10 Hilarious Times When Animals Crashed a Live News Broadcast

Quick Take

• One reporter stood perfectly still while a wild predator brushed against her legs on live TV, and her split-second decision may have saved her life. See Morgan Saxton's calm →
• A tiny spider caused a meteorologist to flee the set, and the reason viewers at home saw something terrifying is weirder than you'd expect. Watch the spider panic →
• One reporter's 'volunteer' moment at a state fair turned into the most awkward 30 seconds in live television history. See the snake incident →
• A dog stole something live on air in Moscow and walked away looking proud, leaving the reporter completely powerless to do anything about it. Watch the mic theft →

As Andy Warhol famously said, everyone will get their fifteen minutes of fame sooner or later. That fame often comes by way of local and national news reports. After all, the news runs all day and night. It never stops, which provides plenty of opportunities for would-be fame-seekers to get their fifteen minutes. The most memorable moments of news report comedy, however, often come from animals. Indeed, there are several standout moments when animals successfully photobombed television reporters attempting to do their broadcasts.

These animals that interrupt news broadcasts range from the funny to the absurd, and even the shocking. Whether it’s wild animals like cougars casually walking up to reporters on live television, or domestic animals like dogs running up and stealing reporters’ microphones, creatures like to bring chaos to the local news. Let’s unpack some of these classic moments.

Cat Upstages Weatherman

One of the most famous moments of animals interrupting news broadcasts happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reporters, like Indiana’s 14 First Alert chief meteorologist, Jeff Lyon, were forced to record broadcasts from their own homes. In Lyon’s case, this resulted in his pet cat easily upstaging him as he attempted to report on the weather around Ohio and Indiana. Though his cat Betty appeared on screen accidentally, she quickly became a viral sensation. In turn, Betty made an appearance in many of Lyon’s future broadcasts.

Pelican Attack

Easily one of the funniest instances of animals interrupting news broadcasts happened in Australia in 2010. Reporter Steve Jacobs was broadcasting live from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo for the Australian version of the TODAY show. Though Jacobs tried to do his weather report from the location, the animals that lived there gave him a run for his money first. As seen in this now classic clip, Jacobs can barely begin his broadcast before a massive pelican enters the frame and confronts him. In one fell swoop, Jacobs starts screaming, the pelican starts biting his butt, and all heck breaks loose. Zookeepers eventually managed to pry the pelican away from Jacobs, and no one was harmed. Nevertheless, this resulted in everyone—at home, in the studio, and on location—laughing their pants off. Even Jacobs, a little shaken from the attack, couldn’t help but laugh, too.

Donkey Speaks

Another classic incident involving an animal interrupting a news broadcast comes from across the pond. In the clip from a Russian news channel broadcast, a woman attempts to give answers to a reporter’s questions. She manages to get maybe a sentence or two in before the donkey standing behind her begins braying with gusto. The donkey makes so much noise, in fact, that the interview is cut short, and the woman can’t help but turn around and laugh at how the day is unfolding. Considering the language gap, it’s hard to tell how the interview even started. We all know how it ended, though: a donkey decided to be the interview subject instead.

Cougar Cameo

In one of the most nerve-racking instances of wild animals interrupting live television reporters, a large mammal walks into a reporter’s broadcast, right up to the reporter and even brushing her legs as it walks by. The reporter, Morgan Saxton, was preoccupied with her report when the animal approached her. She mistakes it for a small bear or a dog, and says as much to the audience. The animal, which was likely a mountain lion, walks past Saxton, brushing her leg but acting utterly casual about the situation. The cougar ambles into the darkness before turning around and moving to the other side of Saxton. For her part, Saxton remained calm and got away from the cougar safely. There is no telling what could have happened if she had panicked that close to a mountain lion.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Innovations in technology can lead to some absurd moments. Take this video from Global News. In the video, Vancouver Global BC meteorologist Kristi Gordon attempts to give a weather update using a green screen. Before she can make much headway, however, an itsy bitsy spider walks across the green screen. This makes it seem massive for the viewers at home and sends Gordon running and screaming in the opposite direction. It can be a bit confusing, but reporters like Gordon get used to reacting to broadcasts as if they are happening in the same room.
Either way, it made for a hilarious moment of animal-adjacent reporting.

Pesronal Space-Invader Snake

In one of the more scandalous moments of animals on news broadcasts, a massive snake managed to worm its way up the leg of a shocked reporter. In 2008, CCI meteorologist Kurtis Gertz reported live from the Iowa State Fair. During the broadcast, Gertz made the mistake of volunteering to appear in the fair’s snake show. What followed was one of the more classic moments in news television. A massive Burmese python named Dawn slithered her back end up the leg of Gertz’s cargo shorts so far that it popped out the bottom of his other leg. Suffice it to say that everyone burst into laughter, and Gertz’s face turned red while the handler pulled Dawn the python out from Gertz’s shorts.

KTLA Bear

In perhaps the most recent example of animals barging their way into news broadcasts, a bear shocked a KTLA reporter by walking into her shot. Just last week, a bear attack in Monrovia, California, brought all the reporters to the scene. While reporting on the attack the next morning, KTLA’s Erin Myers caught a bear walking down the street and through people’s yards out in the sunshine. Later that evening, California Fish and Wildlife officials caught the bear and her two cubs. Time will tell whether they are released back into the wild or euthanized.

Monkey Hair Pull

Monkey see, monkey do. However, even the most patient monkey would not want to be the subject of a news story without being asked permission first. Perhaps reporter Kelly Gonzalez should have gotten permission from her subject before reporting on it. While broadcasting live for ABC20 WCJB, Gonzalez was left shocked after the monkey behind her in a cage reached out and grabbed her hair. Gonzalez’s shocked expression can be plainly seen as she drops out of the camera’s sight. All the while, the monkey refuses to let go of her hair. Luckily, the monkey gave up pretty quickly, and Gonzalez was able to get away from its hostile little fingers.

Bird Bomb

One of the standout examples of animals photobombing reporters comes from the San Francisco Bay Area. The incident occurred back at the beginning of 2018. While reporting on the Bay Area’s weather for KTVU, reporter Mark Tamayo unwillingly welcomed a co-host for his news segment. Indeed, a bird—presumably a crow—noticed the on-location camera and decided to investigate. This resulted in the bird dropping its beak and head down over the top of the camera, crowding out part of the shot and interrupting Tamayo’s reporting. Nearly a decade has passed since the incident occurred, but it remains one of the best animal photobombing incidents of all time.

Dog Bites Microphone

Last but not least is the incident in which a dog accosted a Russian news reporter live on the scene. Instead of outright attacking the female reporter, however, the dog simply wanted her microphone. As seen in this hilarious, if slightly shocking, news clip, a dog jumps up on a female reporter, grabs her microphone, and triumphantly marches away, feeling like a job was well done. For context, the female reporter was doing a live weather report from a vantage point overlooking the city of Moscow when the dog appeared and rudely stole her microphone.