Attendance down in wake of Pittsburgh zoo death
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Attendance is down at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium since a 2-year-old boy fell into an African wild dogs exhibit and was fatally mauled.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported attendance for November and December was 39,066, the lowest at the zoo since 52,252 people visited the zoo in those two months in 2008.
Maddox Derkosh died Nov. 4 when he fell from an observation deck railing into the exhibit which remains closed. Zoo officials have yet to put the endangered painted dogs back on display, or to say whether they ever will.
Zoo officials said weather could be keeping people away. The weather was colder in 2008, though it was wetter last month, with the zoo closing on Dec. 26 and 29 – a Saturday – because of the snow.