Child Dropped Into Cheetah Exhibit

A mother of a two-year-old boy is being charged with a misdemeanor for child endangerment in Cleveland, Ohio. On Saturday April 11, 2015 Michelle Schwab dropped her son into a cheetah exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

According to WKYC news Schwab is the assistant director at the Sawmill Road KinderCare in Columbus which makes for a somewhat ironic twist. Colleen Moran, the program director for the child care center where Schwab works has publicly stated that Schwab, “will remain out of the center while this issue is investigated.”

Moran added, “In addition to the agencies looking into this issue, we are looking into the incident further ourselves, as we closely examine issues involving the treatment of children by our employees, even if those incidents arise outside of our centers.”

The mother was allegedly dangling her son over the exhibit before he was dropped. Fortunately both parents were able to get into the exhibit and get their son out without any of them being harmed.

Clearly this could be seen as a lapse of judgment but could also understandably be cause for concern for parents which leave their children in Schwab’s care on a daily basis.

The following statement was released by Christopher Kuhar, the executive director of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo,

“Cleveland Metroparks Zoo continues to place the safety of our visitors, employees, animals and volunteers as our top priority. Child endangering charges have been filed with Cleveland Municipal Court in the incident from Saturday, April 11 when a two year old was dropped into the cheetah exhibit. The investigation is ongoing.”

CNN reported that many witness saw the mother dangling the child over the rail before he fell 10 feet into the exhibit and suffered a leg injury.

Schwab is scheduled to be arraigned on April 22 reported New York Daily News.