A lawsuit seeking a million dollars in damages has been filed due to an alleged attack by a Giant Otter on an 18-month-old boy. Here's an article about the incident: Woman sues Dallas World Aquarium, claiming giant otter attacked her 18-month-old son Here is my photo of the exhibit (from 2015) that clearly shows a warning sign, although now I wonder if the glass is high enough to prevent someone reaching up and potentially touching a leaping otter. Here is a 2014 photo from @geomorph taken from approximately the same spot...and there is no warning sign in his image:
Here's an article that doesn't require signing up: Woman Sues Dallas World Aquarium After She Says Son Attacked by Giant Otter I find it really difficult to believe that 1. an otter got out and it was never mentioned anywhere, and 2. the otter only "attacked" the child, with the parents not being harmed at all, if the dad was just holding the baby, according to that article. I have found multiple videos of the 2007 escape, like this one: ( and that was 14 years ago! Surely there would be videos, photos, etc of one this year. Based on a tripadvisor photo (This otter and one of his pals escaped! - Picture of The Dallas World Aquarium - Tripadvisor), the otters can reach over the plexiglass, which appears to be around 5 1/2 feet high. It seems much more likely that an otter was hanging off the edge and they lifted their baby up for a photo / to pet it / etc, and the kid got scratched. There ARE signs, as your image shows. I guess they're banking on the sign only saying "bite" and not "scratch". I'm so tired of people not having common sense in general. If it has a mouth, it can bite. If it has claws, it can scratch.
They deserve a 100 mya fine for lifting the kid. Their stupidity and recklessness should be at the forefront and the visitors deserve a lifelong ban from public spaces like zoos. LOL
Ok sure for the parents, but why should the child be punished? I doubt the kid had any say in the matter.
I'd like to think people were trying to, but it isn't always easy to find/get ahold of staff when you need them. There's been a few times where I've needed to find or reach someone quickly (otters having a bloody fight, trapped peacock being attacked by another, unattended child going beyond a fence into a keepers-only area near big cats) and each time has taken something closer to several minutes; with the peacocks, I had to google the place's phone number and call them, and even then it took a while for someone to arrive.
For the otters a keeper pulled them off exhibit, separated them, and was checking the wounds when I left. For the peacocks, we were able to free the one, and the keeper was keeping an eye on them, but it was still being picked on. No clue on the third.
Parents really need to take better care of their kids. For some reason they then go on to get made at zoos!!??? If you’re the one neglecting your duties as a parent, you’re gonna suffer the consequences.
On February 11th, it was reported that a 2nd lawsuit has hit the aquarium in the past year on February 7th, claiming that on September 2nd, 2019, a giant otter "brutally attacked" a 2-year-old girl which left her permanently scarred. The people are seeking $250,000-$1,000,000 in damages. Dallas aquarium sued over alleged otter attack | wfaa.com
