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Pittsburgh Zoo official, witnesses discuss fatal mauling of child at African painted dogs exhibit
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | November 4, 2012 | Don Hopey and Karen Kane

Posted on 11/04/2012 2:29:46 PM PST by EinNYC

A little boy was mauled to death today after falling into the African painted dog exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium.

"The screams just kept coming and coming: 'Someone help. Someone has to do something,'" recounted Angela Cinti, 20, of Bethel Park, who was visiting the zoo today.

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 wooden railing and off of a mesh barrier where the painted dogs were on display. A zoo spokeswoman said the wooden railing is 4 feet in height and the lower mesh barrier is 14 feet above the open exhibit space.

A news release distributed by zoo officials said keepers cleared seven of the 11 dogs after the child fell into the exhibit. Though darts were shot into the exhibit in an effort to scare the dogs away from the child, the news release indicated that "unfortunately, the dogs were in pack mentality and not responding."

Pittsburgh police officers and keepers attempted to lure the dogs away but one "aggressive" dog was shot and killed by an officer.

The African painted dog exhibit debuted after the October 2009 birth of the pups. A surrogate mutt was drafted into service for the nine pups after their natural mother died of a ruptured uterus. In the spring of this year, nine of the 11 painted dogs escaped a section of their enclosure causing a brief shutdown of the zoo.

Ms. Baker said at that time on May 5 that the dogs got into a 1.5-acre "backup yard" not visible to the public, but the dogs were not out of their exhibit.

African painted dogs are an endangered species.

(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: childkilled; dogs; maul; pittsburgh; zoo
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To: Vermont Lt

read the book by Rudi Vrba (that is the correct spelling) if you want a real eye-opener.


41 posted on 11/04/2012 9:09:11 PM PST by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: Vermont Lt

read the book by Rudi Vrba (that is the correct spelling) if you want a real eye-opener.


42 posted on 11/04/2012 9:09:11 PM PST by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: Vermont Lt

read the book by Rudi Vrba (that is the correct spelling) if you want a real eye-opener.


43 posted on 11/04/2012 9:09:17 PM PST by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: Vermont Lt

read the book by Rudi Vrba (that is the correct spelling) if you want a real eye-opener.


44 posted on 11/04/2012 9:09:17 PM PST by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: Vermont Lt

read the book by Rudi Vrba (that is the correct spelling) if you want a real eye-opener.


45 posted on 11/04/2012 9:09:17 PM PST by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: kabumpo

Okay, okay...I will check it out!


46 posted on 11/04/2012 9:18:18 PM PST by Vermont Lt (The dude abides.)
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To: EinNYC

I’ve seen people put little kids on the rail over the Alligator lagoon at the St. Augustine gator farm.


47 posted on 11/04/2012 10:36:30 PM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not a Matter of Opinion)
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To: EinNYC

The idiot mother stood the child on the fence, he immediately fell into the enclosure and in minutes was torn up.


48 posted on 11/05/2012 1:47:25 AM PST by Bon mots (Abu Ghraib: 47 Times on the front page of the NY Times | Benghazi: 2 Times)
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To: STYRO

She supposedly put the boy on the railing to see the dogs and he supposedly fell. She should be prosecuted.


49 posted on 11/05/2012 5:08:36 AM PST by PghBaldy
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To: EinNYC

We recently moved to a suburb of Pittsburgh and went to the zoo a few weeks ago.

I found it overpriced, extremely crowded and rather grungy.

That said, the only way you’re going to have a tragedy like this is through sheer stupidity. We never once worried about critters munching on our kids, because we respected the barriers.

Then again, you’d be surprised at what some people will do.

For now, I’m chalking this one up to another sad, yet TOTALLY avoidable, thinning of the herd.


50 posted on 11/05/2012 5:33:49 AM PST by LadyBuck (In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher')
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To: EinNYC
According to ABC News, the mother reportedly placed the child on top the railing before the "accident" occurred. The only person responsible for this is an unbelievably stupid mother.
51 posted on 11/05/2012 10:42:19 AM PST by Houmatt (NO confidence in the GOP. NONE.)
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To: Houmatt

You are correct it is entirely her fault. Dumb broad. What gets me is that the pit was only 11 to 14 feet deep. You mean to tell me no guy or guys had the balls to go in there stick his arm down the throat of the pack leader and kill it in the process? All the other dogs would have backed off and it would have bought the kid some time. I had a police office whom i know very tell tell me straight up that if attacked by a dog put your hand directly down its throat and keep pushing it till the animal is dead. You will certainly bleed a lot but will probably survive. He had his own police dog but he knew what to do just in case it came down to it with almost any dog.


52 posted on 11/05/2012 2:13:04 PM PST by Plumberman27
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