Angry commenters rushed to persecute a woman whose son fell to his death at the Pittsburgh Zoo. If it’s true that horrific accidents could happen to any parent, why can’t we accept that?
Imagine it’s a crisp day in early November. The sun is shining, and you know there will be precious few Sundays left with nice weather before the cold sets in. There’s no question it’s a day to be outside.
You have a sweet little family— just you, your spouse, and your 2 year-old son. Maybe you call your parents or your siblings to see if they want to spend the day with you. In any case, you decide to go with your son and family to your city’s zoo.
You set off – it’s about a forty-minute drive from your house in a suburb just south of the city. When you arrive, your son excitedly pulls the grown-ups from exhibit to exhibit. Perhaps you’re the type of parent that holds your child’s hand constantly, never risking a moment with him out of your sight. Or else you’re one to let him wander 10 or 15 feet ahead – he’s getting bigger now and understanding more, and knows that when you yell ‘Red light!’ he’s GOT to stop. And he does, now, without fail – always turning and giving you a grin, too. Really, no matter your style, you’re no different than any of the other hundreds of families spending an otherwise average Sunday at the zoo.
On this day, though, these will be the details that will come to matter the least. To others, anyway. But to you, these moments will soon forever be known as “before.” Every day, for the rest of your life, you will wish you could rewind, relive these details, and change what is about to happen.
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Every day, for the rest of your life, you will wish you could rewind, relive these details, and change what is about to happen.
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Your family walks up to the next exhibit. It’s a gazebo overlooking a yard with African Painted Dogs – an endangered canine species that look remarkably like German Shepherds, except uglier and more feral. Nevertheless, your son is thrilled to see them; maybe he remembers them from last time you were here. He runs up to the railing and peeks through the bars, but you quickly realize there’s not much to see at his height – the plexiglass below the railing is dirty, and the top of it is a good foot over his head. He looks up at you, lifting his arms to be held. You bend down and scoop him up, as you have thousands of times before. Holding him now, you straighten back up to standing next to the railing. And as you do, all you register is a pulling sensation, then a feeling of sheer panic. In seconds, your son has left your arms and tumbled over the rail. Before you have a chance to react, the dogs are upon him, and your baby boy is being torn apart.
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On November 4th, 2012, news started to spread of what had just happened at the zoo within the hour. Not much was known at first, except a little boy had somehow fallen out of his mother’s arms and over the railing of the Painted Dog exhibit. He was attacked within seconds, and dead within minutes. People throughout Pittsburgh texted, Facebooked, and otherwise shared the news – shocked at what they’d heard, every trip to the zoo they’ve ever taken flashing through their minds. Those with children could hardly handle thinking of what happened. And many parents of toddler boys, on instinct, no doubt hugged them closely: because regardless of his charm, what little boy has never, albeit lovingly, been referred to as a wild little animal himself? Soon, we would have a name and an image to attach to the story: Maddox Derkosh, an adorable 2-year old with thick glasses and a sweet smile, had been killed at the zoo.
Faster than the facts – few though they were – could go around, though, came the rumors and vitriol, fueled primarily by thoughtless online chatter. The story went national by the next morning, international after another day. The Pittsburgh Zoo’s Facebook page had to be taken down intermittently to handle the deluge of cruel comments. Because ironically, much like the dogs followed their nature when they encountered something unfamiliar in their pen, people exhibited their own pack mentality as they descended upon Elizabeth Derkosh, Maddox’s mother. Endlessly, it seemed, they sought to reaffirm to one another that this could only have been due to her idiocy and neglect, with comments denigrating her invariably getting more support than the few attempting to call off these wild animals. Common themes emerged in their attacks.
Many mourned the loss of common sense in our society, apparently throwing proper spelling and grammar to the wind in their grief:
“People need to take responsiblility for their own actions. Common sense and responsiblility is very hard to come accross these days” lamented one. (Perhaps not surprisingly, this appeared on the Facebook page of a particularly salacious local news station, known for its reporting on any story even vaguely scandalous in the tri-state area.)
