A 3-year-old boy was attacked by a bobcat at the Carlsbad zoo, but the mother and witnesses give differing accounts of how it happened.
Courtney Kennedy says the cat grabbed her son, Ethan, out of her arms when they leaned over the barrier to look at the cat on Monday. She told the Carlsbad Current-Argus that the bobcat had her son's head in his mouth, and his paw ripped close to his eye. The boy, she said, had five deep lacerations.
Police, however, said witnesses told them that the mother, another adult and the boy had apparently stepped away from the walkway, crossed the double safety barrier in front of the bobcat exhibit and got up close to the bobcat's enclosure. Police say they were told the bobcat then reached out with his paw and scratched the boy on his forehead and head.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.