2-year old boy mauled to death at Pittsburgh Zoo

[IsabellaSnow]

I've been reading up other reports, it's so dodgy, I just don't know how that kid got over that fence. The fence has a 45 degree slope facing inwards meaning that first it'd be very difficult to stand a child up there, and if someone did chances are if it did fall it'd fall inwards. I pray it wasn't on purpose, and it seems unlikely, but the rest of it seems really unlikely too. I just can't see how the child got over there. The mother clearly wasn't paying attention, but how did no one else notice?

 

[Red7227]

I've been reading up other reports, it's so dodgy, I just don't know how that kid got over that fence. The fence has a 45 degree slope facing inwards meaning that first it'd be very difficult to stand a child up there, and if someone did chances are if it did fall it'd fall inwards. I pray it wasn't on purpose, and it seems unlikely, but the rest of it seems really unlikely too. I just can't see how the child got over there. The mother clearly wasn't paying attention, but how did no one else notice?

There is only a 2 metre piece of rail without mesh to allow people to photograph without interference.

"This is the tragic two-year-old boy who was mauled to death by a pack of ravenous African wild dogs after he fell off a zoo railing his mother put him on to get a better view of the animals on Sunday."



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... lings.html

 

[Bocefish]

Maddox apparently fell head first, landing in a netting which was designed to catch small objects, not humans. Maddox bounced off the netting and onto the ground near the dogs.

The above simulation graphic by ABC News shows how Maddox stood on the railing before he fell.
Zoo officials said the 11-foot fall didn’t kill Maddox before the dogs disemboweled the little boy. As the dogs attacked the screaming child, zoo officials fired tranquilizer darts and a police officer opened fire, killing one of the wild dogs.
“Unfortunately, the dogs were in pack mentality and not responding to zookeepers efforts to control them,” zoo officials said in a statement.

http://sandrarose.com/2012/11/2-year-ol ... enclosure/

Tragic, horrible accident but human error & lack of reasonable judgement is the cause. There were built in toddler safety measures, but the mother chose to bypass those safety measures without adequately securing her child.

ETA: It may have been intentional too, who knows. I never thought a mother could stab her toddler over 100 times either, but there's been a couple incidences of that recently too.

 

[Jupiter551]

I thought this article was interesting, some experts on African Painted Dogs saying even in the wild they've never seen them aggressive to humans, even children. Pretty much just saying they would have rushed as a pack to see what fell in, and if 11 dogs were attacking a toddler it would be gone within a matter of seconds, not minutes.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...can-wild-dogs-pittsburgh-zoo-animals-science/

 

[Bocefish]

All Canids are territorial in nature, even the average house mutt. That's been their territory for who knows how long. Add to that a wild pack mentality and the kid never had a chance. I'd say it was more a territorial attack than a feeding frenzy.

 

[Jupiter551]

Yeah I'm sure, though pretty much any animal like that is going to rush over to see what the new interesting thing that dropped in there is. They're probably bored and stir-crazy, add in territory and the fact that there's lots of people yelling and screaming and...yeah

 

[LiLredhairedgrl]

I'm not sure how this could really be blamed on the zoo. They only need to protect visitors from clear threats. Most parents don't look at a railing and think "there's a good place to set the kid!". One of my initial thoughts was that perhaps the mother did this on purpose? I'm not sure which is more sad the idea that she could accidentally put her kid in such an obviously bad situation or the idea that she was just getting rid of the kid creatively.

My thoughts exactly.

:evil:

 

[Shaun__]

You all seem to be missing my main point. The fences are for the animals not the people. They need to be protected, not us.

We're not missing the point, there is a railing to stop people falling over and a mesh barrier to stop things being dropped inside - apart from gross neglect or deliberate misconduct the animals and people are safe.

You could put a 360 degree chainlink dome with a fine mesh inside and some idiot would still cut a hole and perch his toddler on the edge to get a better view. You might say well that's extreme why would anyone do that? Well why would anyone place a toddler on a railing over a 14 foot drop above a pack of 11 wild dogs?!

Even if the enclosure was empty a 14 foot drop would be serious injury or death to a small child, and frankly a mother willing to do something like that was an accident waiting to happen.

