The Little Rock Zoo's Big Cat exhibit reopened Tuesday, more than a month after a 3-year-old boy fell into the jaguar pit, a zoo spokesman said Wednesday.
On Oct. 10, the child fell into the jaguar exhibit and suffered "extensive scalp lacerations, a depressed skull fracture and minor puncture wounds," according to police reports. He was treated and released from Arkansas Children's Hospital.
The Big Cat exhibit was closed while Little Rock police investigated the fall and while Assistant City Manager James Jones conducted an internal review. Police didn't find any criminal wrongdoing, and Jones said in a report that the zoo should invest in additional signs throughout the 33-acre area.
Since then, the zoo has installed temporary safety reminder signs, which remind visitors to stay back from the barriers and include an emergency number that would directly connect a visitor to a zoo staff member, zoo spokesman Susan Altrui said.
"The decision was made to reopen the viewing area because the new signs had been installed and because an internal investigation revealed that the exhibit met all safety standards," she said in an email.
The temporary signs cost $200 and will be replaced "in the next few weeks" with more durable, weather-resistant coated material that zoo officials estimate will cost more than $10,000, Altrui said. The funds will come from the zoo's operating budget, she said.
"Once the new, more durable signs are installed the recommendations of the City Manager's Office will be complete," she said.
Metro on 11/27/2014