Mother who let family ferret chew off her baby's fingers when she left them alone is SPARED jail



Carrie Waldo, 27, from Grain Valley, Jackson County, pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree child endangerment

A mother of a baby whose fingers were chewed off by the pet ferret after she left them alone together has been spared jail time but was instead ordered to attend a 30-day drug program.



Carrie Waldo, 27, from Grain Valley, Jackson County, pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree child endangerment and was given a one-year suspended sentence as part of the plea deal - but only if she completes the drug program.

She will also have to serve two-year's probation in which time she is not allowed to have any contact with the family's five children.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Manners told Waldo that she 'created a substantial risk' in allowing the ferret to have access to the child, as it had bitten him in the past, the Kansas City Star reports.



She is due back in court on July 19 to be handed down her suspended sentence. Waldo was a no-show at court on Monday and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Police were called to the home of Carrie and Ryan Waldo on 10 January 2011 where they found the four-month-old covered in blood and with only two thumbs and part of his pinkie finger remaining.

Documents filed as part of the charges state that the Waldos told police they were asleep when the ferret attack occurred at their home in Grain Valley.

The couple said they awoke to find the boy screaming and bloody and that Ryan Waldo threw the ferret against the dishwasher, killing it.

Records show the parents called 911 from inside the home at about 2:30am.



Carrie Waldo, left, waits in court with a friend on Tuesday, June 4, 2013 in the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence Missouri where she was handed down a suspended sentence

Waldo, whose infant son lost seven fingers when he was attacked by a ferret, has been ordered to undergo drug treatment

The infant was taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital in critical condition , where seven fingers were amputated because they had been chewed down to the knuckles, the charges state.

Investigators later obtained cells phone records and used GPS technology to determine that the Waldos were exchanging text messages from various locations at the time of the ferret attack, when they had said they were at home.

Ryan Waldo pleaded guilty in March to second-degree child endangerment and was ordered to serve 40 hours of community service

The Waldos told investigators the ferret had never bitten anyone, but a person with a ferret rescue organization told their landlord the couple wanted to give up the animal because it had bitten the infant twice, documents allege.

Court records also indicate two detectives serving a search warrant at the residence on the day of the incident discovered that the parents apparently had moved several items around in the residence, including the swing that the child had been sleeping in when the ferret had attacked, according to KansasCity.com.



The rocker had reportedly been cleaned, and the ferret’s cage had been removed.

In May 2011, the Missouri Highway Patrol crime laboratory reported that the ferret’s stomach contents had screened positive for the presence of human blood.

According to court documents, Carrie Waldo began crying when investigators were at the home and said things like: ' I know something is going to happen. Something happened. This is neglect and you should just arrest me.'