The mesh net was a joke and in no way adequate, there is no way this will come out good for the zoo. If your platform overhangs an exhibit you need to have it enclosed. Saying someone could cut a hole in it is in no way a reasonable defense for not taking adequate precautions. Allowing people to drop pens, food, or toddlers into a exhibit is not something a good design will do.

This reminds me of the time that tiger jumped out of its pen to attack the dumbasses taunting it. They had it coming, but a properly designed enclosure would have never allowed it to happen.

 

[Red7227]

The mesh net was a joke and in no way adequate, there is no way this will come out good for the zoo. If your platform overhangs an exhibit you need to have it enclosed. Saying someone could cut a hole in it is in no way a reasonable defense for not taking adequate precautions. Allowing people to drop pens, food, or toddlers into a exhibit is not something a good design will do.

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

All it needs now is a new sign "Please do not throw your children into the enclosure, the painted dogs have their own chew toys"

 

[Shaun__]

The mesh net was a joke and in no way adequate, there is no way this will come out good for the zoo. If your platform overhangs an exhibit you need to have it enclosed. Saying someone could cut a hole in it is in no way a reasonable defense for not taking adequate precautions. Allowing people to drop pens, food, or toddlers into a exhibit is not something a good design will do.

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

All it needs now is a new sign "Please do not throw your children into the enclosure, the painted dogs have their own chew toys"

I am not whining I am stating common sense safety procedures, sorry you care nothing about animal or human safety. If the zoo had taken the time to enclose their viewing platform the child would be alive, and the dog would not have been shot to death either. I expect that zoo will close the exhibit and make modifications to prevent this from reoccurring in the future.

 

[Red7227]

I am not whining I am stating common sense safety procedures, sorry you care nothing about animal or human safety. If the zoo had taken the time to enclose their viewing platform the child would be alive, and the dog would not have been shot to death either. I expect that zoo will close the exhibit and make modifications to prevent this from reoccurring in the future.

Yep, until some other fucking idiot throws their child over the fence or parachutes into the enclosure. You can stop all of the morons some of the time, and some of the morons all of the time, but you can't stop all of the morons all of the time. Stupid will out.

 

[Shaun__]

I am not whining I am stating common sense safety procedures, sorry you care nothing about animal or human safety. If the zoo had taken the time to enclose their viewing platform the child would be alive, and the dog would not have been shot to death either. I expect that zoo will close the exhibit and make modifications to prevent this from reoccurring in the future.

Yep, until some other fucking idiot throws their child over the fence or parachutes into the enclosure. You can stop all of the morons some of the time, and some of the morons all of the time, but you can't stop all of the morons all of the time. Stupid will out.

$49.47 at home depot. That would have been a cheep price to pay to have prevented this. You can not prevent people from parachuting in, but you can prevent a lot of stuff very easily.

 

[Red7227]

$49.47 at home depot. That would have been a cheep price to pay to have prevented this. You can not prevent people from parachuting in, but you can prevent a lot of stuff very easily.

And why isn't that lining the side of every road? one kid has been killed by painted dogs, how many get killed every year by cars? At some point people have to be held responsible for their actions. The zoo decided that a 14 foot drop and a 4 foot rail was enough for most idiots, they just had the misfortune to have an exceptional idiot break the system. I will be curious to see what the coroner says about the the safety standards at the zoo.

 

[Bocefish]

Make it idiot-proof, and someone will make a better idiot.

 

[Jupiter551]

This reminds me of the time that tiger jumped out of its pen to attack the dumbasses taunting it. They had it coming, but a properly designed enclosure would have never allowed it to happen.

LOL that's poetic justice. I was at a zoo in vietnam and some fuckface threw at can at a tiger because it was "just sitting there"

 

[IsabellaSnow]

$49.47 at home depot. That would have been a cheep price to pay to have prevented this. You can not prevent people from parachuting in, but you can prevent a lot of stuff very easily.

And why isn't that lining the side of every road? one kid has been killed by painted dogs, how many get killed every year by cars? At some point people have to be held responsible for their actions. The zoo decided that a 14 foot drop and a 4 foot rail was enough for most idiots, they just had the misfortune to have an exceptional idiot break the system. I will be curious to see what the coroner says about the the safety standards at the zoo.

