Three year old dropped by mother to death at Zoo (Pittsburgh: insurance, to live in)

[HomeIsWhere...]

Originally Posted by Clint.

Child Killed In Pittsburgh Zoo Exhibit - Upper St. Clair, PA Patch
Child mauled to death by African painted dogs at Pittsburgh Zoo - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Parents - don't hold your kids over zoo exhibits filled with wild animals.

Reminds me of a time at the Cleveland Zoo, near the cheetah exhibit...two cheetahs were eying a toddler on the other side of the fence and parents were smiling, saying things like, "oh, they like you!" in baby talk. I thought, Um, yeah - they'd probably like to eat him.

Rest in Peace little angel and sincere condolences to the family, regardless of the circumstances a precious life has been lost.

Best regards, sincerely

HomeIsWhere...

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Hopes

So sad. The exhibit needs to be changed with a better barrier to protect people from doing stupid things though.

Tragic event indeed, but no need to over react to it either - millions have visited the attraction without incident, no need to change things because 1 moron visits.

[eschaton]

Goddamn that's awful.

As the parent of a three-year-old myself, I'd like to think I'd jump into the exhibit after my daughter to save her, but from what I remember, it's quite a long drop down from the top viewing area. The kid might have been dead before the dogs were even on them.

[groar]

Originally Posted by Hopes

The second article the OP linked is a post gazette article quoting zoo officials.

and the second article doesn't say what exactly happened, just that the boy was at the zoo with his mother.

the only source, so far, of the claim that the mother dropped the child is this:

https://twitter.com/AshlieWTAE/statu...51412164513792

not saying it's not true, we just don't know yet.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It's tragic that ANY of the animals were eliminated to begin with for something that, while tragic, was the result of human negligence.

Tragic yes but the life of an innocent 3 year old would always trump the life of an animal, endangered or not.

[groar]

Originally Posted by trlstreet

Tragic yes but the life of an innocent 3 year old would always trump the life of an animal, endangered or not.

agreed. tragic, but necessary if it had saved a human life. and i'm someone who believes in animal rights, is vegan, blah blah blah.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Better yet maybe the zoo should administer an I.Q. test as a requirement for entry?

I know you're being sarcastic, but it would be less of a hassle (less costly, less time spent) to simply improve the barrier.

Originally Posted by groar

and the second article doesn't say what exactly happened, just that the boy was at the zoo with his mother.

the only source, so far, of the claim that the mother dropped the child is this:

https://twitter.com/AshlieWTAE/statu...51412164513792

not saying it's not true, we just don't know yet.

The post gazette article says more than the boy being at the zoo with his mother.

Zoo President and Chief Executive Officer Barbara Baker said the child, who was about 3 years old, was on an outing with his mother when he fell over a railing and off of a mesh barrier where the painted dogs were on display.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...#ixzz2BHt1dPZI

But does it really matter if she literaly dropped the child or not? Unless the railing failed, the mother wasn't watching her child well enough. She was either holding him and dropped him, or he snuck away and climbed up on his own, or he was on the railing with her standing next to him, or she tossed him to the dogs on purpose. Every scenario imaginable puts the mother at fault (aside from a failed barrier). Whatever happened, it's terribly tragic.

.

[groar]

well it may have been a failed barrier. whatever, i don't feel like arguing about it, i'm just saying that "mother drops child to his death" may not be an accurate description of what happened.

i feel awful for everyone involved, from the child to the mother to the zoo employees to the witnesses to the animals. i can't even process how horrific this is. it happened less than 4 hours ago, there is plenty of time to fling blame around. if it's a problem with the zoo, they need to fix it. if it was negligence on the mother's part, i don't think there could be any worse punishment for this woman than having to relive and second guess this moment for the rest of her life. i really doubt she needs anyone to second guess for her, although that's already happening.

[Hopes]

Even if it is the mother's fault, human error, I think the zoo needs to improve the barrier, as I've already stated.

I've been to that exhibit. It's just a wooden deck with a wooden railing like a deck on a house, except it has some mesh below.

The mesh is meant to keep the animals from climbing up, not to catch people who fall.

It's not even a far drop on one side at the top of the hill. It appears you could easily swing over and land without getting hurt.

It's a fine barrier for animals that aren't dangerous. It's not appropriate for animals that are dangerous.

Although I understand your saying that we shouldn't rush to judge the mother without having more information, I think there would be reports of the railing breaking

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It's tragic that ANY of the animals were eliminated to begin with for something that, while tragic, was the result of human negligence.

It sounded like the zookeepers wanted to reach the kid but one dog wouldn't back off.

There was another incident with the dogs escaping their enclosure but none got out to the public.

Zoo closes after endangered dogs crawl under fence - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette