History Main / AnimalAssassin

** There's also ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', in which the CompleteMonster villain breeds a ferocious attack dog to scare an old man with a heart condition to death, and later tries to use it against his victim's nephew. In this case the directness of the animal is justified in that it was trained with the victims' scents, the villain stole the nephew's boot, and it accidentally "killed" (tripped and broke his neck running away) another man who was wearing the nephew's clothes.

** There's also ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', in which the MagnificentBastard villain breeds a ferocious attack dog to scare an old man with a heart condition to death, and later tries to use it against his victim's nephew. In this case the directness of the animal is justified in that it was trained with the victims' scents, the villain stole the nephew's boot, and it accidentally "killed" (tripped and broke his neck running away) another man who was wearing the nephew's clothes.

* ''The Alchemist'' by Ken Goddard opens with a college drug dealer getting a phone call from the BigBad who wants to discuss the [[TooDumbToLive money he's been skimming]]]. The dealer rushes to his hidden safe, only to find the money missing and an angry venomous snake which kills him. As well as stealing the money and leaving the snake, the BigBad's CleanupCrew also planted several books on herpetology to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident. The incident serves as a ChekhovsGun for when some undercover cops are [[FedToTheBeast thrown into a dark room with another snake]].

* In the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' book 12, ''The Masters of Darkness'', while [[DressingAsTheEnemy dressed as the enemy]] and hitching a ride on a giant land vehicle, the hero is attacked in his cabin by a [[http://www.projectaon.org/en/xhtml/lw/12tmod/ill2.gif Plaak]], a small jelly-like horror with venomous fangs. Ironically, this isn't because Lone Wolf's disguise has failed; the target of the assassination attempt is the creature he usurped the identity.

** For that matter, consider Salazar Slytherin, who left the basilisk at Hogwarts for ''centuries'' so it could eventually get activated by his Heir ([[spoiler:Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Voldemort]]) and kill the Muggle-borns. And for that matter, Voldemort using Nagini. Both of these examples are unusual, however; as Parseltongues, Slytherin and Voldemort can both [[SpeaksFluentAnimal communicate with snakes]] and apparently have no problem getting them to do their bidding.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Grace's "brothers" were [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-03-17 created to be this]].

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2549 SCP-2549]], "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Animal Assassins]]", is a phenomenon that causes a random animal to attack and kill a random human.

* In 1978, [[https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/synanons-sober-utopia-how-a-drug-rehab-program-became-1562665776 Synanon]], a drug rehabilitation program that soon became a cult, tried to have Paul Morantz, an attorney who successfully represented a woman who had been held against her will by the cult, killed with a rattlesnake in his mailbox that had had its rattles removed. Morantz's life was saved by prompt and extensive treatment with antivenom, and this incident, along with the lawsuits and bad press that Synanon was already facing, would spell the beginning of the end for the cult.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2549 SCP-2549]] is a phenomenon that causes a random animal to attack and kill a random human.

* ''Franchise/DocSavage'': The BigBad in the novel ''The Fantastic Island'' uses venomous centipedes for this purpose.

* In the ''Series/HawaiiFive0'' episode "Cloth of Gold," a venomous marine cone snail (''Conus textile''), native to Hawaii seawaters, is used as a murder weapon.

** In "The Curse of Anubis" Dr. Kareem sics a group of vipers on Dr. Quest and Race Bannon.

** There's alsoan incident when Dr. Venture is checking mail and he opens a box containing a cobra, poised to strike. However, it turns out that [[ForgotToFeedTheMonster the box was very old, and the cobra simply turns to dust]].

* In ''Film/TheArrival'', the aliens try this on Zane character by filling his hotel room bed with scorpions.

[[caption-width-right:330:[[WorstWhateverEver Worst.]] BedmateReveal. [[SpidersAreScary Ever.]]]]

** A more "hands-on" example occurs when a girl bitten by a snake in the ocean turns out to have been an attempt at murder [[spoiler:by her fiance's jealous stepsister]], which involved physically holding the snake and forcing it to bite the victim. This is rather more realistic than most examples of this trope, because such an animal really can't be relied upon to kill someone on its own. Since they were both in the sea, it was basically impossible to find the "weapon" afterward, [[spoiler:though a witness is able to spy what turned out to be tape holding the snake in place]].
* ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'' featured a Pluto agent using this trope on Kyu and Megu with a highly venomous snake after locking them in a secret room not even their [[TheAce mentor]] knew existed.

* ''Manga/{{Red River|1995}}'': One of the princesses staying in Kail's harem is killed by an assassin leaving venomous scorpions in her room (the story takes place in Asia Minor, which is home to one of the few scorpions with venom potent enough to kill a human). Earlier in the story, some of the princesses leave scorpions in Yuri's bed as a cruel prank, though those were identified as a non-lethal species; however, this happens ''right in the day when Kail was supposed to spend the night in Yuri's room'', so [[BewareTheNiceOnes the usually level-minded and sweet Yuri]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend gets PISSED]].

