Mother dangled toddler over cheetah exhibit before fall, Cleveland Zoo says

[Novara]

Source: Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A mother dangled her 2-year-old son over the cheetah exhibit in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Saturday afternoon when the boy slipped out of her grasp and fell, zoo officials said.

Cleveland Metroparks plans to press child endangering charges against her, according to a news release.

The boy, who fell between 10 and 12 feet into the cheetah pit, was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center to be treated for minor bumps and bruises from the fall, Cleveland Fire Department spokesman Larry Gray said.

The child's parents went into the exhibit and pulled him to safety, the news release said. The cheetahs never approached the boy or his parents, according to zoo officials.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/04/cleveland_zoo_parent_dangled_t.html

[Arkansas Granny]

1. What in the hell is wrong with some people. I'm glad the child wasn't hurt.

[Demeter]

2. Classic, Textbook Devolution

The grandmothers' failure is visited upon their grandchildren.

[TexasProgresive]

4. Shaming grandparents is now OK?

How very astute of you. I'm happy to know I can put the failures of my children on my parents. Of course all their good qualities are all me, and my grandchildren are perfect.

[JimDandy]

5. That was a weird claim alright. n/t

[JimDandy]

9. Doubling down on a stupid claim.

Just stop already.

[sharp_stick]

17. What a weird post

Seems a little early to be hitting the bottle.

[JimDandy]

3. Only the DA can press child endangerment charges.

The zoo is being proactive in blame placement in order to head off public finger pointing over their lack of proper fencing, which has, in other zoo cases, brought on lawsuits.

And if she was holding two children, it is unlikely she was actually "dangling" the child (as in a Michael Jackson 'dangle'). Hopefully the zoo has video to back up their "dangle" claim or they could be faced with a libel suit from the parents. That said, it is beyond me what would induce that mom to put a child close enough to an edge so that he could fall in.

[pipoman]

10. yeah, that depends on jurisdiction you are in...

In my state police press charges, states attorney files charges...I suspect it may be the same in Ohio.

Cleveland Metroparks rangers are state-certified law enforcement officers who exercise full police powers in the commission of their duties.

Oh, and zoo patrons are known for their intelligence..if she dropped a 2 year old she is a fool to have put the 2 year old in that position. If she was at the Grand Canyon who would she blame for dropping her kid off the cliff?

[JimDandy]

13. The law enforcement branch, not a private citizen or company

is the only entity that can file criminal charges. That was the point.

And take a look at the 'railing' jutting out over the pit...it's basically a slanted seat that practically invites children to lay on it, lean over it, sit on it...

If the zoo reopens the exhibit tomorrow without putting up a real fence, then they are inviting more falls and lawsuits.

[pipoman]

18. hmmm...you said,

"Only the DA can press child endangerment charges.", which would be false in my state as anyone can "press charges", states attorney "files charges". Now you have made a completely different claim, "The law enforcement branch, not a private citizen or company is the only entity that can file criminal charges." "File" and "press" have two different meanings in this context.

[JimDandy]

33. I see I'll have to be more exact

next time, for the more picky people, even on a laid back board like DU.

[pipoman]

48. Since words are all we have here to communicate

with each other, accuracy us pretty important....

[tabasco]

7. The cheetahs would be better parents

Humans are poof that a larger brain just means more capacity for stupidity.

[spinbaby]

8. There was a similar incident in Pittsburgh

A toddler was killed when he fell into a wild dog exhibit. I believe his mother had stood him up on the rail surrounding the exhibit and lost her grip. The wild dogs did what came naturally.

[exboyfil]

35. Fortunately cheetahs are pretty gentle

They actually have been used for hunting. At Henry Doorly they moved them away from the other big cats because they were scared. If it had been leopards or tiger it probably would have been a different story.

I have to admit I have been in some zoos in which the animal confinement was questionable. In Silver Springs you could go right up to the chain link with a big cat on the other side. At the Monroe Zoo the giraffes had a perfect swing with their necks if they so choose (that is one method of defense). Also at the Monroe Zoo you could literally put your hand in the mouth of a hippo (he was a teddy bear but hippos can be very dangerous).

[Aerows]

49. I went to a nature preserve

and played with baby lions. And when I say babies, 35 lbs. LOL. One of them shredded the sleeve of my sweater, but it didn't hurt me.

That's a far cry, though, from dangling a toddler over a cage with lions, leopards and tigers. And you are correct, cheetahs are quite gentle for their size.

[LeftishBrit]

11. Glad the kid's OK

Mum doesn't seem to have the sense she was born with.

[JimDandy]

12. Oh good lord!

The zoo was spectacularly stupid in the design of the veiwing area. The news video clip of the pit shows there is no fence in that area. They actually put a railing that looks like a slightly slanted seat out over the pit. It is an INVITATION to people to set their children down on it, or for children to lay down and look over the edge.

The zoo is reopening the exhibit tomorrow. If they do so with that seat type of railing still in place they may be facing more falls and lawsuits soon.

[valerief]

14. What a fuckin' moron. I'm surprised she didn't also hand the baby a gun

before dangling him. Cuz freedumb.

[greiner3]

20. "...hand the baby a gun"

Not criticizing your post, but isn't that the NRA's mantra; arm EVERYONE.

[valerief]

52. Bada bing!

[HoosierRadical]

15. "The cheetahs never approached the boy or his parents, according to zoo officials."

Thank goodness the cheetahs wanted no part in human stupidity.