Their cognitive dissonance allowing them to believe this mother was clearly partying on a yacht somewhere now that her child was dead, some spoke of Elizabeth Derkosh as though they had read news stories to which the rest of us somehow lacked access. Despite no public statements whatsoever from Mrs. Derkosh, one man, in response to a defense of the mother, somehow still knew “she wants to blame everyone but herself.” Another common sentiment – again, one with no evidence supporting it – was that the mother failed to go into the pit after her child. Because what parent wouldn’t go into a pit where her child was being eaten alive? One clever poster found a way to not only engage in speculation, but some blatant sexism, speculating that, since Mrs. Derkosh hadn’t gone in after Maddox, “her husband [must not have been] with her, or surely he would have.”
There were certainly demonstrations of compassion, but mostly those were, as the kids say, “IRL.” Money was collected to help the parents, and after a request by the family for toy trucks to be donated to charity in Maddox’s name, donations poured in. Online, though, few voices called for decency and common sense. Some pointed out that maybe, the mother had actually been held back from going in by bystanders. Some pointed to the fallibility of all parents:
How many people do things that can hurt a child everyday. How about that speed limit you didnt obey. How about letting your child ride on stroller without a seat beat [sic]. How about the time you let your child pet a dog you didn’t know.
While expressing sympathy for the mother’s plight, even these commenters were unable to refrain from pointing out it still was her fault.
But the majority continued their shameless virtual public stoning of this mother. Lacking understanding of the lightning-quick, chaotic nature of many crises, they seized upon a police officer’s remarks in the immediate aftermath that the child had been placed on the railing by the mother prior to falling. “Almost immediately after that he lost his balance, fell down off the railing into the actual pit and was immediately attacked by 11 dogs,” this officer was quoted as saying.
Though willing to speculate, even with a notable lack of information, on everything else about the situation – including the mother’s motivation, character, and intelligence – the public latched on to this statement for dear life. No variation of this version of events would be tolerated (even, we’ll see, when the District Attorney’s findings would ultimately not appear to support this). The Twitterverse, always up for a good lynching, weighed in expressing disgust. Like the child’s game of Telephone, the officer’s statement was elaborated upon and distorted, with witnesses’ statements tossed around like confetti (“I have seen comments elsewhere that she had been placing the child on various walls and barriers throughout the day and zoo staff had already asked her to stop,” one particularly persistent poster insisted).
Never one to disappoint the public’s need to rubberneck, the media actively enabled and participated in this speculation. One overseas news outlet painted a vivid picture for the reader with an article containing the subtitle that Maddox was “. . . mauled to death by African wild dogs after [his] mother dangles him over railings.”
Indeed, ABC News, for its “Good Morning America” report on the story, went so far as to create a “virtual reenactment” of the tragedy, depicting a child balanced precariously on a railing as his digital mother passively stands by, arms hanging by her sides. When additional details eventually came to light following the district attorney’s investigation, this depiction would prove to be so inaccurate that it could be said to represent an entirely different reality. . . perhaps a reality in which a mother who, by all accounts, was caring, attentive, and loving, would ever do such a thing. By comparison, it seems a small matter that the design of the railing in this video was glaringly different from that in the actual exhibit — pictures of which were readily available online even prior to the accident, had the videos’ producers cared to at least be accurate on this front.
Of course – and perhaps most critically – this account of the fall provided a convenient way for the public to rationalize why this was, in fact, something that could never happen to them. One man bragged:
I have been to this exhibit several times with my kids and they never fell in. hell we went behind the scenes and I had my 3 kids ( 7,5 and 2) 2 feet away from a fully grown lion and yet my kids are all perfectly fine. Y? Because I am a responsible parent that has a higher than 2nd grade education.
And predictably, many posters called for the mother’s prosecution, with some going so far as to label her “a murderer” and a few comparing her to Susan Smith or Casey Anthony. When a former zoo employee came forward to tell the media that he had seen many parents hold their children on this very same railing, only to have his concerns ignored by management, he came under attack as well. Some dismissed him for looking for his “15 minutes” or having a connection to the Derkosh family, while others criticized the news reporter for calling on this man as an “expert” (when the reporter, of course, never claimed any such thing). Finally, when Maddox’s maternal grandfather spoke out about the tragedy just a few days after Thanksgiving in a tearful interview with the local news about his family’s attempts to cope and their efforts to collect trucks in Maddox’s name, multiple commenters expressed disgust at the grandfather and noted how sick they were of the family “pushing this trucks stuff.”
