The parents of a toddler are facing criminal charges after their child was bitten when he put his hand into a wolf exhibit at ZooAmerica in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The 17-month-old boy got through an opening in a perimeter fence on Saturday, got into a restricted area and put his hand through metal fencing into the wolf enclosure. One of the wolves bit the child’s hand, prompting bystanders to come and pull the child away, the Derry Township Police Department said.
The boy suffered minor injuries.
Police allege that parents Carrie Sortor, 43, and Stephen Wilson, 61, were sitting on benches about 25 to 30 feet away from their child, and that they were looking at their phones at the time of the incident.
They are each being charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child. Mr. Wilson and Ms. Sortor are due in court for a preliminary hearing on April 28.
Hershey ZooAmerica Public Relations Manager Amanda Polyak told WGAL-TV that “this was not an aggressive action, but rather a brief, investigatory behavior consistent with how wild canines interact with unfamiliar objects in their environment.”
“A wolf uses its mouth the way humans use hands,” she said. “Wolves investigate, test, and interact with unfamiliar objects through ’mouthing,’ which can include taking something into the mouth without intent to injure. That behavior is especially common when something novel appears within reach of the animal’s enclosure.”
Zoo officials have not specified which of the zoo’s wolves was involved in the incident.
Hershey is located in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, about 90 miles north of Baltimore and roughly 95 miles slightly northwest of Philadelphia.
