PENNSYLVANIA — The parents of a toddler who was injured by a wolf at a zoo are facing charges.
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Authorities said a 17-month-old boy was left unsupervised when he put his hand through the metal gate of a wolf enclosure at Zoo America in Pennsylvania, WGAL via CNN Newsource reported.
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“The neglect was that they left the child unattended,” Derry Township Police Department Chief Garth Warner said.
The 17-month-old suffered minor injuries after a wolf grabbed his hand after the parents left him unsupervised, according to police.
“The parents left that location, walked about 25 to 30 ft, as best we can tell, to an area where there’s some benches,” Warner said.
Warner told WGAL that police looked at security video and saw the parents look at their phones near those benches.
The wolf enclosure is surrounded by two fences, a wooden exterior and a metal interior.
Police said the child slipped through the exterior and stuck his hand into the enclosure.
“One of the wolves was in proximity, went over, grabbed the hand with its mouth for just a brief period of time until some folks were able to intervene,” Warner said.
The parents, 43-year-old Carrie Sordo and 61-year-old Steven Wilson of Littitz, Pennsylvania, are each charged with endangering the welfare of children.
“There are signs that advise parents to, you know, attend to their children and so forth. Obviously, they did not follow those instructions,” Warner said.
Zoo America, in a statement to WGAL, made a point that the wolf’s actions were not aggressive, adding that the wolf was “mouthing” with an unfamiliar object, and an investigative instinct when “something novel appears.” '
They also added that the wolf never escaped its enclosure and that it’s up to date on all vaccines.
Police said that the child’s injuries were minor.
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