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Nearly four weeks after the accident, Allegheny County’s District Attorney, Stephen Zappala, announced to the public the findings of his office’s investigation of Mrs. Derkosh. He explained that she would not face charges. They had concluded that it was, in fact, a freak accident – the child lunged out of his mom’s grasp as she picked him up to her height, standing at the railing, for him to see better. In Zappala’s quotes released by the media, there was no indication that the child had been stood or otherwise placed on the railing. He noted that after it happened, the mother had tried to go in after her child, only to have onlookers hold her back. The child’s poor eyesight may have contributed both to his need for his mom to help him get a better view, and, some witnesses speculated, his brain’s perhaps fooling him into thinking there was plexiglass that would keep him safe just beyond the railing.
Such an expert determination did little to please those who had already convicted the mother in the court of public opinion. Many became armchair physicists, insisting that based on photos of the railing, or having seen it in person, that there was just no way this could have happened unless the mother was exceptionally careless. And “no one could have held me back,” another woman wrote in reply. Others continued to refer to her standing Maddox on the railing, as though it simply remained a given despite no apparent support.
This is not as Zappala described it:
The mom picks up the child, has the child by the waist; in almost one motion as the child is elevated. The child moves forward with both hands and his face; mom loses control of him.
And that’s the fear, isn’t it? That as a parent, you might someday, somehow, accidentally just lose control of the little being you love most in the world.
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Of course, what has been missing from this discourse is recognition of the fact that those seemingly quiet voices pleading for common sense and the understanding that this really could happen to anyone are actually, painfully right.
In his 2009 Pullitzer-Prize winning article “Fatal Distraction,” Gene Weingarten offers a critical look at the increasingly common phenomenon of children dying after being inadvertently left by their parents in overheated cars. The parallels of the tragedies discussed in this article and the public’s subsequent response to the zoo tragedy are chilling.
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Psychologists have found that there doesn’t appear to be a correlation between the prior parenting skills, or lack thereof, exhibited by a parent and whether he or she might somehow make this tragic mistake.
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Weingarten makes the highly convincing case that such accidents can, and do, happen to anyone – even the most conscientious, caring, and intelligent parents. Indeed, psychologists have found that there doesn’t appear to be a correlation between the prior parenting skills, or lack thereof, exhibited by a parent and whether he or she might somehow make this tragic mistake. So answering the question he knows so many critics ask –“Who forgets a baby?” he writes:
The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.
Yet, lacking any understanding or acceptance of this, the public inevitably reacts by vilifying the parent.
Discussing one particularly heart wrenching case – if one could really be described as any more painful than the others – in which a man lost his adopted baby boy this way, he quotes typical online commenters:
“This is a case of pure evil negligence of the worse kind . . . He deserves the death sentence.”
“I wonder if this was his way of telling his wife that he didn’t really want a kid.”
“He was too busy chasing after real estate commissions [to remember the child]. This shows how morally corrupt people in real estate-related professions are.”
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If it’s true that this can happen to anyone, though, why can’t most of us seem to accept that?
Because, quite simply, it’s easier not to. It’s the path of least resistance. Every day, otherwise loving parents thoughtlessly risk their child’s safety. In the case of children left in overheated cars, psychologists contribute it to primitive processes in our brains failing us as we manage the more complicated tasks of daily life.
But maybe hearing this, you still don’t think it applies to you. You could never be so thoughtless. But have you ever forgotten to lock your front door at night? Left out a bottle of household cleaner? Failed to turn the pot handle toward the back of the stove?
And is it really possible you’ve never held your child high up to see over a railing, either?
Yet much like the outpouring of support for the Pittsburgh Zoo, and cries of anger at any suggestion that common sense might dictate a modification of the Painted Dog exhibit, in the early 2000s, the public failed to embrace a simple keychain device that could help parents avoid accidents like those discussed in Gene Weingarten’s article. Because frankly, a device to help you not forget your kid in the car… who needs one of those?! It’s just so unsexy. So even in those situations where we could take steps to help prevent thoughtless errors with tragic potential consequences, our refusal to recognize the fallibility of human nature prevents this.
Weingarten quotes a clinical psychologist on that very point:
We are vulnerable, but we don’t want to be reminded of that. We want to believe that the world is understandable and controllable and unthreatening, that if we follow the rules, we’ll be okay. So, when this kind of thing happens to other people, we need to put them in a different category from us. We don’t want to resemble them, and the fact that we might is too terrifying to deal with. As such, they have to be monsters.
