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African wild dogs kill boy at the Pittsburgh Zoo

November 4, 2012 by retrieverman

From NBC:

A young boy fell into an African painted dog [African wild dog or painted wolf] exhibit at a Pittsburgh zoo and was mauled to death by the wild animals, zoo officials said.

The child, about 3 years old, was with his mother visiting the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium when he somehow fell from a 14-foot-high observation deck into the exhibit at about 11:45 a.m. He was immediately attacked by several dogs and died, zoo President and CEO Barbara Baker said.

The zoo quickly moved visitors into buildings as animal keepers tried to coax the dogs into an off-exhibit area. Many of the 11 dogs in the exhibit moved away immediately, and several others were scared away from the child by the zookeepers. A remaining dog would not leave the child, and a Pittsburgh police officer shot the animal.

It’s a pretty sad story.

African wild dogs don’t normally attack people, but these are zoo animals that are in very unnatural conditions.

A little kid falling into the exhibit could stimulate a predatory response, as it likely could from under-socialized packs of domestic dogs.

 

 

 

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Posted in wild dogs | Tagged African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, painted dog, painted wolf | 18 Comments

18 Responses

  1. on November 4, 2012 at 5:09 pm Suhail

    Extremely sad. My prayers go out for the bereaved family.


  2. on November 4, 2012 at 5:23 pm Anna

    How on Earth do you manage to drop your kid into a pack of predatory carnivores????


  3. on November 4, 2012 at 6:01 pm peg4x4

    I thought they didn’t know if the fall killed him or the dogs did..
    I don’t know the layout of the exibit,but surely there was a railing.
    I would like to see the tapes.
    Very sorry for the family.


  4. on November 4, 2012 at 8:01 pm kittenz

    I can’t imagine the anguish the poor little guy’s family must be feeling. And the zoo personnel, too. They’ve never had a human fatality at this zoo before this.


  5. on November 4, 2012 at 8:06 pm kittenz

    I’m only guessing, but I think they may have held the child up to see over a railing & he overbalanced. Three-year-olds are can be pretty top-heavy when you lift them upward and outward like that, and once he started to fall, the railing may have interfered with the mother keeping her grip on him.

    That’s just a guess, but like Anna, I think the zoo must have some kind of a rail around their observation deck, if only to satisfy their liability insurance.


  6. on November 4, 2012 at 8:25 pm kittenz

    I just found this additional news report. It; has more information than the previous reports, although it differs slightly in the details, but apparently the child’s mother did hold the child up onto the rail.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/child-dies-after-fall-into-pittsburgh-zoo-exhibit-and-being-attacked-by-african-painted-dogs/2012/11/04/8014bdce-26b6-11e2-ac64-5d52a2c5953e_story.html


  7. on November 5, 2012 at 4:41 am bearcoatpei

    Very sad all round, not least for the two innocent parties in this that ended up deceased. Sadly, I can see a law suit in the offing because the zoo didn’t totally idiot proof the exhibit.


  8. on November 5, 2012 at 10:09 am peg4x4

    Lots of things I want to know:were the parents getting a divorce? Was the “mother” on drugs of any kind? why didn’t she jump in after the kid?


  9. on November 5, 2012 at 10:10 am massugu

    Its my considered opinion that its the human visitors to the zoo who should be caged in.


  10. on November 5, 2012 at 10:29 am kittenz

    It’s my understanding that the mother was there with multiple children & the ages of the other child or children weren’t given. Maybe she had a younger baby there too, or something … at any rate it would not have helped for her to jump in; she could not have saved the child like that. And may have been in shock at what was happening.

    The zoo has a mesh net to catch things that people might drop or throw in but it wasn’t strong enough to prevent a person falling in. The mother was probably so used to lifting the child up to see that it just didn’t occur to her that she could lose her grip on him and have him fall in. Anyone who has had kids can relate to that. She may have thought that the mesh was a safety net, a “fail-safe” device, or it may have happened so fast that she didn’t have time to think.

    They’ll probably investigate the possibility of drug use, etc., but what this looks like to me is too much complacency (both the mother and the zoo), and a momentary lapse in judgement that resulted in unimaginable tragedy.


  11. on November 5, 2012 at 12:16 pm peg4x4

    I read too much news.


    • on November 5, 2012 at 4:27 pm kittenz

      I know what you mean :-).


  12. on November 5, 2012 at 7:26 pm Peggy Richter

    I too see a lawsuit happening, and it’s unfortunate. The railing is there for a reason. Maybe the mother is “used to” lifting the kid to see, but having done that, how is this the zoo’s fault? they are supposed to protect against people who fail to abide by the rules? I’ll bet there’s a sign about “don’t climb the rails” etc, as they are there on every zoo I’ve visited. so she put him on top of the railing and he fell 11 feet. It’s sad because the kid died and the animal died and the one at fault is probably going to be portrayed as the victim.


    • on November 6, 2012 at 1:41 am kittenz

      A zoo would almost certainly be considered an “attractive nuisance”, like a swimming pool is. Just as it’s a homeowner’s fault if a child comes onto their posted property and climbs a fence and is drowned in a pool (or killed by a dog, for that matter), it would probably be the zoo’s responsibility to have some sort of fail-safe, like an additional fence barrier or something, in case someone climbed over the rail or fell in. A lawyer would probably be able to make that case & it would be settled out of court.


    • on November 6, 2012 at 1:57 am Kathy K

      If you hold up a child on a rail (admittedly not a smart thing to do) and his feet touch the rail, he’ll straighten his legs and launch himself out of your grasp. I believe this is a reflex. Let’s find a kid and try it in safe surroundings.


      • on November 6, 2012 at 8:04 pm kittenz

        Yes you are right, almost always they try to stand and that straightens their legs. If the adult is not very vigilant the child can overbalance and fall.


  13. on November 7, 2012 at 1:53 am kittenz

    UPDATE: the dogs will not be euthanized. Here’s a link to a press conference with the zoo’s CEO:

    http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/african-painted-dogs-that-mauled-child-at-zoo-will-not-be-euthanized-ceo-says-660725/


    • on November 7, 2012 at 2:51 am Anna

      Glad they won’t be euthanized. They were doing what wild dogs do. This was a human mistake, not a dog one. I feel for the family & the zoo staff.



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