The mother of a man who was mauled by a bear at an exotic animal compound in Ohio has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owner’s estate.
On August 19, 2010, 24-year-old Brent Kandra was feeding a bear at an exotic animal compound in Columbia Township when he was mauled by a bear. The attack occurred around 7:30 p.m. and though he was life-flighted to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, he died hours later.
The owner of the compound, Sam Mazzola was reportedly in another area feeding, when he rushed to help Kendra.
The lawsuit was filed in Lorain County Common Pleas Court, and accuses Mazzola of not properly training Kandra about the wild animals, and failing to have sufficient safeguards in place to prevent these types of attacks. Mazzola kept raccoons, tigers, coyotes, a lion, and wolves at the compound also.
According to the Chronicle – Telegram, Kandra’s mother, Deirdre Herbert, said that she filed the lawsuit to help make the dangers of owning exotic animals more known. “I want to keep showing there’s serious consequences to owning these animals,” she said. Kandra suffered over 600 separate wounds in the attack, and an autopsy found that he died from “multiple blunt impacts and sharp force injuries of the head, torso and extremities.”
Mazzola died in 2011, after asphyxiating. News sources say that he was shackled to his bed and wearing a mask when he was found.
http://www.HaskelLaw.com