another bad choice made by a parent
 

African painted dogs kill young boy at Pittsburgh Zoo – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

" A group of African painted dogs killed a boy who fell into their exhibit today at the Pittsburgh Zoo.

Barbara Baker, the zoo's president, said the child was around 3 years old.

He "fell off an observation deck that's about 14 feet above the exhibit," she said, "and was killed by the dogs."

"Our emergency teams and our Pittsburgh police responded immediately, but there wasn’t anything that could be done," added Baker.

The boy fell into the enclosure at 11:45 a.m., and visitors quickly alerted staff, the zoo said in a statement. A zookeeper moved seven of the 11 dogs out of the exhibit, and a Veterinarian Department member shot darts trying to scare away the remaining dogs.

"Unfortunately, the dogs were in pack mentality and not responding," the zoo said.

Zookeepers, meanwhile, entered the exhibit to try to lure the dogs away, but they could not reach the boy in time. The keepers and Pittsburgh police officers continued efforts, too, to lure away the dogs, and "one aggressive dog was shot and killed by an officer," according to the zoo.

The Pittsburgh Zoo and the associated PPG Aquarium are closed until further notice.

African painted dogs are among the most endangered dog species in the world, with less than 5,000 left in the wild, according to the zoo. The zoo has a breeding program.

Each is about the size of a small German shepherd, Baker said. "

14 feet is a bad fall even without a pack of dogs waiting for your arrival. Sad story ...

G

Here's hoping the kid was unconsious after falling 14'. What a horrible way to go.

They didn't mention that reportedly the mother set the toddler on the rail and was momentarily distracted, allowing the baby to fall.
Some folks shouldn't reproduce.

His fall was broken by some netting designed to, well, keep folks from falling all the way in. He was very much alive when the dogs got to him. One can only hope it was mercifully quick.

As a parent, I simply cannot imagine what that poor woman must be going through. How quickly lives can change in a mere moment of carelessness. How many of us have never done something similar, when we know we really shouldn't, but did it "just for a second..."?

I feel horrible for them. I can't imagine how the mother feels.

I can pretty much guaranty you than neither I or my wife have ever set one of our babies on a freaking ledge where they could easily fall 14 feet to their death, much less set them there and let go of them.

I saw that on the news this morning then read the Pittsburgh paper online. I'm with you Jeff I can't even imagine the grief the mother and probably the father are going through. And it's not like she was a young mother, she was 34.
They are beautiful animals, but wild animals, pack animals, they saw a meal.

You just had to know poor judgement was involved here.

i'm not a parent, so i dont understand the "bond". the mom didnt try to jump over?

this story is awful.

I'm not either Cliff. I'd like to think I'd have grabbed a stick, anything and jumped in. I'm sure her first thought was panic. What's odd is NO ONE tried to save the child. Think about it... 11 wild dogs the size of a German Shepard attacking anything and having to drop 14 feet? Would have been tough. Now, if some one was packing it could have been, although I doubt it, a different story.

That is a heart-wrenching story. Wait for the lawsuit that will bankrupt the zoo and mean no one else gets to enjoy it.

The average lady under shock isn't going to jump 14 feet and take on a pack of large wild dogs. I sure would hope that if it'd happen to me I'd jump and at least try. I would have a hard time wanting to live anyways after that. Of course it is easy to say stuff from the keyboard ...

G

Too bad someone didn't PUSH her in after her baby.

This story doesn't surprise me one bit.

I see careless mothers all the time.

I agree that as a society - we are getting more stupid....not less.

We have never been safer from danger than we are today, so people let their guard down. National parks like the Grand Canyon have big problems with people taking off on deadly hikes because they are used to safe amusement park environments and not at all prepared for nature ...

G

Could have been worse ......



Read more: Pakistani parents say they killed 15-year-old daughter with acid for eyeing boy | Fox News


I wonder what it would be like for a young girl to slowly burn from acid with no medical attention, just burn and burn and burn until she finally died.
Could have taken hours, maybe days of agony.
You know there has to be a very special corner of hell for those parents.
I wonder if hell can make them burn from acid for eternity? Yeah, that might work.

X 11 and bigger.

As if there is any honor in that family after doing that to their daughter! I have a hard time crossing the cultural divied to being able to understand this kind of thinking

B..I..N..G..O- to the reply -and to the name of the -wild-dog.