KANSAS CITY, MO. — You guys remember that story we did earlier this year about the infant who lost seven fingers after a ferret chewed them off? Well now the parents of that kid have been charged with with felony child endangerment.
For those of you didn’t read about it, police were called to the home of Ryan and Carrie Waldo after receiving a call that their 4-month old had been attacked by the family’s pet ferret.
They told responding officers that while Ryan was asleep in his bed, and Carrie was asleep in a nearby chair, the ferret got into where the boy was sleeping and started chewing off all his fingers. By the time the couple heard their son’s cries, he only had three fingers left; two thumbs and a pinkie.
I had hoped that this was just a case of an animal getting loose in the house…hell, we’ve seen it here recently with a pair of raccoons. But this time it was worse than an infant being attacked by a loose animal while the parents slept. Prosecutors say they have cell phone records that not only prove that the couple were not sleeping at the time of the attack, but that they weren’t even home.
In March, detectives obtained cells phone records and GPS location documents that indicated both phones belonging to the couple were calling and texting each other from several different areas away from their home while their infant was screaming bloody murder as a ferret ate all his fingers. The couple’s landlord told police that four days before this incident, the Waldos wanted to give the ferret away after it had bitten their baby twice, but obviously ended up keeping it.
Their bond was set at $5,000 each and a preliminary hearing is set for July 13. The judge ordered they have no contact with their children.
