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Girl seriously injured in wolf attack at German wildlife park

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The attack occurred before regular opening hours at the Johannismühle wildlife park in Baruth/Mark, leaving the young victim with severe head injuries while the other children and employee escaped unharmed. German media reported the child may have been participating in an exclusive small-group encounter offered by the venue. Following the incident, park operators closed the facility to the public until 2 November. The event adds to growing scrutiny after fatal big cat encounters at other European wildlife sites earlier this month.

Key points

  • Police investigators are examining the precise circumstances surrounding the child's pres…: Police investigators are examining the precise circumstances surrounding the child's presence inside the wolf enclosure during the visit.
  • Management has temporarily closed the Johannismühle wildlife park with plans to resume no…: Management has temporarily closed the Johannismühle wildlife park with plans to resume normal operations on 2 November.
  • The encounter follows recent fatal captive animal attacks involving a tiger in the United…: The encounter follows recent fatal captive animal attacks involving a tiger in the United Kingdom and a leopard in the Netherlands.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

- Published

An eight-year-old girl has been seriously injured in a wolf attack at a German wildlife park.

She was inside an enclosure at the Johannismühle park in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, with a staff member and two other children when the attack happened, police said.

They said in a statement that the "precise circumstances of the incident are the subject of an ongoing police investigation".

The girl was taken to hospital by helicopter after the incident on Wednesday. No one else was injured.

The park, in the town of Baruth/Mark, has been closed temporarily and is set to reopen on 2 November, according to its website, which did not give further details.

The park keeps grey and arctic wolves, along with other animals including the brown bear and lynx.

The girl was injured by at least one animal and suffered head injuries, according to German newspaper Bild.

It reported that the incident happened before the park opened at 10:00 local time (09:00 GMT) and that the girl could have been taking part in a special visit.

Johannismühle offers small group tours to allow visitors to spend time with some animals, with its site mentioning feeding wolves or petting a llama.

The incident comes after a number of other animal attacks at zoos and wildlife parks in Europe.

A keeper at a Dutch zoo died this week after being mauled by a leopard, and a man was killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park earlier this month.

Original source: www.bbc.co.uk

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