‘Someone help!’: Boy killed by zoo dogs

PITTSBURGH - A 2-year-old boy was mauled to death Sunday after falling into the African painted dog exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium.

City police said the boy's 34-year-old mother had placed him in a standing position on a wooden railing overlooking the enclosure.

"Almost immediately after that, he lost his balance, fell down off the railing into the actual pit, and he was immediately attacked by 11 dogs," Lt. Kevin Kraus said.

Witness Angela Cinti, 20, of Bethel Park, said: "The screams just kept coming and coming: 'Someone help! Someone has to do something.' "

Zoo personnel were able to lure seven of the dogs away from the victim and into a secure area. Other personnel began "throwing objects and some other techniques that they use" to secure three more dogs, Kraus said.

A final dog, which was acting very aggressively toward the victim and zoo personnel, was shot multiple times by two police officers and died.

The boy and his mother, from Pleasant Hills,Pa., were visiting the zoo with relatives.

Cinti described a horrifying scene. She said she could see the boy's apparently lifeless body lying on a hill inside the exhibit.

"There were three dogs, one at his head, one on the left side of his neck and another one down by his leg, " she said. . . .A [zoo employee] got there and hopped over a fence with a rake and he was banging ... trying to distract the dogs, but they wouldn't move."