Child mauled to death by African painted dogs

[Neognosis]

Hilander, are you under the age of 25, by any chance?

[Ashotep]

I just read it was the dogs that killed the little boy.

Medical examiner: African dogs killed boy who fell into Pittsburgh zoo exhibit

[Ashotep]

Hilander, are you under the age of 25, by any chance?

No, why?

[Neognosis]

Most of the people I interact with who write and say "should of" or "could of" instead of "should have" or "could have" are under 25. I actually wrote a thesis on the effects of texting and the infrequency with which younger people read books on the evolution of our language, so I was curious.

[zebra99]

The Mother lifted her child onto the fence as in the illustration.She was stupidly irresponsible,but why the zoo couldn't forsee this and mesh or glaze the viewing area God only knows.In picture two another observation area is partly wired.From what I can gather there is a mesh guard under the observation area...but the child bounced off this INTO the compound.

I blame both the Mother and the zoo in this case.A few years ago a child fell from a wall into a gorilla compound where luckily a silverback protected the lad from the other gorillas and he survived.A mesh fence would have avoided this too.Zoo planners worry that too much wire will spoil 'the experience' but surely low walls or fences are going to be useless as a barrier for the stupid or suicidal.

As for this earlier comment...

"I don't know the exact situation as to what happened, but surely there must've been someone around who was capable of jumping in after the kid to save him, it's not as though they are tigers or lions."

African wild dogs are much feared by lions, and single animals will run if they see a pack approaching.The Indian wild dogs (Dholes) regularly tree tigers and leopards who also have a healthy respect for them.

[Neognosis]

I don't know of any eyewitness reports that say what ABC News apparently thinks it knows.

Are there any, or is this another case of the news providing what they think is of interest to the viewers?

[zebra99]

Obviously I comment only on what I've read myself.But the child fell in from one of the observation points and the ABC illustration would not IMO be very far out.There certainly wasn't any mesh on top of the fence which could have prevented this.

There have been occasions at this same zoo when wild deer have jumped the fences into the compounds in the past...not a good example from a safety point of view.

Edited November 6, 2012 by zebra99

[MissMelsWell]

I think this is one of many reasons whyI like our local zoos... all the exhibits have tall clear plexi walls separating the visitors from the animals. it's impossible to "fall in"

[Ashotep]

Most of the people I interact with who write and say "should of" or "could of" instead of "should have" or "could have" are under 25. I actually wrote a thesis on the effects of texting and the infrequency with which younger people read books on the evolution of our language, so I was curious.

I have never acted my age.

[Q-C]

"no time to save child"

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/05/zoo-no-time-to-save-child-mauled-by-african-painted-dogs/?hpt=hp_t4

[harpybirb]

Oh yeah I remember that. However it is a sad, sad event the parents should've had at least half a brain to not put their child on the edge of a balcony overlooking wild animals. The parents had no common sense.

[+Hammerclaw]

I just hope it wasn't a selfie op gone horribly wrong.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Hammerclaw