Published: Jun 23, 2005 LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (AP) - A 10-year-old boy was attacked and critically injured by a tiger and a lion that were among a dozen large animals kept by a body shop owner, authorities said.
Posted on 06/23/2005 4:42:45 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Minnesota Boy in Critical Condition After Attack by Tiger, Lion Kept by Businessman
Published: Jun 23, 2005 LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (AP) - A 10-year-old boy was attacked and critically injured by a tiger and a lion that were among a dozen large animals kept by a body shop owner, authorities said.
Russell LaLa was mauled Wednesday after the animals' owner opened the door of a cage and the tiger pushed its way out to attack the boy. When the owner was pulling off the tiger, the lion moved in and bit the boy, Sheriff Michel Wetzel said.
Wetzel said the lion and tiger were euthanized Thursday. The boy was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where a spokeswoman said the boy's family did not wish to be interviewed.
Chuck Mock, the owner of Best Buy Auto near Little Falls, is the registered owner of 11 large cats and a bear. The sheriff said he thought Mock kept the animals as "a novelty."
"I don't think anyone should have them," Wetzel said. "Just because you're legal doesn't mean you're safe."
Mock did not immediately return telephone calls to his home and office Thursday.
Neighbor Michelle Lickteig said she had seen Mock's menagerie many times and did not consider the animals a threat. "Chuck is just devastated," she said. "He loved the animals."
The attack was the latest in a string of incidents involving exotic animals kept by Minnesotans on private land.
On June 11, a lion escaped from the Arcangel Wildlife Farm in western Minnesota. A sheriff's deputy shot and killed the lion after attempts to find its owner or a veterinarian with a tranquilizer gun failed.
County authorities had been investigating the farm ever since a tiger there bit and scratched a 16-year-old girl as she was petting it through its makeshift cage in March.
On April 27, four tigers attacked Allison Asher, 37, while she was cleaning their pens on a man's property in southeastern Minnesota. Asher was hospitalized with wounds to the leg and neck.
In 2003, a tiger at same compound was euthanized after it bit a 31-year-old pregnant woman on the wrist.
Little Falls is a central Minnesota town about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
AP-ES-06-23-05 1914EDT
Admittedly a bad day when you are attacked by a Tiger and a Lion.
Poor kid.
When are people going to LEARN?
EXOTIC animals are NOT "pets".
They are wild animals.
Chuck Mock, the owner of Best Buy Auto near Little Falls, is the registered owner of 11 large cats and a bear. The sheriff said he thought Mock kept the animals as "a novelty."
P.S. This is a novelty...not wild animals.
If there'd been a bear too, I bet his reaction would have been "Oh my!"
The dude has a bear too!
This is a horrible thing. I am intrigued, however, by the boy's name, Russell LaLa.
Isn't having a lion and a tiger together a bad idea?
Who can blame the cats for thinking dinner was about to be served?
Poor kid, and poor kitties, too.
They got to be killed for "novelty."
Kittycat ping....
Oh my!
"Oh, look at the cute tiger. Here, let me put my arm through the cage bars and pet the cute tiger. Awwwww, it's purring, how cute. He's so swee.......... (shrieking is heard) Ohmigod, my arm, my arm, the tiger ate my arm! Call a doctor, hurry, please! ... And then call my lawyer!"
Cool guy, huh? Anyone who would own a big cat like that, or a python, anaconda, etc, is a lunatic.
The name "Lala" is Sicilian or Bohemian or French, depending on the family.
Since this occurred in Minnesota, I'm guessing Bohemian/Czech.
BTW, any other question about names, I'll be glad to answer to the best of my ability. It's my thang.
That is very cool.
Oh my!
You are good -- re names -- and thanks for posting that. I am always interested in name/ origins. Thanks.
Now, now. Lions and tigers can make fine pets for kids. It's all in the training.
Like I told Bahbah, if you have a question about a name (or a word) origin, feel free to FM me, I don't mind! I love to share info.
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