According to the comments reported by the seriously injured victim’s entourage to RTL, he did not encounter any obstacle before coming face to face with the wolves. She would have even avoided a bear before that.
The days of the 37-year-old jogger, seriously injured after a wolf attack at the Thoiry zoo (Yvelines) on June 23, are no longer in danger. However, a question remains: how could she have found herself in the presence of the animals? According to our colleagues from RTL on Wednesday, to whom the victim’s relatives spoke, the woman would have had no barrier to cross before finding herself in the middle of the reserve. They therefore believe that the zoo is at fault. The victim’s lawyer also announced this Thursday, June 27 to AFP that his client is filing a complaint against the zoo for breaches of a security obligation on the part of the park.
According to comments reported by the thirty-year-old’s entourage to the radio, she first walked 200 meters in the reserve, before seeing a bear. It was when she turned around that she found herself face to face with three wolves. The latter then allegedly attacked her and bit her neck, calf and thorax. Still according to RTL, it was a trainer who heard the victim’s cries and who managed, not without difficulty, to keep the animals away with a stick.
The jogger has not yet been able to be heard by investigators, the wolves’ fangs having damaged her larynx and causing her to lose her voice.
This thirty-year-old had spent the night inside the animal park in the Paris region. She “resided at the lounge, crossed the American reserve compound on foot”, the president of Safari Thoiry, Christelle Bercheny, reported to AFP. A stockpile “which is only accessible by car”, according to her. In this area, “vehicles can enter and exit and there are electrified plates which limit animal exit access”but these plates “do not intervene on human beings”, explained the director. She added that signs located outside this area reminded “the rules of survival” to follow in the park.
Two investigations have been opened: the first for unintentional injuries was entrusted to the Mantes-la-Jolie Research Brigade, the second is internal to the park. According to Christelle Bercheny “no element” does not allow us to affirm or deny a possible technical or human fault for the moment. For her part, the public prosecutor of Versailles Maryvonne Caillibotte considered that she was not yet “able to say if it is [la victime] who made a mistake or if the marking was not well done.
Update : at 12:41 p.m., with the addition of the victim’s complaint against the zoo.
