Officials at the cheetah zoo where a woman’s toddler was injured this week claim she enticed the big cats by dangling her child over a rail and then dropping him into their enclosure.
The director of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is adamantly defending the actions and instincts of their captive cheetahs and, instead, blame the mother’s conduct, which, they say, grossly endangered the woman’s two-year-old son.
The boy’s mother was in fact seen hanging him over the cheetahs’ railing, and, in the reckless act, he either slipped from her grasp or she deliberately dropped him 10 feet into the animals’ cage.
According to the zoo’s spokesperson, their cats -- which appear to be properly cared for and well fed -- did not even approach the young victim once he landed in their midst.
Cleveland Fire Department responders confirm that the lucky child they retrieved and sent to hospital was treated only for bumps and bruises sustained in the fall, as opposed to bite marks, scratches or gashes.
Because of his mother’s risky behavior, though, and the fright it caused onlookers and employees, the cheetah zoo now says they’ll be pressing charges against the negligent mom for knowingly endangering her tot.
Incidences of captured exotic beasts actually harming or devouring visitors are in fact quite rare, and, as with this case, almost always involve the intentional violation of safeguards put in place for the protection of such spectators.
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