A woman seriously injured by three wolves less than fifty kilometers from Paris. It was a scenario as improbable as it was dramatic which occurred this Sunday morning at the Thoiry zoological park, in Yvelines. A 37-year-old woman was bitten by wolves while she was jogging. It is still unknown how she ended up in this area of the park. We take stock.
What happened ?
The tragedy occurred around 9 a.m. when the victim, who had spent the night in accommodation at the animal park, had just left to go jogging. The thirty-year-old crossed on foot the enclosure of the American reserve, an area of the park in which bears, wolves, coyotes, etc. roam freely and reserved for motorists who must drive with their windows closed.
The jogger was attacked by three wolves who bit her on the neck, calf and back, according to a source close to the case. It was the victim’s cries that allowed the caregivers to intervene extremely quickly. According to Christelle Bercheny, president of Wow Safari Thoiry, the injured woman was “conscious and stable” when she left the park. Earlier in the day, the public prosecutor of Versailles, Maryvonne Caillibotte, indicated that she had been transported to the hospital in absolute emergency. On Sunday, at the end of the day, his vital prognosis was no longer in jeopardy.
How did she end up in this enclosure?
The circumstances of the tragedy remain, to this day, still unclear. “I am not able to say if it was she who made a mistake or if the marking was not well done,” explained the prosecutor in the afternoon. The area in which the tragedy occurred is prohibited to pedestrians and protected by “electrified plates which limit the exit access of animals”, explained the director of the park, specifying that these plates had no effects on human beings.
“We are in the process of analyzing all the circumstances which could have led to this accident”, she concluded, specifying that she was at this stage in possession of “no element” concerning a possible technical or human failure.
The area closed to the public
The three wolves that attacked the victim were temporarily isolated to allow the woman to be rescued before returning to their place in the reserve. This was “completely closed” during the intervention. The behavior of animals in the park is comparable to that of animals in freedom or semi-freedom.
An investigation into “unintentional injuries” was opened and the investigations entrusted to the Mantes-la-Jolie research brigade. The zoo has also opened an internal investigation.