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This piece is unlikely to be immune from the disdain of Mrs. Derkosh’s critics, either. And assuming it’s not, watch closely how they frame their arguments. Do they insist it’s a matter of “common sense,” despite evidence to the contrary laid out here? Note how their fear will be disguised as anger, their insecurities hidden behind an insistence that their parenting is too cautious for this to ever happen to them.
And then remember that you have a choice. You can join them, or you can stop and remind yourself “there but for the Grace of God . . .” and go forward with your life.
Photo–Flickr/Yvonne in Willowick
About Bethany Bateman
Bethany…what a great article and great writing!
I think we all want to believe that this was a parenting mistake and not something you could have absolutely no control of. Theres enough bad things to worry about, adding this to the list of car accidents abductions and everything else, it takes away one more feeling of security that we thought we could have at of all places the zoo.
You are 100% correct. I can’t imagine the pain the entire Derkosh family is feeling. I hope your article helps some of these people who have piled on with their own anger and fear think twice before they do so again.
Well to my mule-headed earlier point of view, standing the child on the rail only mattered from the standpoint of showing that the zoo did that they could to make the exhibit safe, but that their protective measures were intentionally breached. However, even if that were the case, and even if in my mind the wall was so high and so sloped that no one would stand a child there, the fact is people do stand children on walls. I wouldn’t do it, but perhaps to someone taller, or stronger, or more whatever, it wouldn’t seem a bad idea, and as such I suppose should be accounted for in the plan. Even if the parent did stand the child there or for whatever other reason was at fault, it was a child who had no say so in the matter who paid the price. And so, regardless of who is at fault here, and regardless of how well the zoo planned things, this still shows that it could have been planned better and that it can be improved upon. I kept insisting that it was highly implausible that a child could accidentally fall over this wall, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. I guess it takes the unforeseeable to show us what we didn’t see.
Beyond that, you are correct – pointing it out over and over to the mother serves no purpose.
Sorry – that was in response to Richard if it wasn’t clear.
That’s a really good point, Jodi. Even if, again, for argument’s sake, it was a parent being incredibly stupid and not a freak accident — it seems like if it’s physically possible that it could happen, even in the face of someone not following the rules, it would be good to try to anticipate it and avoid it happening again. B/c even if they have signs absolutely everywhere, and even though, yes, parents shouldn’t be stupid — a kid shouldn’t have to pay the price.
As I’ve said, I’m not litigious, so it’s not like I’m hoping the zoo is punished or sued or something — that’s not really my style. It’s also not a case where there are going to be hospital bills or something — no amount of money, obviously, can bring him back. But I do hope that if there are safety modifications they can make to this and other exhibits that might have similar layouts, the fear of it looking like they are admitting fault doesn’t keep them from doing it. On that note, my boss (who I told about this) used to work doing educational outreach at the Fort Worth Zoo, and she said that, even though they are actually known for having really good visibility in their exhibits, their open-air exhibits all have ‘double barriers’ so that if one is breached, there is still a second one to protect the person. So in the example of the Painted Dogs exhibit, if there were a fence below the platform and a few feet in front of it, if someone or something were to fall from the platform again, there would still be a fence separating them from the dogs. I think that platform is high enough that putting a fence below it and then a few feet forward would probably not have much, if any, impact on the visibility when you are standing on it.
There are fools, and there are damned fools. Most of our safety work is designed with the latter in mind. (“Do not iron clothes while wearing them.”) But, whatever their other deficiencies, damned fools do have their moments of inspired ingenuity. Breathtaking, unbelievable ingenuity. Leaves the rest of us shaking our heads and asking how anybody could possibly anticipate THAT.
