Vegan Mom Charged with Endangerment After Feeding Baby with Only Nuts, Berries

A woman from Farmington, Fayette County in Pennsylvania has been charged with child endangerment after allegedly giving her 11-month-old infant son a strict vegan diet of only berries and nuts, resulting to the child's malnourishment and developmental problems.

According to Philly.com, 30-year-old Elizabeth Scarlett Hawk was charged Tuesday with child endangerment after the child's father, Jerry Hawk, who is separated from his wife, called the attention of authorities.

Family members of the woman said that Elizabeth was obsessed with diet and being vegan that she only gave her son fruits and nuts to eat. Elizabeth's behavior on nutrition was so extreme that her sister-in-law, Brandy Hawk, even said that "She was going to live on water and sunlight."

Read: Parents Lose Custody Over their Baby Due to Malnutrition Caused by their Vegan Diet

Brandy further revealed that the 11-month-old baby had developed an extreme rash from head to toe and could not even use his hands, which Elizabeth claimed, was due to the child having allergies. The boy's father even gave Elizabeth a cream to treat the rash, which the latter refused to use, People reports.

The said rash “became so bad that the child was scratching [his] skin off in places." After the father discovered what Elizabeth did to their baby, he brought him to Fayette’s Children & Youth Services, where he was then rushed to a hospital.

A pediatrician from a hospital in West Virginia said, after examining the child, that the rash was "inhumane" and could have caused the child a septic shock. The pediatrician added that the boy was so malnourished that he even could not crawl because of the pain that the rash created and was developmentally delayed.

As for Elizabeth, despite being 5 feet and 9 inches, she only weighs 90 pounds due to her strict vegan diet. She is currently charged with endangerment for feeding her child a vegan diet as well as for not giving her the proper cream to treat the rash. The child is now currently living with his father together with his two siblings.