Pittsburgh Zoo: Boy Mauled to Death by African Painted Dogs

At the Pittsburgh Zoo a 3 year-old boy fell into an African painted dog exhibit and was killed. NBC News reported that the boy was at the zoo with his mother when he fell from an observation deck into the exhibit and was attacked by the painted dogs and was mauled to death.

"The zoo quickly moved visitors into buildings as animal keepers tried to coax the dogs into an off-exhibit area. Many of the 11 dogs in the exhibit moved away immediately, and several others were scared away from the child by the zookeepers. A remaining dog would not leave the child, and a Pittsburgh police officer shot the animal," reported NBC News.

The Zoo's president, Barbara Baker said to CNN, "Our emergency teams and our Pittsburgh police responded immediately, but there wasn't anything that could be done."

African painted dogs are found in sub-Saharan Africa in open plains. According to the Pittsburgh Zoo website, "African painted dogs (Lycaon pictus) are the size of medium domestic dogs. They are also known as African wild dogs, Cape hunting dogs, spotted dogs, and painted wolves. They have large, rounded ears and dark brown circles around their eyes. The dogs differ from hyenas, wolves and other dogs in that they have four toes instead of five."

The website also noted that the dogs are hunters and eat "antelope, zebras, wildebeest, springboks, gazelles and impala."

NBC News reported that no visitors saw the boy fall into the exhibit. The exhibit was closed for a day while officials and police investigate the incident.

CBS Pittsburgh reported that in May of this year nine of the dogs escaped from the exhibit by digging. Zoo staff were able to get them back into their exhibit but hundreds of visitors were moved into nearby buildings as a precaution.