She is a mother, she is not a monster… she is not stupid, she is not a horrible mother, she is not an idiot… she is simply, a mother. She wanted to spend the day with her family at the zoo… to watch the excitement in her sons eyes, the hapiness in his adorable smile! When she noticed he could not see the dogs clearly she did what most of us would do… picked him up! I’ve done it thousands of times and I know you have too! We don’t think of the worst possible outcome, we think of making the little ones happy, of getting to enjoy another smile and the wonder in their eyes. If we constantly think of all of the bad that can happen in every little thing we do, we will go insane! It is life an everything we do is a risk. I will forever think of little Maddox, for the rest of my days, everytime I am about to lift my children at any exhibit and maybe it will change my decision. When my children grow and have their own visiting a zoo I will tell his story and warn them of the dangers. Baby Jessica falling into the well still plays in my mind when my kids are by a hole in the ground and I was only a child when that happened. We learn from others but we don’t forsee all dangers. Kids are quick and I am sure the way this story reads can happen easily and to any of us! We cannot blame anyone… yes, if she never picked him up he may still be here, I’m pretty sure she realizes that an doesn’t need reminded more than she reminds herself! and it wasn’t wrong of her to do that, she was just being a mom! I’m sure this event plays in her head non stop. If the zoo had better barriers… and that would lead to complaints from guest, that stupid fence is blocking my view… people are never satisfied and are very quick to judge! I have friends who have lost children during birth, who have gone to get their newborn from the crib in the morning to find that they had passed away during the night. One infant lost both of his legs from Sepsis (an infection) and a 2 year old girl is fighting cancer as I type this… they did nothing wrong, maybe they could have prevented it somehow in some of those cases but we do not think of the worst every second of the day! Children can choke to death eating the meal their mother made them, car accidents happen everyday, they can fall at the playground and lose their lives… sometimes things just go very wrong very fast. Maddox, with his awesome smile and those dark rimmed glasses over his little curious boy eyes, left an impression on my heart forever. I never even knew his name before this happened but I pray that his mother knows how much the little love of her life touched so many of us around the world! Remember that she is the one who wakes up every morning unable to hear his laugh, to hear his voice, to hug him… She attempts to fall asleep everynight with his voice playing in her mind, maybe she read to him everynight, maybe they had chocolate milk before bed everynight, maybe they sang songs, whatever they did, SHE can never do again… she can never tuck her baby in again, kiss him on the head and turn to catch one last glimpse as she turns out the light…. DO NOT JUDGE HER…. she is a just a mother.
Dawn,
I think you said everything that I wanted to say but failed to do. I was blessed with 2 children and 3 grandchildren. This whole story broke my heart and my daughter cried for a week. We think of Elizabeth and her husband now and the grandparents – - with all the lights and wonder of the beautiful Christmas season. We are praying for them. Your words touched my heart…. I never judged her. She is not Casey Anthony. Some people acted like she was an uncaring mother. It was a HORRIBLE accident and for anyone to say it couldn’t have happened to them- doesn’t live in a real world. I kept thinking about it and it only takes a second for a tragedy to happen suddenly. God bless the Derkosh family and you will remain in my prayers forever. Thank you, Dawn. God bless you as well!
Thank you for writing this. I have been very disturbed by the horrfic chatter I see about this accident. What the DA has described could happen to anyone, and it is terrifying.
After many years of absence, I have found myself now back in church praying for Maddox and my own children’s safety. I do not think I will ever take my kids to the Zoo without being terrified.
I will say, I would not want anyone to hold me back from jumping in the pit . I would rather die with my child in the pit then face this for the rest of my life, and I suspect Elizabeth feels the same way.
This is one of the saddest stories of my time. I can not recall ever being touched quite like this. The nature of the death is unspeakable.
I know accidents happend all the time but this is unbearable. I did not know the boy or family but they are in my thoughts and prayers
Great article! Coming from another angle, I looked at the hypothetical “I would have jumped in there” mentality and broke down why, scientifically, that’s absurd. African Painted Dogs are one of the most formidable predators on earth, with the strongest Bite Force Quotient of all Carnivora. Interestingly, they are also excellent parents. Learn more: http://bit.ly/SBEs8T
There is somethign to be said for dying with my child. I would not be able to live with this accident and jumping in would of been a better fate. I would want to die with my child.
From what I understand the mother was held back. For me that would be a disservice. I would not be able to cope with this and Id rather be buried with my son.
Derkosh Family is in my prayers as is Maddox.
Thanks Jason, that was a really interesting article.
My only concern, though, is that many of the people crticizing the mother have overlooked the fact that the DA said she DID try to go in, but was held back by bystanders. This was noteworthy to me because the implication seems to be over and over: she didn’t have that parental instinct that’s as strong as mine, no matter HOW dangerous these dogs are — because *I* would do that!! I’m honestly not clear on whether people just aren’t reading the articles they’re commenting on and so don’t KNOW that the DA said that or what… though some have made it clear they are saying that in SPITE of the DA’s statement — ie ‘no one would be strong enough’ to hold them back (given how much they love their child). I said to another writer on here the other day that I sometimes think many readers of article just live on a parallel plane of existence where they simply do not have the same version of reality that the rest of us do, in spite of the facts being readily available to them (and maybe, even having just READ those facts). A good example of this was that, yesterday (if you didn’t hear), the Zoo announced that they would be closing down that observation platform. People were talking about it over and over as though they were shutting down the exhibit entirely. Jodi correctly pointed out to them that that wasn’t what they said — they just said they were shutting down THAT platform, not the entire exhibit.