[narnian60]

32. +100

[heaven05]

16. If this was not

an "accident" then it was just plain dumb and irresponsible. Period. The zoo is not responsible for this, they have learned a lesson though and, hopefully, will put up higher fencing.

[packman]

19. Reminds me of an incident at the Grand Canyon

First visit and standing on the edge taking in the whole thing, I turn around and see an Oriental man standing on the edge gotten to by stepping over the fence, holding his son over the abyss while wife was taking a camera shot.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. Was he a

Chinaman or a Siamese?

[packman]

24. Tried to ask, couldn't understand him

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Regardless , he was an asshole

[CreekDog]

43. what's the mattter with you?

"oriental"?

[CreekDog]

28. oriental?

jeez. you didn't used to use that term. are you regressing?

it's 2015 dude.

[shanti]

55. the PC and correct description of the person is "Asian"

and not Oriental.

[Faryn Balyncd]

21. Here's video of what the "fence" looks like (starting at about 0:12 seconds) :

[BumRushDaShow]

23. OMG! Here in Philly

at our zoo, we have huge fences around the big cat areas (with vegetative screening), and they recently added a "tube" for the big cats to wander (like our favorite smaller felines) above the crowds to other similarly enclosed areas.





Over the past decade, there were 2 separate attack incidents (including a death) at the San Francisco Zoo partially due to the grotto-style enclosures like the Cleveland Zoo... SF's upgrades were the below (which essentially eliminates the "dangling" problem)-

[KittyWampus]

26. that tube is awesome, as long as there's enough property on either side for the beasts.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. Yeah they do

They re-did many of the exhibits (and retired the elephants), so the areas are more animal-habitat friendly.. Other animals have "trail" tubes or other pathways that they can use to move around too... It's pretty cool!

[Pooka Fey]

38. Now I'm going to visit the Philadelphia zoo - what a great idea

Thanks for sharing this.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

31. Poor Kitties see all that food roaming below with no way to get a bite.

[exboyfil]

36. I do have to wonder if they might not take the opportunity

to relieve themselves.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

39. I once witnessed a rhino spray a whole family at the Brookfield Zoo.

[exboyfil]

41. Like a firehose

My family and my brother's family saw two rhinos mating at the Columbus Zoo. We had fairly young children so it prompted some questions. Good teaching opportunity.

[CTyankee]

42. "the daddy rhino is planting the seed in the mommy rhino..."

of course...LOL...

[Aerows]

50. I'm sorry but

LOL! What a bummer to happen at the zoo and have to make the walk of shame back to the car covered in rhino piss!

[JimDandy]

34. Thanks for posting the video!

Once you see what is there, it becomes totally understandable how a child could fall in. Am on a mobile, so I couldn't attach the video in my posts above.

[okasha]

40. That's not a fence, actually.

The walls of the pit function as the enclosure. The structure is angled in like that to make sure the cats can't climb out.

[magical thyme]

44. actually, that's just the railing on top of a 4' brick or concrete wall. Both parents are idiots.

It's an invitation to dangle children only to total idiots.

Since both parents were present, there is no reason why each shouldn't have been holding a single child, instead of one parent trying to hold 2 little squirmy things.

More than likely, she had both the 4 year old and the 2 year old up on the wall.

Clearly they didn't learn a thing from the idiot that dangled her child over the wild dog exhibit and then dropped him.

[Coventina]

54. No kidding. I don't care how attractive a fence looks. IT'S A FENCE!!!

A parent's responsibility is their child's safety. Period.

Whenever people try to blame zoos in these cases I just have to scratch my head.

Listen up parents everywhere: Any. Attempt. To. Circumvent. A. Barricade. Is. Idiocy. YOUR IDIOCY! No one else's.

[Beacool]

25. Stupid, stupid, stupid..........

When are parents going to learn not to do this? It's not the first child who has fallen into an animal's enclosure.

[KittyWampus]

27. Zoos are going to have to adapt to human stupidity or close up shop.

These stories seem to come along on a semi-regular basis.

Stupid parents have to have their children protected from poor judgement.

Zoos need to find a way to enclose these things behind very tall glass (or similar) or close to the public except for guided tours.

[byronius]

29. My pops dangled me over the back edge of the St. Louis stadium.

Couple of stories high. Told me he was going to drop me as I screamed and cried.

We don't talk.

[magical thyme]

45. my father pushed me at the railing of the Empire State Building

as I screamed and cried.

I don't have anything to do with my father either.

[MelungeonWoman]

51. My dad would take me to high places

And hold my shoulders while pushing me towards the precipice and yelling, "Don't fall!".

We haven't talked in 20 years.

[Duppers]

53. glad I am not the only one

with these feelings.

What do you say to ppl who expect you to grieve over a parent's death when they were horrible ppl?

Btw, from most everything I've seen and read about cheetahs, I've concluded that they usually do not consider ppl to be prey, even in the wild.

Ever see the video of a wild cheetah jumping on top of a Landrover and peeing on the driver through the vehicle's sunroof? Google it for a laugh. Great cats.

[FailureToCommunicate]

37. Zoo critters gotta eat, but maybe they can sense bad genes...

'The Lion and Albert'.

[magical thyme]

46. maybe zoos need to approach exhibits as caging idiotic parents and their spawn

instead of thinking in terms of caging the wild animals.

[jmowreader]

47. Not enough "please don't feed the animals" signs?

Good thing the kid's okay, and an especially good thing she didn't decide to dangle him over the lion pit.