Animal claims at SCTI
Date: 28/08/2025 by Southern Cross Travel Insurance
There’s nothing quite like a journey far, far away to help us release our inhibitions and relax. At home in our own backyard or neighbourhood, we might be a bit more watchful, but with the sun on our backs or the wind in our hair, we can let our guard down and sometimes that can go a bit haywire.
There are also all sorts of things which are wildly different in other countries, and Southern Cross Travel Insurance customers have seen it all, as has our claims team!
We took a look at the data and over the last 12 months alone we’ve seen…
| Indonesia (incl. Bali), Philippines, Thailand |
37 incidents with monkeys, 26 reef accidents, 38 dog bites, scratches or causing a fall and 2 spider bites. The average claim paid for these works out at a pricey $2,211. If we look at the dog incidents on their own – those claims come in at around $1,438 each. Dogs and other animals can carry rabies – with the cost of a rabies shot (if available) coming in on average at $700 per shot! Why did we include reef injuries? They are made of coral – an at risk, living organism! |
| USA | A customer had a bat bite in an Air BnB. Like dogs in some countries, bats can carry rabies, and other bugs. The claim for this event came in at $14,200 |
| UK, USA and NZ | 4 deer related claims – 3 of which were for rental car excess (which means a collision of some sort) with the fourth meaning a customer was unable to travel to Bali and we refunded their trip. |
| Australia | 1 spider bite – $95 paid
1 wallaby – rental car excess claim $2500 2 flights affected by bird strike – average claim $214 2 surfing injuries with reef cuts – average claim $800 5 rental car collisions with kangaroos – average claim $3,558 |
And just to prove you don’t need to leave the country to need travel insurance, an SCTI customer with a Domestic travel insurance policy, recently had a run in with a shark in Fiordland. Just minutes into their first dive, they were badly bitten on their leg, meaning a sudden end to their adventure. Our customer headed (by chopper) to Invercargill hospital for the treatment they needed, and we were able to help them recover most of the costs for their abandoned journey.
Three key essentials
- Don’t travel uninsured – it’s just not worth the risk and cover is usually very good value given the investment in your longed-for trip. Preferably buy when you book, to protect everything in your itinerary – but if you’re reading this when you’re already in your aisle seat, that’s OK. With SCTI you can now buy insurance after you have left NZ with no stand down period! Ts and Cs apply.
- A good insurer like SCTI will have a 24/7 x 365 days a year emergency assistance team which can swing into action and help you navigate an unfamiliar health system.
- If you need to make a claim, keep all your receipts and track of all your communications to make it easy to claim, which you can do online or with a human, if that’s better for you.