Let me ask you a question (maybe more ‘run something by’ you) that I have wondered about… early on, I saw a woman say something to the effect of, ‘I feel silly saying this — but I honestly never realized these dogs were so dangerous, and I don’t think the zoo did much to make that clear in the set-up of this exhibit.’ Also, when I had heard that they had gotten out of their enclosure at the zoo (in May, I believe?) my honest reaction when I heard this was ‘oh, well at least it wasn’t a lion or bear or something REALLY dangerous.’ I am starting to believe more over time that this was just not a particularly responsible layout for this exhibit (see my comment above about ‘double barriers’ that I’ve learned is the standard for predatory animals at many zoos). I might be way off on this (maybe it’s just a coincidence) — but in the link I have in the article — pasting it here again
http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2012/11/breaching-barriers-at-san-francisco-zoo.html
– all of the animals in those pictures where parents are holding their kids on the rail are not necessarily ‘stereotypically dangerous’ animals, with the exception of possibly the rhino. But, it just doesn’t seem like terribly many average zoo-going people would think ‘oh, a hippo/anteater/monkey’ could be deadly, I need to be REALLY careful here (even though maybe it’s a myth, but my understanding has always been that hippos are in fact pretty dangerous).
I do understand that people are saying over and over to remarks such as mine ‘they were wild dogs, I would NEVER be stupid enough to think they weren’t dangerous’ — but as you’ve pretty rightly pointed out, it doesn’t seem like people know HOW dangerous these dogs are… in other words, they aren’t just ‘feral dogs’ like I really believe most people think of them.
So, my point of all this is — I am just starting to REALLY wonder if people, before this all happened, would’ve thought there was something a little unsafe about this set-up if it were lions or bears below — or if the zoo would’ve ever had a layout like this for a more ‘stereotypically dangerous’ animal. And particularly worrisome — see my comment above — is that, if you watch through to the end of the DAs remarks (sadly, I don’t think many have seen or had much access to the video at ALL), he says that part of the wooden barrier actually tore off in the aftermath from being pulled on — and that perhaps something stronger like steel would’ve been more appropriate. I think that is pretty major cause for concern.
You raise a lot interesting points. But I wonder how much what’s below even matters. 14 feet is a long way to fall whether it’s wild dogs or whistling marmots.
What I will say is that they still don’t really know how the tiger got out of the San Francisco Zoo. Whether it’s a dog, a tiger, or a foreign plant species, we need to accept that nature is not package-able. Even our best attempts to safely corral it are educated guesses at best.
Zoos certainly give us an illusion of safety. These places bring us into proximity with dangers we would never in a million years have access to otherwise – teeth, claws, venom, pathogens. And no matter how many walls, moats and bars we put into place, accidents will happen. We must accept that. It’s no different than strapping yourself into a carnival ride designed to launch into the air at 80 mph, upside down and sideways, and then being surprised when a buckle disengages once every billion rides. (http://www.rideaccidents.com/)
Yes, we probably take chances we wouldn’t normally because we believe the proper personnel are watching out for us – be they zoo managers or amusement park architects. At some level though, we need to accept that we are taking a risk, one that is far, far less risky than an average rush hour – but a risk all the same.
Having profiled the Wildlife Management Team at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I’m here to tell you that people make bad decisions even when there are no bars or barriers. Time and time again, these guys are forced to respond to a situation where a tourist encroaches on a bear’s territory or alters its behavior with food conditioning (i.e., Subway sandwiches). Perhaps people think there’s no danger because they’re in a National Park. (Even though there are quite a few instances of bear attack and even some deaths in and around the park.)
My point isn’t to blame the mother here – there’s a world of difference between this tragic accident and the woman who willingly climbed over two fences to get a better picture of a polar bear http://bittelmethis.com/bear-myths-mothers-cubs/. But these incidents are two sides of the same coin. No Pittsburgher would have been eaten by wild dogs that day if wild dogs were left in their native African habitat. But no Pittsburgher would have been instilled with a sense of awe for nature or global conservation thanks to the proximity to wild animals, either.
