A two-year-old boy fell into the cheetah exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo after he slipped from his mother's arms. The mother was said to be holding another child when the toddler fell into the 10- to 12-foot animal pit.
The child, whose name was not revealed, was immediately rescued even before the firefighters and paramedics arrived.
According to Christopher Kuhar, the zoo's executive director, the cheetahs did not come near the child. Neither did they attack the child or his rescuers.
"The cheetahs made no attempt to interact with the child and parents at any time," said Kuhar.
Zoo visitor Michael Lurie and his family were at the cheetah exhibit when they heard a scream coming from the child.
"We had been coming around the gorillas and we heard a kid screaming," said Lurie. "You saw how far the drop was and you just could not think the kid didn't hurt himself from falling down on the ground."
Several witnesses claim the mother was holding the child over the railing when he was dropped.
"I was just shocked. I didn't understand how the parents let the kid go over the thing," added Lurie.
The cheetahs, which are regarded as the fastest animal in the world, did not move as fast as the boy's family members.
"I think they were just curious as to what was going on and why somebody was in the pen with them because it's not every day that somebody is just in the pen with them," said Terra Lurie.
The child was transported by an ambulance to the MetroHealth Hospital. Apart from minor bruises and bumps, the child sustained a leg injury from the fall.
"We are glad injuries were not anymore severe," said Kuhar.
The exhibit, which kept two male cheetahs, was just one among the several animal exhibits featured in the 183-acre Cleveland Zoo. Cleveland Metroparks, the organization that runs the zoo and a number of parks located in the Cleveland area, plans to press charges against the child's family on Monday for acts of misdemeanor child endangerment.
The exhibit had to be closed after the incident.
Photo: Daniel J. McKeown | Flickr
