Boy Falls into African Painted Dog Exhibit at Piitsburgh Zoo Dies

[Linda7NJ]

Which leads to the question were they inbreed? All inbreeds have been known to have some kind of difficulties.

Why would they be inbred?

Pups have a very high mortality rate both in captivity and in the wild. About half of every litter dies.

 

[tlcya]

I don't think you're being argumentative, ticox, and that was always my understanding, as well. But I found several links (including the one I posted above) that say ALL reptiles can be trained to live off whole, dead food. (Some even claim it prevents the damage that live prey sometimes does to the predator!)

I don't know what the training process is and I have no way of settling this dispute short of buying a reptile (which ain't gonna happen).

But I will repeat that my understanding had always been the same as yours.

OT still - boy I sure wish I had figured out whatever that secret trick was. We even resorted to trying force feeding (recomended by vet as poor thing was starving himself).

 

[Kat]

IMHO this mother made an extremely bad judgement call and subsequently it cost her Son his life.

I'd be surprised if they charge her with any crime though. But I could be wrong.

We see so many accidental deaths of children reported and their parents aren't (usually) charged with crimes.

Personally, I'm appalled at her lack of better judgement but I don't think it was with criminal intent or to be honest that she will be charged with a crime.

On a personal note, I knew someone many years ago who engaged in what I considered as reckless regard towards their child and that child died. But, LE didn't see it as breaking any statutes so she wasn't charged. I can say that even now 15 years later after the death of her child---she isn't the same woman as prior to his death and still suffers mightily from not being able to ever forgive herself for her actions that lead to his death. I know her only through mutual friends now but she is still under psychiatric care for the subsequent breakdown she had after his death.

This child suffered a horrifying death. No matter how quick it was it's still horrifying to me.

 

[Skagirl]

I think everybody here is saying the same thing, so I'm not sure who needs to back away. To my knowledge, nobody is saying the dogs should be euthanized at this time. What would be the point?

There is some disagreement as to whether the mother needs to be criminally charged, but the discussion has been mild.

I think Ausgirl's post was regarding another's person's post that isn't on here anymore.

 

[Nova]

You may have misunderstood me. My heart breaks for these parents and what they are going through. I don't think we truly know exactly what happened at this point. I hope it didn't come across as my blaming the parents. In my original post I stated "If it turns out that the mother was negligent, not that she was. Negligence is defined as "a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances."

I'm not sure who will instruct or educate parent on all possible dangerous situations. Some times it just comes down to doing what a reasonable person would do.

No, I understood. I just took your conditional ("if") as a given and continued from there.

And I didn't mean to imply that we can educate parents on all possible dangers; I only meant to defend the mother to the extent that she was in an unusual situation.

 

[Nova]

I think Ausgirl's post was regarding another's person's post that isn't on here anymore.

Got it. Thanks, and my apologies to Ausgirl.

 

[Ausgirl]

Oh hey, no worries - I shouldn't have snarked back at a snarker, etc, my apologies too.. best hold my tongue & let the mods deal with things like that, is the lesson for me there!

 

[passionflower]

I found this and it said it could be shared........
beautiful

http://www.holistichomemaking.org/2012/11/a-letter-to-mother-of-maddox-derkosh.html

 

[Nova]

Oh hey, no worries - I shouldn't have snarked back at a snarker, etc, my apologies too.. best hold my tongue & let the mods deal with things like that, is the lesson for me there!

If that was the worst you've got, my new friend, the mods will love you!

(This is supposed to be a compliment. What you posted wasn't so bad.)

 

[passionflower]

Earlier this year in Pittsburgh area, a mother put her 2 day old baby on the floor with 4 dogs.
The husky dog with a cast killed the baby. To my knowlege mother was never charged.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163224&highlight=Pittsburgh+baby+mauled+dogone

 

[passionflower]

http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/postgazette/guestbook.aspx?n=maddox-derkosh&pid=160899302&view=1

 

[passionflower]

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/y...ommunity-derkoshes-funeral-road#axzz2BfuRkMGu

 

[Peazzzer]

O my. My daughter lives near the area of the zoo and called me today, terribly upset. She heard on the news that it took the boy 7 to 13 minutes to be torn to shreds.... I cannot fathom that. Oh dear. Just so tragic. At first I thought she said 3 to 7 minutes, and I was thinking it takes that long to drown, then she corrected me.