The zoo had just passed it's safety standard thing that they do every 5 years a few months ago. Very lucky for the zoo as if it was just about to be done then it would have fallen on them worse. But it met or exceeded every safety feature it needed.

I agree with the car thing too, it was also extremely unfortunate that the child bounced off that thing several times. But I've watched quite a bit on this now and seen what the zoo actually looks like, it is actually incredible that this happened, how the toddler got in there I do not know. But as was said earlier, if the woman who put the child up there and clearly wasn't paying attention or holding him wasn't his mother, she/he would currently be in prison facing charges. Also if it weren't a toddler who got dropped and mauled but an adult who decided to stand/sit on the fence, if they survived, they would also face charges. So I don't really see in what world the mother shouldn't.

Yes parents do stupid things, sometimes they get angry and hit their children, sometimes they have other things they'd like to do and ignore/abandon their children, sometimes they have emotional crisis's and can't feed their children, sometimes they put their children up on fences overlooking wild animals and don't keep hold of them/watch them/stand near them. All of the former things (before the fence thing) are very common, yet they can completely fuck up your childs life and cause a lot of damage. In fact for those things your child could be taken away from you. Do people sympathise with the mother who abandoned her child for weeks on end when the child gets taken away from her? Or the pedo father who ends up in prison never seeing his children again? No I think not. I don't really see much difference, in fact, this is worse in ways because the child is now dead. Stupidity and foolishness aren't acceptable to be blown over. Like if you killed someone whilst driving because you weren't looking/paying attention, you would get charged for it, even though you didn't kill someone intentionally.

If she had driven very dangerously/carelessly with her child in the car, went through a red light and got hit by a lorry killing the child it would be her fault, and honestly I don't see how she could really claim sympathy on that or somehow sue the traffic system because she managed to go through that red light, maybe forcing them to put up barriers/gates so no one can do it in future.

 

[Elysia36]

This was totally preventable. The zoo did their part to keep the public safe and those safety guidelines were ignored.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes parents do stupid things, sometimes they get angry and hit their children.

Having a bad day at work and taking it out on your kids by hitting them is stupid. Smacking that butt for mouthing off and cussing out their own parents (or school teacher, or whoever) is not stupid, in my opinion.

Not trying to hijack the thread...sorry.

Also if it weren't a toddler who got dropped and mauled but an adult who decided to stand/sit on the fence, if they survived, they would also face charges.

Earlier in this thread I posted a link to another story where a man decided to jump into a tiger's den at a zoo because he "wanted to be one with the tiger." LOL. The article mentioned that the guy did have to face charges for his stupid stunt.

 

[16_bit]

Just an update on this from here. I have quoted the relevant part below but if you'd like to read about his funeral, click the link.

The county medical examiner determined that the boy survived the fall but bled to death from the attack, which zoo officials said staff members couldn't stop because it happened so quickly.
In addition to an internal zoo review, the death is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, an accrediting organization. Neither is expected to announce findings soon.

It appears to be an accident that won't result in criminal charges, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney's office, which is waiting for other information before closing the case.
The district attorney also expects the observation platform above the exhibit to be improved, Manko said.

 

[Nordling]

Yes parents do stupid things, sometimes they get angry and hit their children.

Having a bad day at work and taking it out on your kids by hitting them is stupid. Smacking that butt for mouthing off and cussing out their own parents (or school teacher, or whoever) is not stupid, in my opinion.

Not trying to hijack the thread...sorry.

Also if it weren't a toddler who got dropped and mauled but an adult who decided to stand/sit on the fence, if they survived, they would also face charges.

Earlier in this thread I posted a link to another story where a man decided to jump into a tiger's den at a zoo because he "wanted to be one with the tiger." LOL. The article mentioned that the guy did have to face charges for his stupid stunt.

The worst case I've read about was about a moron from here who jumped into a male lion's enclosure while he was drunk and of course the lion killed him. A few days later the idiot's stupid buddies sneaked into the zoo at night after it closed with guns and killed the lion out of revenge. To me that's like shooting into the wind because a hurricane killed a loved one.