* ComicBook/TheJoker in ''Detective Comics'' Vol 1 #475 once got a man's pet cat, hopped up on Joker Venom, to bite its owner, killing him and giving him the usual hideous rictus grin. This occurred in his appearance in "The Laughing Fish". This comic was adapted into a ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode.

* This trope is parodied and [[DoubleSubversion double-subverted]] in the [[FrancoBelgianComics French comic book]] ''Rona : L'Or du Macho-Fichu''. The IntrepidReporter protagonist, while investigating in a BananaRepublic where he has enemies, is advised to "offer more" to the hotel tenant before getting a room. After doing so, the tenant agrees to remove "Eugène" -- a venomous snake that's "part of the house" -- whom he's been paid to put in Rona's bed. The same night, though, Rona finds ''another deadly snake'' in his bed, and the tenant is outraged -- it isn't Eugène, so it's utterly illegal since he's not getting any money from this.
* Used in several ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'' comics, like ''De Scherpe Schorpioen'' and ''De Gouden Circel''.

* Several of these appeared in the original stories (i.e. not based on Fleming's novels) in the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' newspaper strip:

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/{{Sturmtruppen}}'': one of the soldiers, fed up with the Sergeant's antics, tries to kill him by hiding a venomous rattlesnake in his mess tin. [[ExtremeOmnivore The Sergeant mistakes the reptile for an eel and devours it]], asking the cook for a second ration.

* In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Burke lets loose a pair of [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong facehuggers]] in the room Ripley and Newt are sleeping in, hoping to impregnate them with alien eggs for the trip home as a way of smuggling the creatures past customs. As a fringe benefit this would also kill Ripley, who has threatened to expose his role in the destruction of the colony.
* The aliens in ''Film/TheArrival'' try this on Charlie Sheen's character by filling his hotel room bed with scorpions.
* In the French movie ''Film/LesBarbouzes'', a group of competing spies have infiltrated the castle of a rich heiress, and are trying to discretely kill each other, to little avail since they're all paranoid. Sure enough, the German spy carefully checks his bed before the night, and finds a live scorpion under the sheets.

* ''Film/TheBrainStealers'', being an old spy film modeled after the then-popular Bond franchise, has the heroine Chiu-lan being caught in her hotel room with a poisonous adder a henchwoman hid under the bedsheets. Her partner arrives in the nick of time and fires a dart impaling the snake head-first from the bed to a nearby dresser.

* In what is almost certainly a ShoutOut to the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Speckled Band" (see Literature examples below), ''Film/CarryOnScreaming'' has a scene were the villains attempt to murder the "heroes" by lowering a snake down the bellpull into their bed.

* ''Film/{{Creepshow}}'': In "The Crate", Henry plans to use the beast "Fluffy" (whatever it might be) to kill his shrewish wife Wilma.

* In ''Film/DeadlyBlessing'', somebody intends to kill the main character by letting a snake inside her washing room while she's in the bathing tub.
* In the film version of Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'', the murderer tries to kill Poirot with a venomous snake. Nothing remotely similar happens in the book.
* The Creator/StevenSeagal movie ''Film/FireDownBelow'' has the bad guys trying to kill the hero with some snakes in his room. It doesn't work, and those same snakes get put into the bad guys' truck with hilarious results.

* In ''Film/HardTarget'', Chance uses a deadly snake he knocked out earlier as part of BoobyTRap he sets up. It falls on one of Fouchon's hunters and bites he repeatedly. Fouchon blows the head of the snake and then performs a MercyKill on the screaming hunter.
* Snakes seem to be a really, ''really'' popular choice of this trope. In the Creator/JetLi action film ''Film/HighRisk'' the tabloid reporter Helen gets cornered in a bathroom stall after some mooks empties an entire sack of poisonous snakes in the loo. She managed to escape in time thanks to Li grabbing her from an AirVentPassageway, but suffers a poisonous bite in the process which Li must extract using a knife. Turns into a ChekhovsGun later on as Li hurls said knife, whose blade still contains traces of the snake's venom, into the BigBad - it ends up killing the villain ''two minutes'' away from the credits.

* In ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'', a FemmeFatale tries to murder the protagonist by dropping a scorpion on his lap while his eyes are closed in anticipation for a blowjob. Michael doesn't notice and suddenly jerks up to get a condom, flinging the scorpion into her nightgown, sending her into a writhing panic [[SquirrelsInMyPants he mistakes for seductive dancing]]. [[spoiler: The scorpion likely would have killed her had an assassin ordered by the jealous [[TheDragon Dragon]] to kill them both not done the job with a rocket launcher first (Michael was saved because he was still in the bathroom searching for that condom).]]

