Two-Year-Old Boy Falls Into Cheetah Exhibit at a Cleveland Zoo; Zoo Officials Press Charges Against Mother
A 2-year-old boy is recovering after falling into a cheetah exhibit at a Cleveland zoo over the weekend.
Authorities say that the toddler fell into the exhibit Saturday afternoon at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo after the boy's mother dangled him over the railing and lost her grip, reports Fox News.
Although there is a 10-foot fence surrounding the cheetahs, a pavilion with an opening overlooks the enclosure, which is where the child fell.
The boy's parents then immediately jumped in to rescue him.
Fortunately, the cheetahs ignored the child, and the boy survived the10-foot drop, suffering from only minor leg injuries, reports Fox 8 in Cleveland.
"You just hear these screams, then all you could see is the adult that jumped in, got the child and then somebody pulled him out," one witness told Fox 8. "It was a heavier-set guy with the kid. They started screaming and that's when they started blocking everybody off.
The witness added that the cheetahs "made no attempt to interact" with the child or his parents at any time.
According to Cleveland Fire Department spokesman Larry Gray, the mother was also holding another child when she dropped her son, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The Cleveland Zoo, however, is planning to press child endangerment charges against the mother, who they say is at fault.
"Unfortunately, we have a number of eyewitness accounts that point to the strong likelihood that the child was dangled over the railing," said the zoo's executive director, Chris Kuhar, in a statement.
Following the incident, the zoo closed the cheetah exhibit for the remainder of the day.
Cleveland.com also reports that a temporary gate was set up to keep patrons out of the pavillion on Sunday. while a sign indicated that the area was temporarily closed.
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