big deal,” he said, but he noted that the ensuingdamage they cause could short out the breaker box, meaningeverything attached stops working.

Mr. Redinger said the claim willgenerally begin with a report that “something is wrong with thebreaker box.” During the investigation, he said, an adjuster willfind that a mouse, lizard or snake made its way into the back ofthe breaker box, past wires and switches. The animals will chew onwires, urinate, or otherwise cause a mess, prompting shorts.

Mr. Redinger said these types of losses do not happen often butcan result in severe equipment breakdown and property issues whenthey do occur.

For loss control, Mr. Redinger said insureds should make surepanels are properly secured. He said animals usually get in when aperson takes the panel off and, for example, does not put thescrews back in when replacing it.

Additionally, Mr. Redinger said insureds can update theirbreaker boxes. Most modern approved ones, he noted, are completelyenclosed, and animals cannot get into them if the boxes areproperly installed and maintained.

As damaging as little critters chewing on wires can be, bigcritters chewing on them can be even worse. Mr. Redinger said hehas seen farm-related claims where pigs and goats chew throughelectrical wires, causing damage to equipment and animals alike. Ifthe animals are in a wet environment, he noted, the one doing thechewing and those around it risk electrocution.

Most farmers, he said, understand that pigs and goats will chewanything within their reach, so such animals are typicallywell-confined away from wiring.

But Mr. Redinger said he reminds underwriters that farmers tendto make a lot of repairs themselves, and sometimes less-than-idealtemporary fixes become permanent solutions. If that makeshift fixinvolves, for example, an extension that is run within the reach offarm animals, they may chew it and cause damage.

Sometimes, animals get their mouths on things more expensivethan wires.

“Several years ago I had a call from a lady asking if her policywould cover a lost earring,” recalled Jerry Zenke, ofMinnesota-based Mound Prairie Mutual Insurance Company. “When Iasked how it was lost, she stated she had befriended a wildCanadian goose, and while it was sitting on her lap it grabbed oneof her diamond earrings and swallowed it. She explained that shehad penned it up in her garage for the past two weeks and had beengoing through its excrement the whole time and found nothing.”

Unfortunately for the insured, the claim was not covered, Mr.Zenke explained, as there was no special coverage on the earrings.“I did tell her that if the bird was dissected, the earring couldprobably be found in its crop located in its neck. She declined todo such a thing, and as far as I know the bird flew south with herearring intact that fall,” he noted.

Claims adjuster Jason Altmann had likely seen just about allthere is to see as far as destruction wrought after naturaldisasters. As part of MetLife Auto & Home's NationalCatastrophe Team, he had traveled the country for years, inspectingproperties and helping to reach out to customers during times ofsevere crisis, such as after a hurricane or tornado.

But an unwelcome resident in a home in New Orleans afterHurricane Katrina proved that when it comes to such large-scaledisasters, always expect the unexpected.

“We were in St. Bernard parish,and I was contacted to inspect and adjust an insured house, locatednear the canal,” Mr. Altmann recalled. “I arrived with anindependent appraiser, who was along to assist with the adjustmentprocess. As I approached the front door, I looked down and jumpedback. There in the doorway was what looked like a live alligator,measuring four or five feet in length.”

Mr. Altmann said he called for the other appraiser, and theypoked the motionless alligator with a stick to see if it was alive.It didn't move. “Still,” he pointed out, “not moving isn't the sameas actually being sure 'Junior' was dead.”

He and the other appraiser flipped a coin to see who would haveto go past the alligator and inside the home. Mr. Altmann lost thecoin toss. “I have to admit, I was a little nervous as I steppedover the alligator to enter the house,” he said. “First off,because I didn't want him snapping at me, but also, I was concernedhe might not be alone. I was pretty sure he wasn't the onlyalligator in that canal.”

He concluded that “fortunately, I got past him without incidentand completed a thorough inspection of the property and home. I'mglad, too, because had I seen an alligator inside the house, I mayhave lost it. The rooms we were inspecting were poorly lighted andthe floors and walls were covered with around six inches of mud. Wehad been warned about snakes and bees in advance, and in otherproperties, I did see a few snakes resting on dressers five or sixfeet in the air, or on couches. From then on, though, I waspersonally more concerned about alligators.”

Finding an unwanted animal guest that wanders into a house onits own is one thing, but when the animal is placed thereintentionally as a prank, the resulting damage can raise someinteresting questions of coverage.

Linda Bassett-Coleman, a producer at Texas-based GalvestonInsurance Associates explained: “About 10 years ago, my nannycalled me at the office to ask me if damages caused by a dog wouldbe covered under her Texas HO B homeowners insurance policy. Atfirst I thought she was talking about damages to her home caused byher own dog, until she told me the story.”

The nanny was at the grocery store while her grown son, whoworked nights, was asleep at the house. Someone entered the homeand, as a prank, managed to get a 100 pound dog up a set ofpull-down ladder steps and up into the attic, locking the animalinside.

“Of course it was summer in the South and hot in that attic,”Ms. Bassett-Coleman said, “and when the nanny came back from thestore, that dog must have heard her and started running around inher attic trying to find a way to get out or to get her attention.Well, needless to say it got her attention because her attic wasnot floored, so every time one of those 100-pound-backed dog feethit the drywall ceiling, a leg went through the drywall makingholes in every ceiling in her home.”

The nanny pulled the attic steps down to see what was going onin attic. “About the time the steps came down, so did the dog,except through the drywall of her living room ceiling between therafters,” reported Ms. Bassett-Coleman. “The dog landed with athud, looked at the nanny and shot out of the front door that stillstood open from the nanny coming in with the groceries.”

The claim turned out to be a covered loss, Ms. Bassett-Colemannoted. “At that time, the policy read that damages were not coveredif they were caused by your pet–not some other pet that did notbelong to the insured.”