** In ''Film/DrNo'', someone drops a venomous spider (in the film) or centipede (in [[Literature/DrNo the book]]) into his room -- he manages to beat it to death. Note that ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scolopendra_gigantea Scolpendra gigantea]]'' can be fatal to humans. The producers changed the creature from a centipede to a tarantula for the movie because they didn't think audiences would realize centipedes could be fatal. It's also [[FridgeBrilliance a more logical choice]] (to the extent that this trope can ever be logical), as there is no centipede whose bite is ''reliably'' fatal to an adult human. While the same is true of tarantulas, there are some South American and Australian spiders of similar size and appearance that really are very dangerous to humans. Thus a tarantula makes for an acceptable film stand-in. This was no comfort to the arachnophobic Creator/SeanConnery, who had to have a body double for the spider to crawl over.

** In ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'', Fatima Blush drives alongside Jack Petachi and throws a snake into his car, which makes him freak out and crash. Fatima then [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill uses a remote controlled bomb to blow up the car with him in it]].
* Parodied in ''Film/JohnnyDangerously'' where the title character has an enemy killed by having him run over by a bull.

* In ''Film/KillBill'', Elle Driver gives Budd a briefcase containing a black mamba, which promptly bites him in the face and kills him.
* The comedy film ''Film/LeonardPart6'' is about a formula which turns animals homicidal when they hear a code word.

* In ''Film/MySuperExGirlfriend'', the spurned G-Girl attempts to kill her ex-boyfriend by flinging a live shark at him through the window of his new girlfriend's highrise apartment.
* Snakes seems to be a favorite for this trope, regardless whether it's a Hollywood film or not. The Hong Kong film ''Film/PaymentInBlood'' have the mob attempting to kill the protagonist and his family for witnessing a mob assassination by sending a beautifully-wrapped present box to their house, which the wife opens assuming it's a present for their daughter's birthday. Turns out the box is filled with deadly snakes (one which takes up the entire DVD cover!) that nearly kills the wife and had their apartment crawling with venomous serpents.

* In ''Film/{{Shotgun|1955}}'', Delgadito's renegades leave Bentley tied with wet rawhide out in the desert. As the rawhide dries, it shrinks and drags Bentley closer to a stake that has a rattlesnake tethered to it.

* This trope is the entire premise behind ''Film/SnakesOnAPlane''. Unable to assassinate a witness to a murder through more conventional means, Kim arranges for a crate of venomous snakes to be placed on the plane the witness is being transport on. The latch opens at the appropriate time, cue one of Samuel Jackson's most memetic lines.

* In ''Film/TowerOfDeath'', the valet released a lion to maul Bobby to death. The lion only managed to kill the hooker sent to distract Bobby before being beaten off, and [[SpecialEffectsFailure it's painfully obvious said lion is a guy in a suit]].
* In ''Film/YellowHairAndTheFortressOfGold'', The Tulpani roll tumbleweeds filled with rattlesnakes into the canyon where Yellow Hair and the Pecos Kid are holed up.

[[folder:Gamebooks]]
* In the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' book 12, ''The Masters of Darkness'', while [[DressingAsTheEnemy dressed as the enemy]] and hitching a ride on a giant land vehicle, the hero is attacked in his cabin by a [[http://www.projectaon.org/en/xhtml/lw/12tmod/ill2.gif Plaak,]] a small jelly-like horror with venomous fangs. Ironically, this isn't because Lone Wolf's disguise has failed; the target of the assassination attempt is the creature he usurped the identity.
[[/folder]]

* Happens at the beginning of the Literature/AlexRider book ''Scorpia''. An old gangster has finally decided to retire from a massive international terrorist group, but you don't retire from massive international terrorist groups. So one of the members gives him a "parting gift", which is actually a briefcase full of scorpions, which climb all over the man and sting him to death. Apparently his heart gives out long before the poison kills him.
* Referenced in "Literature/AngelDownSussex", when Catriona recalls how she and Edwin were nearly victims of this trope. In a NoodleIncident involving a villain (implied to be Fu Manchu himself), a black mamba was hidden in their picnic hamper. Luckily, they'd opened the hamper while they were out punting and successfully knocked the snake into the water.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is about kids [[{{Animorphism}} who turn into animals]] and kill aliens. (Think that's weird? You ain't seen nothing yet.) They don't have animal assassins... they ARE them.

* A different take on this trope is in the Literature/ArkadyRenko novel ''Wolves Eat Dogs''. The killer is waging psychological warfare on his target by planting radioactive material in his house (in revenge for his role in the Chernobyl disaster). One way to get past the man's security is to plant a tiny particle of Caesium-137 in the fur of his dog.
* A snake in the Literature/BenSnow story "Suddenly, with Fangs". [[spoiler:Subverted in that the snake wasn't that interested in attacking, and the intended victim ended up using it on the assassin.]]
* In ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune'', some sort of saber-toothed tiger things are trained to attack sets of clothing impregnated with a certain chemical. The clothes are given as a gift to Ghanima and Leto II, and the tigers are sent to kill them. The worst part: the tigers were conditioned to attack two children wearing those clothes and matching their description. How were they conditioned? With carefully-selected pairs of children, of course. Pair after pair after pair until they got it right.
-->"Tell our buyers they can stop sending us pairs of children who fit the description."

