Three year old dropped by mother to death at Zoo (house, lawsuits)

[iliza]

It's really nothing more than a freak accident. If it can be attributed to the baby's mother's negligence (for lack of a better word), every parent makes mistakes and it's a shame that hers is irreversible. I'm sure she was just trying to take the child to have a fun day at the zoo before the snow comes. She will have to live with this for the rest of her life, and the memory of seeing it happen before her eyes. No greater "punishment" for an oversight.

I agree as well that it is not the dogs' fault and this raises another whole issue.

[Dragonfly8]

New article. The little boy survived the fall, tragically.


Dr. Baker said the boy fell from an observation area and was small enough that he bounced twice on protective netting before falling into the exhibit. An Allegheny County medical examiner's review found that the boy was not fatally injured in the fall, Dr. Baker said.

Read more: African painted dogs that mauled child at Pittsburgh zoo will not be euthanized, CEO says - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[gg]

Just hope the zoo doesn't have to shut down after being sued to death by this.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by UKyank

Yes, clearly the zoo is at fault

I said that there should have been another barrier in place. Most of the zoos I've been to have such precautions when dealing with predators.

And does it really even matter who is "at fault"? A child has been mauled to death on what should have been a fun trip to the zoo. Frankly, whether it's the mother, the zoo, or the phantom menace, a child is dead.

[iliza]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Just hope the zoo doesn't have to shut down after being sued to death by this.

There was a safety net type thing surrounding the observation deck, so precautions were taken. Some times things just happen regardless of trying to prevent them. I know that's not the way lawsuits work, but that only seems logical to me.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Dragonfly8

New article. The little boy survived the fall, tragically.

Damn. I was just talking with someone else earlier and we were hoping somehow the fall would have at least knocked him unconscious. (I didn't think the fall would be high enough to be fatal.) It doesn't seem like this would be the case with the netting though.....

[Dragonfly8]

Originally Posted by iliza

It's really nothing more than a freak accident. If it can be attributed to the baby's mother's negligence (for lack of a better word), every parent makes mistakes and it's a shame that hers is irreversible. I'm sure she was just trying to take the child to have a fun day at the zoo before the snow comes. She will have to live with this for the rest of her life, and the memory of seeing it happen before her eyes. No greater "punishment" for an oversight.

I agree as well that it is not the dogs' fault and this raises another whole issue.

I'm a parent and agree that we do make mistakes.
Some recent mistakes in our home- Dad putting a tuna fish sandwich in our daughters lunch rather than a PB& J.
Sending our dear daughter to school with crazy socks and tie on the wrong date.
Not reapplying sunscreen at the lake in a timely manner.

Mistakes don't result in permanent loss of life. imo

I'm still not ready to feel compassion for this 34 damn year old woman who STOOD her 2 year old on a rail over a wild dog pen.... and dropped him to be bitten to death.

What if he were on a field trip with his daycare and one of the employees dropped him to his death? Would you still feel all the compassion you do? Or would you be extremely angry at the level of stupidity that resulted in the death of a 2 year old?

[groar]

statistically, taking your child with you in a car (never mind making the dozens of little and sometimes bigger mistakes everyone makes every day while driving) is way, WAY more dangerous than holding your kid up to see a zoo exhibit. but people do that every single day, and when something bad happens they're not jumped on and denied sympathy because they subjected their child to something as dangerous as riding in a car.

another really dangerous mistake: having a swimming pool, lake or river near your house. another one, a biggie: letting your kid be around adults who are related or close to the family. i'd say those are the top 3 when it comes to serious injury and death in children caused by trauma and not illness. i have worked in a job for a few years now where i see what the kids of pittsburgh are being harmed by, and except for this one single case it's not zoo animals.

[Oleg Bach]

To kill the wild dogs for doing what wild dogs do makes no sense. That is like wanting to kill a lion because they eat meat. What I don't understand is how the mother lost control of the child?

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Nobody who uses the words "alpha male" about themselves is one. Nobody who thinks you can watch a 2-year old and always keep your wits about you has spent a whole day caring for one.

Listen to Jack Hanna from the Columbus Zoo on KDKA, a Rambo type would have been dead.