Animals are unpredictable, humans are fallible, and sometimes terrible things happen. The best we can do is
1. Be cognizant of the risks wild animals represent and work to minimize them wherever possible.
2. React like human beings, with compassion and empathy, whenever the unthinkable occurs.
Sorry if a partial response came through – THE REFRESH happened mid-post.
This exhibit actually used to be the cheetah. I can’t remember if the observation deck was any different then. Can cheetahs jump?? Maybe not 11 feet? But at any rate there was something more obviously dangerous there at one time. I was only at the zoo once during that time and I really can’t remember the cheetah at all.
The dogs getting out in May is not what it sounds like. I think they just got into a part of their own exhibit that was supposed to be fenced off. But it was on the radio that the zoo was under lock down because an animal had gotten out – when they said it was the dogs I had the same thought as you, oh, just the dogs. Just some doggies. Not a big deal. But the public may have never been in any danger anyway. I don’t know if initially the dogs were simply unaccounted for and they feared there was danger, or if the spin on this story is another case of the media running off half-cocked. (So yeah, hey, I should know better, right?)
I went to the zoo after this happened and took a look at everything with the question of, could a child get into this? And most of the exhibits do use this double barrier system, so we can look at the animals without them being behind bars etc. A few exhibits use plexiglass so there is a single barrier but no way to breach it from the visitor’s side – two leopard exhibits, kimodo dragon, polar bear, some aquatic stuff, penguins (likely more for climate control than the danger factor). A lot of things have a fence of some sort followed by a little bit of land and then a moat, deep in some instances, shallower in others. Others just have a fence and then a shallowish moat. There are a few spots where there is just a railing and then a drop directly to the animal. Flamingos (pretty tame), beavers, alligator or crocodile – can’t remember if they have one of each or both the same, otters… But at any rate EVERYTHING is clearly designed from the standpoint of protecting the people from the animal. There’s no where that is seems an animal is going to come out to the people.
The deck above the dogs worked, from this standpoint. You could, if you were so inclined, get into many of the exhibits if you wanted to – but for the most part it would be a voluntary effort on your part since there would be multiple obstacles to overcome. Even if someone were dropped into the tiger or bears, they’d have a fighting chance to be grabbed back up. I don’t know if that is planned into the design or it just happens to be that way. I guess what this shows is, you can have a double barrier in one direction, but not the other. “Space” only works as a barrier on the way up, not down. But it is a huge problem if you need to get someone back out in a hurry. Those pictures you linked to at the SF zoo at least show that the child could quickly be retrieved – the drop at the dogs eliminated that choice and despite what anyone says about rushing in, I am sure it gave the crowd pause. It’s one thing to say you’d have jumped in to help but imagine scaling your neighbor’s chain link fence vs. jumping off your roof. The mother was probably restrained out of this self preservation instinct being present in all others on the deck.
So Pittsburgh definitely has double barriers in place.
And yeah hippos are surprisingly dangerous. They look cute and lumbering but they will attack people. They’re also insanely expensive to keep, which is why so few zoos have them. We have gone to Toledo, to see the hippos. They’re a lot of fun to watch. Pittsburgh hasn’t had a hippo in ages. I don’t know if captive hippos lose some of that instinct – people have had them as pets (I think there was a semi-famous one named Jessica, who liked massages and coffee). I was actually most surprised, I think, that even though these were “wild” dogs, they were bred in captivity – but the kill instinct was still so strong.
Anyway. They HAVE put a lot of thought into making the zoo safe, maximizing how well you can view the animals, minimizing the use of bars and cages. But maybe it’s been thought of too much as a one-way thing vs. a two-way thing. Maybe a “drop” is not a good barrier because there’s no way to quickly grab someone back. Without the drop, maybe this would have been safer. I think maybe they tried to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s topography without thinking it might be a double-edged sword.
Thoughtful article Bethany! I can’t go along with the witch hunt of the mother. It was a horrible and tragic accident that ended the little one’s death. As human beings with empathy, and imperfections ourselves, why not show some compassion to the mother who will live with a nightmare, with every breath she takes, for the rest of her life. To all the infallible mother/fathers/judgemental persons who fling their superior attitude around like it’s reality…get over yourselves, and do some soul searching, if you dare.