I don't have a link, and moderators, if this needs removed, please do. Oh my.

 

[pghbrandi]

Earlier this year in Pittsburgh area, a mother put her 2 day old baby on the floor with 4 dogs.
The husky dog with a cast killed the baby. To my knowlege mother was never charged.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163224&highlight=Pittsburgh+baby+mauled+dogone

She wasn't. AT ALL!!! To me, she should have been. A person I know has a neighbor who took that dog. Spent thousands of dollars to rehab the dog! It's a crazy mess.

This story, Passion, you are local. I saw on the news tonight, all of these rumors about the mom placing the boy one the banister for pics are lies. Most of the stories going around are lies. She was holding him and he jumped from her.
I know there have been so many times holding my babies they have a reaction and jerk. (Yes, I always catch them) I just don't think it's fair to place blame on this poor mother.

 

[Peazzzer]

I just cannot imagine the lifetime of grief this mother has to bear. To see your child decimated in front of you, helpless....I don't understand why she did not have the foresight to see the danger, but man. She will never recover...

 

[Sonya610]

She heard on the news that it took the boy 7 to 13 minutes to die....all the while pleading for his mother.

That just doesn't sound plausible at all. First of all, while there may have been some high pitched screaming early on I don't believe for one moment the child was saying "Mama" for 7-13 minutes while that was going on.

Secondly with all of the adult humans screaming their heads off it would have been very hard to distinguish where noises were coming from.

The zoo officials knew the child was obviously dead when they got most of the dogs off of him. African Painted Dogs kill by disemboweling their prey, I am guessing that is what happened here and it lead to massive blood loss as well as rapid shock. There wouldn't be 13 minutes of "pleading".

 

[Peazzzer]

I am sorry, I did not want to say he was just in pieces in 7 to 13 minutes. Sigh. Like I said she heard it on the news, no link. So sorry.

 

[legalmania]

Uhhh....are you asking if these wild canids were inbred and could that explain their extremely aggressive response?

I'd like to know what the Zoos are doing to make sure that they are not from the same breed. In the wild the females take off with their pups, and go find a pack that are not genetically compatible. Wonder if our Zoos are doing the same?

http://retrieverman.net/2012/05/23/...iors-may-spell-doom-for-the-african-wild-dog/

 

[passionflower]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=11087011&l=372ba671af&id=272030711614#!/wpxi

WPXI.com article about facebook pre school teacher and facebook

 

[Cracka*Jaxx]

I saw on the news tonight, all of these rumors about the mom placing the boy one the banister for pics are lies. Most of the stories going around are lies. She was holding him and he jumped from her.

I know there have been so many times holding my babies they have a reaction and jerk. (Yes, I always catch them) I just don't think it's fair to place blame on this poor mother.

BBM

I don't know how you, or anyone, can distinguish which accounts are 'lies' and which aren't. Until LE conducts a thorough investigation, we won't know exactly what happened.

If what you're saying is true, the mother must have been standing right next to the window. And I can't visualize how the child could 'jump' out of her arms like a monkey and fling himself out the window. In order to make any kind of leap, the boy would have to have his feet firmly pressed onto some relatively firm surface. What would that be? And if he was squirming, it seems to me that he'd pretty much drop straight down.

Either way, why would it matter if she was holding him on the railing or just holding him in her arms? She let him go and he fell out the window. And as the adult here, the mother is certainly to blame. She was negligent- it was an accident. And accidents happen all the time.

But I bet anything she's not going to hold herself responsible. Already the dead child is being blamed for his own death- " ...he jumped from her" is how you put it. Who said that? The parents have probably already hired an ambulance chaser and they'll be blaming the zoo, the staff, the animals- anyone but the mother. Just wait and see.