A two year old has died after being mauled by wild dogs in a Pittsburgh Zoo. The boy fell into the African painted dog enclosure after his mother tried to give him a better view of the animals by putting him on top of the railing at the edge of the viewing deck.

Barbara Baker, the President of the Zoo, described the tragedy.

"The keepers tried everything they could do. They responded immediately when visitors alerted them to the fact that a child was in the yard. They responded immediately and were able to get several of the dogs into the backup building. The veterinarians arrived and tried to scare the dogs away from the young child with darts and were unsuccessful in doing that. All of the dogs were eventually brought into the barn, into their backup building, except for one dog which the police shot so we did lose one dog."

The African painted dogs are native to sub-Saharan Africa and are an endangered species. The Zoo is currently closed and it is not yet known when it will reopen.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner