It's safe to say this father probably isn't going to win parent of the year. A panther mauled a 3-year-old boy after the dad daftly convinced his friends who worked at the circus to let the animal out of its cage.
Perhaps, he forgot it was a wild animal. But the panther quickly mauled the boy, giving him injuries to his face, head, back, and legs. The father had taken the boy to the circuits on a day when there were no performances to look at the animals. The incident happened in Russia. While posing with the boy, the panther quickly attacked and mauled him.
The young boy needed several stitches and also observation for his wounds. His mother Svetlana said her ex-husband picked up her son from school. She didn't know anything about the animals. But she said her son was traumatized by the event.
Panther Mauls Boy
'"I was not aware of this. Naturally, I would not have let the child go," she said. "As far as I understand, he has friends there at the circus. They released the panther from the cage, and it attacked my son. He was crying, his head was covered in blood, there was blood all around."
News outlet Readovka said, "When the mother picked up [Vova], he was covered in blood. It was hard for her to watch, but the child had to be held in her arms."
The boy ended up with a bandaged head and several stitches. Following the incident, the boy's mother reported the incident to state prosecutors. The circus reports that it didn't have any panthers at its shows. But the media reported that the animal belonged to one of the circus performers. The performer showed off the animal to the father and son while they were there.
The owner of the animal faces up to six years in prison over the attack. At this time, I'm unsure if investigators have charged the father with anything related to the panther mauling. Still, the 3-year-old probably won't forget any of this anytime soon.
