Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

National and World

Discussion

November 4, 2012

Boy killed in fall, mauling at Pennsylvania zoo exhibit

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A young boy visiting the Pittsburgh zoo with his mother and friends was killed Sunday when he fell about 14 feet off a deck into an exhibit that’s home to a pack of African painted dogs, who pounced on the boy and mauled him, zoo officials said.

It’s not clear whether he died from the fall or the attack, said Barbara Baker, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

When the boy fell, other visitors immediately told staff members, who responded along with Pittsburgh police. Zookeepers called off the dogs, and seven of them immediately went to a back building. Three more eventually were drawn away from the boy, but the last dog wouldn’t come into the building, and police had to shoot him, Baker said.

“It’s clear that the dogs did attack the child, but whether he died of the attack or the fall has yet to be determined,” Baker said.

The dogs are about as big as medium-sized domestic dogs, 2 to 2 1/2 feet high and 37 to 80 pounds, according to the zoo. African wild dogs are also known as cape hunting dogs, spotted dogs, and painted wolves. They have large, rounded ears and dark brown circles around their eyes and are considered endangered.

Police and the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office were investigating. Baker said the zoo, which has never had a visitor death, plans an internal investigation.

In May, some of the dogs escaped into a part of the exhibit that’s usually closed. The zoo was on lockdown for about an hour as a precaution.

Ten African painted dogs were born at the zoo in 2009, and their mother died of a ruptured uterus shortly after delivering the litter. Five of the pups survived. The mortality rate for painted pups is 50 percent, even when born in the wild to a healthy mother.

It was only the second litter to be hand-raised in captivity, along with one in the United Kingdom, zoo officials said at the time.

 

Text Only
National and World
Local News

AP Video
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials Arrest Man in Idaho in Terrorism Case Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting Sheriff: Expected 'More Loss of Life' in Tornado Raw: School Bus Crash Injures Five Children Quick Response Saved Baby on Phila. Train Tracks Raw: Marines Come to Obama's Aid in the Rain Obama Says He's 'outraged' by IRS Case
Sister Newspapers' News