Shadetree,
cats smothering infants is nothing new, to me its negligence not just an accident.
just like little kids drowning in backyard pools while the parents or minders are home.
another is parents running over their kids in the drive.
Maybe that's true, I personally never heard of the cat deal. But still to the average person it would be something they never thought of. On the other hand unless a person has been living on a remote island in Antarctica they've been hearing about pit bulls killing people for decades.