Wolves attack woman jogging in French zoo and seriously injure her

Police and prosecutors are investigating how a 37-year-old woman was attacked and seriously injured by three wolves in a zoo outside Paris on Sunday. The woman was bitten “on the neck, calf and back” in the zoo in Thoiry, about 40 kilometers west of the French capital, a source familiar with the case told AFP.

The woman was rescued after park rangers heard her screams during the attack, the BBC reported.

Maryvonne Caillibotte, chief prosecutor in Versailles, had said the woman’s life was in danger, but later on Sunday a source told AFP that her injuries were no longer life-threatening.

According to initial investigation results, the woman went jogging early Sunday morning after spending the night with her family at the zoo’s safari lodge.

Christelle Bercheny, CEO of Wow Safari Thoiry, told AFP that the woman had “crossed the American reservation on foot”, a place that is normally “only accessible by car”.

Bercheny said there were signs reminding people of the “survival rules” to follow in the park.

“The behaviour of the animals in the reserves is that of animals in freedom or semi-freedom,” she added, referring to their reaction to the intrusion of a human.

The lodges in the wolf zone, which are offered on the company’s website at prices between 220 and 760 euros per night, promise “silence, relaxation and switching off”.

They offer “a unique, very intimate experience with the Arctic wolves, which you can see from your living room.”

According to the zoo’s website, the Arctic wolf is a pure carnivore. “Its eyesight, sense of smell and hearing make it an excellent hunter,” says the statement from the zoo, which also houses a dominant female, a dominant male and their four cubs.

Arctic wolves, also called white wolves or polar wolves, are a subspecies of gray wolves found in the frozen landscape of the Arctic, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “Unlike other wolves that struggle with human interference on a daily basis, Arctic wolves have no intrinsic distrust of humans,” says the IFAC.

The woman “ended up in the safari zone, where cars are not allowed. There she was attacked by three wolves,” said Caillibotte.

It is not clear “whether she made a mistake or the path was not clearly marked,” she added.

Rescue workers arrived on site “very quickly” and the wolves were “driven away and then returned to their territory,” Caillibotte said.

The source familiar with the case had previously stated that the woman must have gotten through “security systems, a ditch and an electric fence designed to keep the animals away.”

The police are investigating the incident.

Thoiry Zoo was founded in 1968 by Paul de la Panouse, owner of a local castle that had been in his family since the 16th century.

In April, he recalled to the regional newspaper “L’Independant” how he had initially equipped the zoo with a ship full of 120 animals from Kenya.

De la Panouse sold the zoo to a group of investors in 2018.