*ended in the little one’s death*
Thank you for such a sane reply for this attack on a mother.Fact is mothers cannot always protect their children be they 2 or 33. I hope your artical brings her some peace. You can feel the love in your writing well done.
Amen. I am a mother of five (including triplets). My husband and I raised our children living away from extended family so we had very little help of any kind. We used to joke that while we aimed to raise well adjusted, happy, healthy, productive members of society, our primary goal each day was to keep our children alive. We received a mixed bag of responses to this comment, but other parents of large families seemed to relate to the sentiment. My husband and I were both well aware that at any time the unforseen could happen. Even when we, as parents, do our very best to prevent it, tragedy could strike. A car, a body of water, a kidnapper or a fall could rob us of our precious child at any time. We all do our best and when one of us loses the most precious possible gift we should all feel empathy for the family and mourn along with them….and hug our own children a little tighter…..and realize how very lucky we are to still have them to hold….for we are not perfect. I feel blessed every day that I never had to endure such a horrific experience in my life and I pray that I never will. I hope that this family will someday find peace.
Brave and thorough writing. Every time I approached that exhibit at the Pgh Zoo it caused me pause — it never felt adequately planned or protected. I was disheartened by the Zoo’s official public response.
Thank you so much for writing this article. I must admit that I too was devastated and furious when I first read about this tragedy. I think that people always look for a reason to explain something so horrible…perhaps it’s our human need to convince ourselves that horror is not random but that someone or something is always responsbilbe. This helps us deal with our fear that the world is chaos….something we cannot bear to believe.
Then I found out her name and googled it. What came up was her Pinterest page. It is still up and I think anyone who vilifies her should go to it. There are countless pictures of little boy’s rooms decorated with trucks and there are several photos of Thomas the Tank Engine railroad tables. Everything was about him and the love she had for him was palpable on those pages. I knew then that this was a horrific accident and I began to cry for her. I am still crying for her because her life is ruined and no, she was not irresponsible and she did absolutely nothing that any parent with a visually impaired child wouldn’t have done. Dear God, how could you let this happen? Please take care of Mrs. Derkosh.
Sadly the events of how the child fell were misreported, and it took a few weeks for the final report to come out. Elizabeth did not dangle the child on the railing as it was reported, nor did she stand him on the railing. Somehow, Maddox lunged out of her arms, and that was the end.
We live in a world where Zookeeper do not carry guns, but teachers are suppose to.
I suspects I will think about this child for the rest of my life, as I will the 20 children in Sandy Hook. We expects Zoos and schools to be 100 percent safe. Both tragedies are unspeakable.
Loosing a child to illness is unbearable, losing a child in this manner is beyond comprehension. I would be ruined beyond repair.
Pray for these families.
I know it has been several months since this article and the tragedy occurred. When I first heard the story, I felt nothing but anguish, horror, and PAINFUL sympathy for Elizabeth Derkosh. I found a Facebook page of mothers who banded together to write letters of support to Elizabeth, and I joined them. As a mother, it is still so, so hard for me to think about what happened, and I spent several virtually sleepless nights over the tragedy, thinking of what Elizabeth Derkosh must be going through. I felt angry when I read the judgmental statements of so many. At the end of the day, all of those people who were so quick to judge did not have to come home to an empty toddler’s bedroom full of trucks and no one to play with them…they did not have to plan and sit through a funeral for their mauled baby boy…and they don’t have to live with this horror for the rest of their lives. My heart hurts terribly for Elizabeth Derkosh, even to this day. Of course she has feelings of guilt – what parent wouldn’t? But that doesn’t mean she’s a bad or negligent parent, or that she’s any worse a mother than anyone else. This was just a terrible accident. My prayers continue to go out for the Derkosh family. You are always on my heart, as is little Maddox.
So, now the mother has filed a civil suit against the zoo for a minimum or 300K in damages. I was curious if this would change anybody’s opinion, or your thought’s on the case. This is the first source I have found that presents some good arguments against fault and for sympathy.
The Derkosh,s should bankrupt the Zoo, and it still would not be enough. Call me a blue state liberal, but a family zoo needs to be childproof. i will go further to say, the schools in Ok should have storm cellars, and mentally I’ll teenagers should not have AR-15″s.
We can not stop every act of violence and tragedy but schools need to safe and children ca not be attacked at zoos. that exhibit was a disaster waiting to happen.
I would eater die in the pit with my child then face this the rest of my life.
pray for the child and family.