* ''Court Martial'' by Creator/SvenHassel. Two Section have to get rid of a troublesome Gestapo agent who's blackmailing them. After a [[RasputinianDeath number of unsuccessful attempts]] have landed the Gestapo agent in hospital, Porta and the others decide to pay a friendly visit with a wildcat in a cage. "As you know, cats have nine lives. And after what you've been through, you seem almost as immortal! So we're going to do a scientific study - cat vs. man!" Unfortunately the wildcat gets [[EscapedAnimalRampage freed from its cage too early]] and HilarityEnsues.

** Wizards at the Unseen University have a history of advancing their careers by the principle of [[KlingonPromotion Dead-Mens Pointy Boots]], and therefore have a saying: "When a man is tired of checking for scorpions in his boots, he is tired of life."

*** An elf tries to invoke this trope on Hodgesaaargh, siccing one of the falconer's own fearsome birds of prey on him. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the raptor attacks the elf instead, because that's exactly what it does to Hodgesaaargh when ''he'' handles it.]]

** ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' mentions a "filing clerk" by the name of Arachne who pleaded to be assigned to the embassy of [[LandDownUnder Fourecks]] because she's particularly attracted by venomous spiders. [[spoiler:Vetinari gives her the task of taking care of [[BigBad Gravid]] at the end of the book. Not all [[MoralEventHorizon sins]] are forgiven.]]
* The BigBad in the Franchise/DocSavage novel ''The Fantastic Island'' uses venomous centipedes for this purpose.
* Literature/FuManchu is the acknowledged master of this method of killing. He is especially fond of this in the earlier books when he has access to venomous arthropods "unknown to Western science".

** For that matter, consider Salazar Slytherin, who left the basilisk at Hogwarts for ''centuries'' so it could eventually get activated by his Heir ([[spoiler:Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Voldemort]]) and kill the Muggle-borns. And for that matter, Voldemort using Nagini. Both of these examples are unusual, however; as Parseltongues, Slytherin and Voldemort can both communicate with snakes, and apparently have no problem getting them to do their bidding.

** A vampire bat attacks Bond in ''Literature/NobodyLivesForEver''. However, it was just supposed to infect him with rabies, and him slowly succumbing to it was supposed to give amusement to the bad guys before they cut his head off.
** The bad guys try to kill Bond and Easy in ''Literature/DeathIsForever'' by having the their hotel room service bring them [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink food laced with spider eggs]], which were supposed to kill them from the inside after ingestion. The BigBad later claims that it was just amusement to keep them on their toes.
** The bad guys in ''Literature/TheManWithTheRedTattoo'' developed a species of mosquito which infects people with West Nile disease that acts ten times faster than normal, killing them within a day.

* In ''Literature/MirrorDance'', Barrayaran history includes an "incendiary cat plot". The exact details of it [[NoodleIncident haven't been revealed yet]].
* A priest of Amun is killed this way in the period mystery ''Murder at the God's Gate''. The person who arranges it doesn't take any chance that the Animal Assassin will be overlooked or wander away without attacking: they stuff ''five'' cobras into the target's box of writing supplies, knowing that the intended victim (a temple scribe) is sure to open it and be bitten by at least some of the venomous reptiles.

* In ''Murder in the Dark'', Literature/PhryneFisher is sent a live coral snake inside a Christmas present.

* In ''Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfTheSkyValleyCult'' nighthawks can control animals telepathically. One of them sends a rattlesnake after Craig Steiger, with predictably disastrous results. Later, a pack of nighthawks sic a stag, a coyote pack and a deformed Boar on the surviving characters, who barely survive.

** There's also ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', where the MagnificentBastard villain breeds a ferocious attack dog to scare an old man with a heart condition to death, and later tries to use it against his victim's nephew. In this case the directness of the animal is justified in that it was trained with the victims' scents, the villain stole the nephew's boot, and it accidentally "killed" (tripped and broke his neck running away) another man who was wearing the nephew's clothes.
** In the story "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", the Lion's Mane jellyfish (''Cyanea capillata''). Subverted as it's not a murder weapon -- the jelly is nigh invisible, and the victims swam into its tentacles by mistake.
* ''Literature/SherlockHolmesAndDoctorWasNot'': In "The Adventure of the Sacrifice Stone", Lady Sarah plans to murder Flower with a red-bellied black snake. Roylott speculates she might have been intending it as a FrightDeathtrap as the bite of the snake is unlikely to be immediately fatal.
* ''Literature/SimonArk'': In "The Treasure of Jack the Ripper", Simon's friend Ceritas Vats is sent a black widow spider inside a [[BookSafe hollowed-out book]]. Simon thinks it was intended more as a warning than a serious attempt on his life: pointing out the sender could just as easily placed a bomb inside the book as a spider.

