Zoo Tragedy Leads Patch's Top News Stories

Even with a major presidential campaign in full swing, the top stories this week weren’t about politics.

Unfortunately, the most read articles were about the tragedy involving a 2-year-old Whitehall boy who was mauled to death by African painted dogs at the Pittsburgh Zoo. The zoo later announced the animals will not be euthanized.

The popular elections stories included the results and recaps of the most important races. The hottest local race was between Matt Smith and Raja to see who would replace former state Sen. John Pippy.

And the most interesting storyline was how the four communities that make up the Chartiers Valley School District closely split their presidential election votes. The final results for Bridgeville Collier, Heidelberg and Scott closely mirrored the national election.

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1: Child Killed at Pittsburgh Zoo Exhibit

A 2-year-old child was killed at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium Sunday morning after being mauled when he fell into the African painted dogs exhibit. The child, who was from Whitehall, was immediately attacked by 11 dogs inside the pen, and was later pronounced dead at the scene as a result of the attack.

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2: Painted Dogs Won’t Be Euthanized

The African painted dog that mauled a 2-year-old visitor to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium will not be euthanized, but all of the zoo’s African painted dogs would remain in quarantine for 30 days, zoo CEO Barbara Baker announced Monday. The boy, who neighbors told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review was Maddox Derkosh of Whitehall, was with his 34-year-old mother, when he fell from the top of a platform railing to the ground inside the pit in the dogs' exhibit.

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3: Election Results and Stories

The 2012 election is over and we have a full recap and race results below. Read about President Obama winning re-election, Tim Murphy beating Larry Murphy in the Congressional race and other local statewide results.

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4: Matt Smith Beats Raja for State Senate

Matt Smith bear hugged supporters and feverishly pumped hit arms in the air moments after learning he had won election to the Pennsylvania State Senate. The normally subdued 3-term state representative showed more emotion than usual after a hard-fought battle against fellow Mt. Lebanon resident D. Raja. Smith takes over the seat formerly held by John Pippy.

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5: Obama Barely Wins Chartiers Valley Communities

The presidential election votes across the Chartiers Valley School District communities closely mirrored the national popular vote. President Barack Obama won the overall combined votes in Bridgeville, Collier, Heidelberg and Scott Township by a slim 50.3%-to-49.6% margin over Gov. Mitt Romney.

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