5-year-old mauled by cougar at birthday party

5-year-old mauled by cougar at birthday party

Coral Gables, Florida — The owner of an exotic wildlife company is charged in a girl’s mauling by a cougar at a Coral Gables party.

Court documents show that Corinne Oltz is charged with first-degree misdemeanor culpable negligence and second-degree misdemeanor charge of keeping wildlife in unsafe conditions.

She operates Wild Animal World.

The girl, who is now five, was attacked in November at the home of Goya Foods president Francisco Unanue during a birthday party for his child.

Police say Oltz removed the leashed cougar from its cage to show it to the children, but the girl sneaked behind Oltz and startled the animal. The declawed cat took the child’s head with her teeth.

State wildlife officials say Oltz failed to use a barrier to protect the children, as a judge had ordered her to do after a previous attack.

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=59977

Current comments below:

COMMENTS

Showing posts 1 – 11 of 11 Dapper Dave

Tampa, FL  Friday Jul 27

Deadly combination: A jack@ss with money.

This fool thinks it’s okay to have a cougar wandering around in the midst of little children.

We have too many people filing lawsuits over petty stuff, but I hope the family of this little girl lays a major lawsuit on the imbecile. 

rachel clearwater fl

Clearwater, FL  Friday Jul 27

I dont understand why a pitt bull or any other dog can attack a child or grown up and would be put to sleep within 10 days but this animal can attack 2 different people and the owner still 1. not in jail 2.animal removed to a bigger area to run and what not.What about the 5 year old child who now has to suffer like that! and no punishment happening to the owner! as the law says if you cant handle the animal get rid of it….

Mary

Thonotosassa, FL  Friday Jul 27

I agree the owner is liable but what were the parents thinking, having this type of animal as entertainment at a party for small children? A pony or petting zoo, yes, but wildcats? Not a good idea……. 

Rheabop

Tampa, FL  Friday Jul 27

Mary wrote:

I agree the owner is liable but what were the parents thinking, having this type of animal as entertainment at a party for small children? A pony or petting zoo, yes, but wildcats? Not a good idea…….

The story didn’t say the Cougar was there to entertain the kids at the party – the owner of the Cougar was having a party for their own child, then decided to take the Cougar out of its cage to show it to the kids – guess they thought it would be fun for the kids – duh! The little girls parents probably never realized this would even take place since "adults are supposed to be responsible human beings" and know what is safe and what isn’t!! This person needs to be penalized greatly for what happened – especially since the same scenario has happened previously and a court order was violated in this case!! 

Rheabop

Tampa, FL  Friday Jul 27

Retraction to my previous comment – I re-read the story and now I understand that Oltz was NOT the person "having the party", so evidently she did in fact bring the Cougar to the party as part of the entertainment for the party, but she still violated a court order by removing the animal from the cage. 

Bravo061

Saint Petersburg, FL  Friday Jul 27

Mary wrote:

I agree the owner is liable but what were the parents thinking, having this type of animal as entertainment at a party for small children? A pony or petting zoo, yes, but wildcats? Not a good idea…….

Because your dealing with people that have way more money than brains! 

Brenda

United States  Friday Jul 27

But the child startled the animal by sneaking up behind it. Where was her parents? Why wait this long, since Nov to have the story. Guess this means lawsuit? 

come on people

New Port Richey, Friday Jul 27

who in the hell would have a cougar at a kids party. who in the hell would have a cougar anywhere other than, say, south america? it’s a wild cat, not some tame kitty cat. who would have thought that a wild animal would attack something small? don’t they eat other small animals in the wild?

some people never use their brains. 

scuba

Sarasota, FL  Friday Jul 27

i wonder how you sneak up on a cougar in the first place. my take is the women who owns the cougar should lose total rights to handle or poses any wild animals since she cant learn from past mistakes i guess ill wait to read when she lets one of her wild animals kill before the state decides she completely

incompetent to have such responsibilities. 

tazgirl811 Saint Petersburg, FL  Friday Jul 27

its not the cougars fault that the handler is a jackass and cant handle the animal. she deserves to never be able to handle any kind of wild anything anymor. thats just ridiculous having very little supervision over the cat during a party. the girl shouldnt have been allowed to get that close to sneak up on the cat anyway. where were the parents??? good question. big cat, little girl,oooops,bad combination especially when the cat is out of its elimant and being put out for show around tiny tots. go to the zoo next time for the party. at least there the animals are behind fences. parents, just dont understand some of them these days,especially when it comes to taking responsibility for anything that happens to their children.(like this) 

Carole Baskin Tampa, FL   1 min ago

Gov. Crist just signed into law a bond requirement that will help stop some of this irresponsible activity. The new law requires that those who use big cats, bears, chimps, etc. must either post a 10,000 bond or carry 2 million in liabitly coverage to cover such incidents. The exotic pet owners aren’t happy about it, but the law will at least give victims some sort of recourse. You can send a letter thanking the governor at CatLaws.com