** The book features at least one of these. The animal in question is merely referred to as a "manticore".
** There is also an anecdote told about the occupation of Dorne. After King Daeron conquers Dorne, he appoints a lord loyal to him to suppress dissidents and chase rebels. While guesting at the castle of a disgruntled Dornish lord, he is given a room with a rope beside the bed, and told that if he pulls it his host will have a girl sent to his bed. When, feeling amorous, he pulls it, it rips open the canopy above his bed and dumps an unreasonable amount of angry and venomous scorpions on top of him.

* In ''Literature/StateOfFear'', the main murder method of the bad guys is to get a team of ninjas to burst in, and restrain the target, while someone presses a blue-ringed octopus against their armpit. The point is an untraceable means of murder: the bite mark is barely noticeable and the species fairly obscure.
* Worthy of mention due to the utter madness: in ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Tangled Webs]]'', one {{Jerkass}} tries to kill a young lady by dropping a venomous (deadly ''to a human'', that is) spider on her bed. Nevermind she's... a ''drow''. As in "sneaky people who check where they go and to whom spiders are sacred animals". Of course, when she sees it, HilarityEnsues. She horribly suffers from sharp venomous bites of nostalgia for a few minutes.

* [[TheChessmaster Queen Blister]] in ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' tries to send her sister and rival for the throne, Queen Burn, a package of venomous dragonbite vipers as a gift, and then offers them to her during a peace meeting when that doesn't work. [[spoiler:Burn sees through Blister's plan and tries to kill her instead, but it turns out that there were two snakes in the box...]]

* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'': In episode "The Hidden Tiger," house cats are turned into man-killers.
* In the 2012 German ''Series/BaronMunchausen2012'' miniseries, the evil majordomo of Tsarin Katharina places a venomous snake in the Baron's clothes. It's identified as an adder, but it's clearly a coral snake (or at least, the inoffensive coral-snake lookalike species that is usually used to film such scenes).
* In the ''Series/{{Bones}}'' episode "The Finger in the Nest" a dog is used. [[spoiler:Brennan wants to adopt the dog, whom she has named Ripley, but it has to be put down. She and Booth bury him.]]

* Lodz kills Ruthie with one of her own snakes in Season One of ''Series/{{Carnivale}}''. She gets better.
* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'': In "How to Dial a Murder", the killer uses a pair of {{Right Hand Attack Dog}}s (and a TriggerPhrase) to kill the VictimOfTheWeek while being on the other side of the city.
** Also happens in "A Matter of Honor", where the killer (a former matador) uses a bull to gore his victim to death.

** A vicious attack dog is used as a murder weapon in "At Risk."

** One episode actually subverted this twice. Someone was killed by Brazilian Wandering Spider venom, but even though there was a person connected to the case who kept Brazilian Wandering Spiders, none of them actually bit the victim; she was killed with a syringe of the venom. Someone else was eaten by a tiger at the zoo, but was already dead before he was thrown into the exhibit.
** It was double subverted in another episode. Meaning only to scare his sister, a brother put a venomous snake in the very expensive car their father was giving her for her 16th birthday. The father got in the car before he gave it to her, was bitten, and died. Before the snake was discovered, it also bit Lindsay, who had to be helicoptered to the hospital.
* ''Series/DeathInParadise'': In "A Deadly Curse," one VictimOfTheWeek (who is deathly allergic to insect bites) is murdered when the killer releases a kissing bug in his cell.

** In "Death of a Travelling Salesman," the victim of the week is murdered by having a venomous snake planted in his car.
** In "Ties of the Past," a priest who is allergic to bee stings is locked in the confessional with a jar full of angry bees.

* In the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Home on the Remains" (a CowboyEpisode), a CorruptHick who bosses a mining colony uses a ferocious but trained animal called a "keedva" to kill people who upset him. Points for including a ShoutOut to "The Speckled Band" (the beast is controlled with a whistle) and for Crichton's final battle with the animal being a blatant {{Homage}}, albeit with a lower budget, to Luke's fight with the Rancor in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.

* ''Series/FrontierCircus'': In "The Depths of Fear," the lion tamer locks his wife and his rival inside a cage and unleashes a lion upon them.

