Tiger mauls 10-year-old boy to death (North Carolina at Uncle's Home)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/12/15/tiger.boy.ap/index.html

A woman's 400-pound Bengal tiger fatally mauled her 10-year-old nephew after pulling him under a fence and into its cage, authorities said.

The boy, Clayton James Eller, was shoveling snow Sunday afternoon near the tiger's cage, an enclosure made of chain link fence that had an opening at the bottom so the family's dog could go in and play, officials said.

"This little boy got too close, and it pulled him under the fence," Coroner Howard Laney said.

The boy's uncle, James Marshall Eller, heard Clayton scream and saw the tiger dragging the boy into its cage. Sheriff Dane Mastin said Eller tried in vain to get the tiger off the boy, then ran and got his gun and shot the tiger to death. But it was too late to save the boy.

[Dookus]

1. cripes....

the stupidity of some people is just astounding. Unfortunately, a poor kid is dead because of the stupidity of his aunt.

We need federal laws against owning these animals. The states just aren't cutting it.

[Sequoia]

9. But, but Prez Chimp wants to do away with those laws

regarding endangered species so everyone can have a killer tiger. I know a company that has wild cats but they will not have tigers at all because they are too dangerous.

[KansDem]

12. This belongs in the "Stupid is as Stupid does" file. (n/t)

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Why in the fuck would someone want to own that killer!?!?

This really makes me so damn mad.

[Cheswick2.0]

3. what is with these people and their self indulgent killer pets?

"B B But he was so docile. He never attacked anyone before".

[mmm]

4. Damn! Here we go again

1. Wild cats are just like people; if I put you in a cage for
ten years you would kill me if you had the chance
2. The conventional sense of smell is the wild cat's worst
sense. It is a huge mistake to assume that the cat understands
that an adult human is the same species as a ten year old.
3. Never ever ever approach a wild cat thru a fence. They will
react EXACTLY the same way you would
4. Yes, it should be a felony for anyone to own
a wild cat of any stripe without a Class C License
(or higher)
5. I have spent my entire life working with wild cats.
As man eliminates wild cats from the wild we are
ABSOLUTELY obligated to care for these proud, intelligent
and sentient creatures in captivity. You would not allow a
ten-year old to drive a team 44 racer, why is it OK to set him
loose around a 500 pound wild cat!?

[Flaxbee]

11. I'm so glad you work with cats, mmm

I think tigers (all creatures, but I've got a soft spot for big cats) are magnificent and don't understand the petty, tiny, insecure human mind that wants to keep one in captivity, or kill it, or destroy it's habitat. Why in the world are we called "humankind"? Anyway, it is good to know that there are still good people out there who respect and want to protect all creatures. What kind of work do you do?

[izzie]

5. Why must people have these animals? They should be in wild or zoo

n/t

[Toucano]

6. Wild animals are not pets.

These people are totally (and in this case, fatally) misguided.

Keep the wild in your heart, not in your home!

[NickB79]

7. Doubly sad

First, that a ten-yr old boy died because of this woman's stupidity. Second, that an endangered species had to be killed as well because this stupid woman kept it as a pet. Ugh.

[Triana]

8. tigers are not....

...house/home pets. the idiot should not have been keeping a tiger or any wild animal as a pet...jeeez.

[smirkymonkey]

10. A Tiger.....in North Carolina?

What the hell are people doing w/ large, dangerous wild animals in their f**ing yards, anyway. And why would you drop your kid off with someone who owned one?

It's very tragic all the way around. Poor little boy, what an awful way to go.

[The Stranger]

13. It is criminally negligent.

Not only to keep the animal without knowing what the fuck you are doing, but to have children nearby, and then to shoot it to death for doing what it has evolved for millions of fucking years to do. Would you shoot a car if it ran over someone? Cars are designed to drive -- that is what you expect them to do. Why would you expect anything different from a wild tiger? It is criminal ignorance. There is just no excuse for it.

[lightbulb]

14. To be fair, it sounds like the tiger was shot in an attempt

to rescue the poor kid. My heart goes out to all involved, but I sure hope the owner is charged with and convicted of manslaughter.

[The Stranger]

15. I seriously doubt it.

Knowing the biology and physiology of tigers as opposed to that of children, it was likely over as soon as the child was in the tiger's grasp. Just as it would be over as soon as the child would have been under a car's tire.

The time it would take to obtain, load and train a gun on the tiger -- much less deal a fatal shot to such an animal with a conventional weapon -- would indicate that it was killed in response to the attack that had likely already been completed.

[NYYFan]

16. I live in NC- wanna hear three other scary facts about this case

According to our local news last night:

1) The tiger was had been declawed, thus ppl didn't fear it.
2) The tiger actually ROAMED the neighborhood, and no one complained, because, "it never bothered anyone".
3) The dog dug the hole undeer the fence where the tiger pulled the boy- why ? The dogs played with the tiger, and sometimes slept there.

:wtf:

It's a wild animal folks, no matter how beautiful, lack of claws,plays well witht the dogs, never harmed anyone- it matters not- it's a WILD ANIMAL.

I feel for the poor little boy- he was just shoveling snow- probably spooked the tiger, and the tiger acted as tigers do.

No charges to be filed as of yet, and probably won't be.