Update II: Cheetah Mom was sentenced yesterday to one year of probation, counseling, and parenting classes.

Central Ohio’s Michelle Schwab was charged with child endangering and pleaded no contest in a May hearing.

Posted on May 6, 2015 at 2:49 p.m.

Update: The mother who made headlines last month for holding her two-year-old son over the railing of a cheetah exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and then accidentally dropping him in, appeared in court earlier today.

Columbus’ Michelle Schwab was slapped with child endangerment for the April 11 incident which left her toddler with a broken leg, and probably some emotional scarring after, you know, being dropped into a cheetah pit.

Schwab, who worked as a manager at a Columbus-area day care until she was suspended after her name blew up news feeds coast to coast, will return to court at the end of the month for a second hearing.  

Originally posted on April 13, 2015 at 8:50 a.m.

We have several contenders for the Parents of the Year award, the latest of whom will likely face charges after dangling her two-year-old son over the railing of the cheetah pit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and losing her grip.

The toddler reportedly fell 10 feet down into the exhibit and injured his leg, before his parents rushed in to pull him out. The animals, luckily, did not attempt to interact with the child or his parents in any way.

“You just hear these screams,” one witness told Fox8. “Then all you could see is the adult that jumped in, got the child and then somebody pulled him out.”

The zoo’s executive director, Christopher Kuhar, said that several other witness reports “point to the strong likelihood that the child was dangled” over the enclosure’s railing.

The zoo will likely press charges against the boy’s mother for child endangerment. 

This article appears in Apr 8-14, 2015.

Alaina Nutile is the Web Editor who oversees all digital content and social media initiatives for Cleveland Scene Magazine and Detroit Metro Times. Before joining the staff in June 2013, she interned at Business Insider in New York City, and at La Hora in Quito, Ecuador. Alaina is a graduate of Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where she double majored in English and Spanish. Her interests include Japanese food, Breaking Bad, and career development advising.

6 replies on “Mom Who Dropped Toddler into Cleveland Zoo Cheetah Pit Sentenced”

  1. And now the exhibit is closed off so that no one can see the cheetahs. Stupid people ruin things for the rest of us all the time.

  2. Why does the zoo have to press charges? Why aren’t the police involved? Why isn’t Family Services investigating this incident?

  3. I happened to be there on saturday, and I did not see any actions of ambulance or did I hear anything. I’m sure the kids mother did not mean to drop her kid into the pot of the cheetahs. Yes she should not of been holding him over the railing, but she did and I highly doubt she meant to drop her kid. People always jump to worse case scenerios. I would leave the pour parents alone it could have been worse and they could have lost their child.

  4. ….patiently waiting for the parents to hold a press conference with a sleazy ambulance chaser — who claims that the zoo was negligent for not having a taller barrier to stop her from dangling the kid.

  6. “Anonymous” poster – that is the single dumbest thing I’ve seen this month, sans of course reading the initial article capturing this incident which should have never occurred. I don’t give two shits whether or not she “meant” to drop her child in a cheetah cage at a zoo (this is one of few, if any – incidents like this btw). The reason stupid shit like this and texting while driving, etc… Occurs is because people aren’t being made examples of anymore. We broadcast convicted serial killers in H.D. for months as if they’re heroes. People kill others due to texting while driving or even drinking whilst driving and the punishment never fits the crime. Here is a woman who clearly put her own child in danger (regardless of intent) and you post here in some weak attempt to defend her? So now we put you as judge on this case and suddenly it’s okay to dangle our children in the cages of wild animals and endanger them? That 2 year old could have gotten a great look at those cheetahs without being over/in/atop their cage. Truth be told most 2 year olds won’t even remember seeing animals at the zoo so why in the actual fuck would you endanger your child to get a “closer look” when they’ll never even recall it? Well I can almost guarantee the poor child (not poor parents) will remember this as a nightmare since the poor kid’s leg is jacked up. There’s no excuse for this whatsoever, and attempts to defend this behavior is just as negligent and stupid as the behavior itself. Idiot.

Comments are closed.