** An episode has a gorilla who had plastic surgery and mental conditioning(!) to make it look and act human, but would turn ape and kill when given an auditory cue (and a banana).
** Another episode has an assassin drop a venomous spider in Max's suitcase while he was unpacking. Max fails to notice it clinging to the coat as he puts it in the closet where another assassin is waiting. HilarityEnsues.
* ''Series/{{Harrow}}'': In "Aegri Somnia" ("Hallucinations"), the VictimOfTheWeek is murdered by being force fed Irukandji jellyfish: the most venomous jellyfish in the world.
* ''Series/HawaiiFive0'' episode "Cloth of Gold," a venomous marine cone snail (''Conus textile''), native to Hawaii seawaters, is used as a murder weapon.

* A bear is baited into killing a convicted killer who was granted early parole in the ''Series/{{Longmire}}'' episode "The Worst Kind of Hunter."

** In "The Village That Rose From the Dead", one victim is killed by being constricted to death by pythons.

* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': In "Game, Set and Murder," the VictimOfTheWeek is murdered by having a venomous spider placed in their shoe.

** In "[[Recap/MonkS513MrMonkIsOnTheAir Mr. Monk Is on the Air]]," it turns out that [[spoiler:the killer, a Howard Stern-esque radio DJ, has trained the neighbor's dog to turn on the gas in the bedroom where his wife, the victim, slept whenever the dog hears a certain phrase during his radio broadcast]].
** In the episode in which a man is found shot to death in his panic room along with his pet monkey who's holding the murder weapon, the monkey is (of course) the prime suspect. Animal lover Sharona insists that he is innocent. [[spoiler: She's right.]]
* From ''Series/MurdochMysteries'', episode "Evil Eye of Egypt," a cobra is placed in a sarcophagus to bite the first person opening it. Naturally, this is blamed on an ancient Egyptian curse.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Regina in the fairy tale world had a pair of Agrhaban vipers sent to her room to kill herself with (à la Cleopatra) until her lover, the Genie suggests that there's another way. He uses the vipers to murder the king. It later turns out she [[ManipulativeBastard planned the whole thing]].
* ''Series/PrincessAgents'': Yuwen Huai sends venomous snakes into Yuwen Yue's room. The assassination attempt fails because Chu Qiao arrives in time to stop them biting Yuwen Yue.
* ''Series/PushingDaisies'' uses this trope in "Pie-lette" (a dog), "Bzzzzzt!" ({{bee|BeeGun}}s) and "Kerplunk" (''a ThreateningShark'').
* ''Series/QuincyME'': Quincy once found a live coral snake inside a desk drawer. The police assume it's this trope, and the work of someone Quincy's testimony put in prison; Quincy himself points out that coral snakes' fangs are too short to easily envenomate a human being, and surmises that it was intended to ''scare'' him, not kill him.
* In the special ''The Real Wolfman'', the specialists believed at the end that [[spoiler:a man had trained a hyena to attack women and children and the villagers believed it was a werewolf or a large wolf]].
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': In "Stoke Me a Clipper," one of ThoseWackyNazis unleashes his pet alligator Snappy on Ace Rimmer, daredevil pilot and savior of many a dimension. Ace being, well, TheAce, he uses Snappy to air-surf away from an [[StuffBlowingUp exploding]] plane, and has the gator kill his former owner so Ace can [[VariableTerminalVelocity acquire his parachute]]. [[PhraseCatcher What a guy!]]
* ''Series/RosemaryAndThyme'' Season 3 Episode 6 Racquet Espanol. A man is deathly allergic to insect bites, so his epi pen is stolen and an aggressive spider is placed in a water bottle hidden under a pillow. The hope is it will look like an accident. This man has invested in a resort; the murderer wants the resort shut down so it could be sold to a different developer.
* The title character of ''Series/SledgeHammer'' is being menaced by a cobra throughout an entire episode. The snake finally has him cornered when Sledge says, "I've been wanting to do this for a long time," and clocks the snake in the face with a vicious right-cross.
* In the ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' episode "Satan's Witches," Starsky opens the refrigerator and a rattlesnake falls out. Hutch picks it up with a blanket and throws it out the window.
* In ''Series/TerraNova'', someone was able to get someone killed by locking up a Slasher and waiting for the guy to open the door.
* ''Series/WhodunnitUK'': In "Happy New Year," the Victim of the Week is bitten by a venomous snake the killer placed in his safe.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'', "Die Hand die Verletzt": Mrs Paddock has her school python and it is sent to kill one guy from the parents' committee.

* In one episode of ''Radio/BoldVenture'', a radio show starring Creator/HumphreyBogart and Lauren Bacall, someone is murdered by having an enraged gamecock with razor sharp spurs on its faced tossed on to them while they are asleep. Their face is slashed to ribbons and they bleed to death.

* Classic ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #12 Amber Zone article "Royal Hunt". The EvilChancellor Hamir has arranged for attacks by two different types of animals on the Potentate and the {{P|layerCharacter}}C party: the Delajabar, an amphibious animal that lives in the Dweljara river, and a small but highly venomous monster that will be inserted into the party's tents at night.

