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Thread: Child mauled at Pittsburgh Zoo

  1. #1
    Brittanee's Avatar
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    Child mauled at Pittsburgh Zoo

    Nov 5 (Reuters) - The mother of a 2-year-old boy who died
    after falling into a pit of African wild dogs at the Pittsburgh Zoo stood him up on a railing before he fell and was immediately attacked by 11 dogs, police said.

    The boy was visiting the zoo with his 34-year-old mother,
    who had put him on the railing for a better view of the animals,
    known as African painted dogs, police said.

    The zoo was closed immediately after the incident on Sunday
    and remained shut on Monday.

    Authorities are trying to determine if the boy died from the
    fall or the attack, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard
    said on Monday.

    Eleven dogs swarmed the boy after he fell. Zookeepers rushed
    to the exhibit area housing the animals, firing darts to
    frighten them away from the child before police arrived.

    Zoo staff secured 10 of the dogs but police entered the pit
    and fired multiple gunshots to kill the last dog, which was
    particularly aggressive toward the child and the officers,
    authorities said.

    African painted dogs are endangered and native to
    sub-Saharan Africa, according to the National Geographic
    website.

    The animals have an average size of just over 2 feet to 3.5
    feet (0.6 meters to 1 meter). They are also known as Cape
    hunting dogs or painted dogs because of their mottled coats with
    patches of red, black, brown, white and yellow fur.


    So, apparently there's a bit of outrage that they killed one of the dogs. So, I was wondering what you people think of it?

    My opinion is, even though it's endangered, I think it was justified because even though the little boy was mauled and honestly had no chance, I think they wanted to still try to save him, if at all possible and to get to him, they needed to get rid of the dog because he was being the most aggressive. Obviously this dog was just acting on instinct, as it IS a wild animal, but they couldn't just sit there and let the dog eat the kid, even if it was too late.

    Also, what do you think about the mother standing the kid up on the railing? I can understand picking up your child to let him see, but to stand him on the railing? That was stupid as fuck. Plain and simple.

    DER HUMPINK

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    Tough call on killing the dog :/ really its kind of a heat of the moment decision what do you do. There could have been P.R. problems if they didn't make an "attempt" to save the boy. I could honestly go either way on that.

    My parents would put me up on rails and stuff like that so I could see but they were always holding me? I'm not quite sure what happened there that if she was holding him up there how did he fall.

  3. #3

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    The problem with the rails is that lots of people do it. There's no way you can make this all the mother's fault. It was a bad decision, but she must've thought he was secure. She just lost her child.

    Really, if the dog was attacking the child, then I'd probably shoot to get it off. I'm glad they only killed one.

    ---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------

    The problem with the rails is that lots of people do it. There's no way you can make this all the mother's fault. It was a bad decision, but she must've thought he was secure. She just lost her child.

    Really, if the dog was attacking the child, then I'd probably shoot to get it off. I'm glad they only killed one.

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    While the mother was the one putting her child on the railing here, it was no one's fault here. The mother did not deserve to have her kid die.

    Though, I have mixed feelings about the dog. If they knew the child died on impact, then I'd be pissed, but we're not sure right now.

  5. #5
    Brittanee's Avatar
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    No one is saying that she deserved to have him die, of course not. But the railings ARE there for a reason. And there was also a safety net in place but apparently the kid flipped over that, too, which landed him in with the dogs.

    DER HUMPINK

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brittanee View Post
    No one is saying that she deserved to have him die, of course not. But the railings ARE there for a reason. And there was also a safety net in place but apparently the kid flipped over that, too, which landed him in with the dogs.
    sure sounds like a whole lot of bad luck happened.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bacon View Post
    While the mother was the one putting her child on the railing here, it was no one's fault here. The mother did not deserve to have her kid die.

    Though, I have mixed feelings about the dog. If they knew the child died on impact, then I'd be pissed, but we're not sure right now.
    Just read the news, the kid died from the mauling.

    Bacon, I'd think that the police saw a child being mauled by a dog, and shot the dog multiple times. Wouldn't you be pretty angry?

  8. #8
    monzter's Avatar
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    why should the dog have to pay for the idiocy of certain human beings?
    they're just doing what comes to them naturally; following their instincts.
    i know its always man over animal but this whole scene could have been avoided had the human just practiced some form of safety restraint.
    in cases like this, one cannot afford to have lapses in thinking/ concentration- especially since the life of a toddler could be at risk.
    its harsh but the animal in no way deserved to be punished like that.
    perhaps a tranquilizer gun should have been used?
    or something along the lines of a tranquilizer?

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    Brittanee's Avatar
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    Jack Hanna did an interview with GMA and he said a tranq wouldn't have even stopped them and the child really had no chance.
    They were just trying to save him if they could, and they couldn't get the dog away so they had to kill it.

    DER HUMPINK

  10. #10
    monzter's Avatar
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    well on the other extreme, they could have at least attempted to wound the animal rather than kill it.
    just seems unfair that the animal has to pay for someone else's stupidity.

    still a huge pity though that two precious lives were lost.

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