A two-year-old boy was injured after falling into a cheetah exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, officials said.
Cleveland Metroparks said the boy’s parents were able to get the toddler out of the exhibit after he fell in on Saturday afternoon, according to NBC affiliate WKYC. The cheetahs did not interact with the child and parents at any time, Cleveland Metroparks added. The boy was taken to the hospital with a leg injury and was listed in stable condition, WKYC reported.
Christopher Kuhar, the zoo’s executive director, said that a number of eyewitness reports “point to the strong likelihood that the child was dangled” over the enclosure’s railing. Child endangerment charged against the parents could be filed on Monday, WKYC reported.
Witness Michael Lurie told WKYC he was “looking at the cheetahs and then all I hear is the screams.”
“Everything happened so quick,” he told WKYC. “I was just shocked.”
This story originally appeared on NBC News
Cassandra Vinograd