* The ''Film/BladeRunner'' video game had this done with (artificial) scorpions. Not only were they used to kill a major NPC, the player character could sit on one if you failed to see it ([[GuideDangIt it was the same color as the chair]], making it impossible to see).
* ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' employs this frequently. Many outposts that can be taken tend to have cages with deadly predators just waiting to be released, and sometimes the predator can simply come from the wild. Once set loose, that defenseless-looking tiger will rip through pirates like tissue paper, giving you the outpost without lifting a finger. The animal, however, will still be there, and be more than happy to eat ''you'' next.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', you can fling scorpions at unwitting soldiers, watch them dance around in a panic, and then die from the poison. [[YouBastard Shame on you for laughing.]]

** In the game ''Secrets of Shadow Ranch'', Nancy's hosts at the ranch aren't there when she arrives, as a rattlesnake somehow got into their bedroom and sent one of them to the hospital. Possibly a subversion, as it's never confirmed that the culprit actually put it there.
** Also, in ''Lights, Camera, Curses!'', the ShowWithinAShow movie ''Pharaoh'' supposedly ends when the female lead (playing Nefertiti) tries to murder someone with a venomous snake. The [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes ophidiophobic actress]] who plays Nefertiti isn't pleased when the director insists she hold a live (harmless) snake in this scene.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden'', after [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz Dekim Barton]] is defeated, [[Anime/{{Braiger}} Khamen Khamen]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness deemed him useless and promptly snuck a king cobra to bite and kill him, without Khamen being on the place]]. It almost bit Isaac, but [[Anime/Daitarn3 Haran Banjou]] shot it dead in the nick of time.
* In the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' games, animals are sometimes used by Assassins in cutscenes, i.e. an assassin slipping a snake into someone's bed in ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II]]''.

* ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations 2]]'' has Sirhan Dogen, a blind assassin who's trained his guide dog Anubis to kill. When he's not instructing him to tear people limb from limb, Dogen [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes dotes on Anubis,]] constantly petting his head and cooing to him; Abunis happily puts his paws on his master's chest and licks his face.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Due to using footage from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels, ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' features the same attempt as in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. TheRant [[FridgeLogic questions the logic of this, pointing out that if they could get a droid close enough to the window to cut it open and put animals inside, it could probably also have just been filled with explosives and blow up the room.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Grace's "brothers" were [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-03-17 created to be this.]]

* One of the villains of ''[[Webcomic/{{Starslip}} Starslip Crisis]]'' claims to have set off [[NoodleIncident some sort of interplanetary incident]] all by himself. With six trained ''goldfish''.

-->I will not attempt to kill the hero by placing a venomous creature in his room. It will just wind up accidentally killing one of my clumsy henchmen instead.

** Parodied when the title character is attacked by a [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile "coccodrilo"]] in his living room. It is portrayed alternately by StockFootage or by an actor in a [[StylisticSuck laughably bad]] [[PeopleInRubberSuits costume]].

-->This snake will [[NeverSayDie take care of]] those kids.
* Serpentor of ''Franchise/GIJoe'' often threw live snakes as missile weapons. The show couldn't actually show anyone being bitten, so these allegedly-venomous serpents wrapped themselves around their targets' necks and choked them instead.

** TOS (The Original Series)
*** "The Fraudulent Volcano". Dr. Zin's {{mooks}} use a tarantula against Dr. Quest.
*** "Riddle of the Gold". Dr. Zin's agent arranges for a tiger to attack Dr. Quest during a hunt.
*** In "The Curse of Anubis" Dr. Kareem sics a group of vipers on Dr. Quest and Race Bannon.
** In ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'', a mook sneaks a spitting cobra into the hero's jet. It blinds Race, who was piloting, nearly causing them to crash. Later, Hadji [[HoistByHisOwnPetard uses the cobra against the mook]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Spin-Off Showcase'', Chief Wiggum is attacked by an alligator in his houseboat in New Orleans. Principal Skinner notes that the alligator was just a warning; it teeth had corks stuck to them.

** Also there's an incident where Dr. Venture is checking mail and he opens a box containing a cobra, poised to strike. However, it turns out [[ForgotToFeedTheMonster the box was very old and the cobra simply turns to dust]].
** The Monarch's solution to Dr. Venture's group therapy sessions taking away from their, er, time together? Have Henchman #21 drop a venomous snake onto the therapist. Notably, it works.

* An Indian man was sentenced to double life imprisonment in 2021 for murdering his wife by a cobra. He had hidden a cobra in her bed, where it bit her. The motive was a dispute over her dowry.[[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58839298]]

** Artemis had a bad day with Orion and had him assassinated by a scorpion. Both were turned into constellations.

* ''Manga/RedRiver1995'': One of the princesses staying in Kail's harem is killed by an assassin leaving venomous scorpions in her room (the story takes place in Asia Minor, which is home to one of the few scorpions with venom potent enough to kill a human). Earlier in the story, some of the princesses leave scorpions in Yuri's bed as a cruel prank, though those were identified as a non-lethal species; however, this happens ''right in the day when Kail was supposed to spend the night in Yuri's room'', so [[BewareTheNiceOnes the usually level-minded and sweet Yuri]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend gets PISSED]].

