Editor's Note: This article originally appeared inNational Underwriter,P&C.

Claims never seem to be routine when animals are involved. Asinsurance professionals told NationalUnderwriter, animals complicate matters by chewing,devouring, stomping, or even just lying motionless. Indeed, whileincidents involving animals always make a strong showing inNU's unusual claims recap, this year our furry, feathered,and scaly friends stole the entire show.

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.

Redinger said the claim will generally begin with a report that"something is wrong with the breaker box." During theinvestigation, he said, an adjuster will find that a mouse, lizardor snake made its way into the back of the breaker box, past wiresand switches. The animals will chew on wires, urinate, or otherwisecause a mess, prompting shorts.

Redinger explained that these types of losses do not happenoften but can result in severe equipment breakdown and propertyissues when they do occur.

For loss control, Redinger said insureds should make sure panelsare properly secured. He said animals usually get in when a persontakes the panel off and, for example, does not put the screws backin 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. Redinger has seenfarm-related claims where pigs and goats chew through electricalwires, causing damage to equipment and animals alike. If theanimals 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.

However, 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.

Claim 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 inspectand adjust an insured house, located near the canal," Altmannrecalled. "I arrived with an independent appraiser, who was alongto assist with the adjustment process. As I approached the frontdoor, I looked down and jumped back. There in the doorway was whatlooked like a live alligator, measuring four or five feet inlength."

Altmann said he called for the other appraiser, and they pokedthe motionless alligator with a stick to see if it was alive. Itdidn't move. "Still," he pointed out, "not moving isn't the same asactually 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. Altmann lost the cointoss. "I have to admit, I was a little nervous as I stepped overthe alligator to enter the house," he said. "First off, because Ididn't want him snapping at me, but also, I was concerned he mightnot be alone. I was pretty sure he wasn't the only alligator inthat 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 causedby her 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,"Bassett-Coleman said, "and when the nanny came back from the store,that dog must have heard her and started running around in herattic 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 Bassett-Coleman. "The dog landed with a thud,looked at the nanny and shot out of the front door that still stoodopen from the nanny coming in with the groceries."

The claim turned out to be a covered loss, 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."

Phil Gusman is associate editor of NationalUnderwriter, part of Summit Business Media's P&CMagazine Group, which includes Claims.