* In ''Film/Shotgun1955'', Delgadito's renegades leave Bentley tied with wet rawhide out in the desert. As the rawhide dries, it shrinks and drags Bentley closer to a stake that has a rattlesnake tethered to it.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden'', after [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz Dekim Barton]] is defeated, [[Anime/{{Braiger}} Khamen Khamen]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness deemed him useless and promptly snuck a king cobra to bite and kill him, without Khamen being on the place]]. It almost bit Isaac, but [[Anime/{{Daitarn 3}} Haran Banjou]] shot it dead in the nick of time.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Due to using footage from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels, ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' features the same attempt as in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. TheRant [[FridgeLogic questions the logic of this, pointing out that if they could get a droid close enough to the window to cut it open and put animals inside, it could probably also have just been filled with explosives and blow up the room.]]

-->''I will not attempt to kill the hero by placing a venomous creature in his room. It will just wind up accidentally killing one of my clumsy henchmen instead.''

* Parodied in ''WebVideo/ItalianSpiderman'' when the title character is attacked by a [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile "coccodrilo"]] in his living room. It is portrayed alternately by StockFootage or by an actor in a [[StylisticSuck laughably bad]] [[PeopleInRubberSuits costume]].
-->'''Italian Spiderman''': Gesù Cristo, un coccodrillo!\\
'''Crocodile''': ''(pointing a gun at Italian Spiderman)'' [[TalkingAnimal Give me the diamond, Italian Spiderman!]]
** In a later episode, Italian Spiderman is attacked by a snake. He grabs it and screams into its face "WHO SENT YOU?!"

* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest''

* WesternAnimation/RalphWolfAndSamSheepdog:In "Don't Give Up the Sheep", Ralph unleashes an [[AcmeProducts Acme Wildcat]] against Sam. Naturally, the cat completely ignores Sam and tears into Ralph instead.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangface}}'' episode "A Creep From The Deep", the international thief Grueller attempts to dispose of the [[YouMeddlingKids meddling kids]] on his trail by sneaking a big constrictor snake onto their yacht.
-->This snake will [[NeverSayDie take care of]] those kids.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* In Season 2 Episode 13 of ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', a cat from Planet Gray is hired to go after Careful S., who mistakes him for a stray cat and takes him in despite having an allergy to cat fur.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfTheSkyValleyCult'' nighthawks can control animals telepathically. One of them sends a rattlesnake after Craig Steiger, with predictably disastrous results.

* An Indian man was sentenced to double life imprisonment in 2021 for murdering his wife by a cobra. He had hidden a cobra in her bed and had it bite her. The motive was a dispute over her dowry.[[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58839298]]

* Snakes seem to be a really, ''really'' popular choice of this trope. In the Creator/JetLi action film ''Film/HightRisk'' the tabloid reporter Helen gets cornered in a bathroom stall after some mooks empties an entire sack of poisonous snakes in the loo. She managed to escape in time thanks to Li grabbing her from an AirVentPassageway, but suffers a poisonous bite in the process which Li must extract using a knife. Turns into a ChokhovsGun later on as Li hurls said knife, whose blade still contains traces of the snake's venom, into the BigBad - it ends up killing the villain ''two minutes'' away from the credits.

** In ''Film/Moonraker'', Hugo Drax attempts to kill Bond by a reticulated python.

* ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations 2]]'' has Ryoken Houinbo (Sirhan Dogen in the fan translation), a blind assassin who's trained his guide dog to kill.

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': The episode "That Creeping Feeling" has someone try to keep Brittas by sending over a pair of highly venomous spiders. One of them eats the other in transit, then bites Colin instead (although he survives in the end).

'''GrammarNazi Note:''' Several of the animals mentioned below are "venomous" -- they inject some toxin in their victim. It is rarely relevant if they are "poisonous" -- that is, toxic if you try to eat them.

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': The episode “That Creeping Feeling” had someone try to keep Brittas by sending over a pair of highly poisonous spiders. One of them eats the other in transit, then bites Colin instead (although he survives in the end).

* ''Series/PrincessAgents'': Yuwen Huai sends poisonous snakes into Yuwen Yue's room. The assassination attempt fails because Chu Qiao arrives in time to stop them biting Yuwen Yue.

* Classic ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #12 Amber Zone article "Royal Hunt". The EvilChancellor Hamir has arranged for attacks by two different types of animals on the Potentate and the {{P|layerCharacter}}C party: the Delajabar, an amphibious animal that lives in the Dweljara river, and a small but highly poisonous monster that will be inserted into the party's tents at night.