8-Year-Old Girl Seriously Injured in Wolf Attack at German Wildlife Park

An 8-year-old girl was seriously injured on Wednesday when at least one wolf attacked her inside an enclosure at Wildpark Johannismühle, a wildlife park in Baruth/Mark, Brandenburg, south of Berlin, police said. She was in the enclosure with a park employee and two other children, and no one else was hurt. She suffered head injuries and was flown by helicopter to a Berlin hospital, according to reports citing the Bild newspaper. Bild said emergency calls came in around 9:30 a.m., before the park's 10:00 opening. Officials in the Teltow-Fläming district said the attack happened during a special event for children. Police said the precise circumstances are under investigation. The park keeps grey and Arctic wolves, has closed temporarily, and its website says it will reopen on 2 November. The attack follows others at European zoos: a keeper at the Beekse Bergen safari park in the Netherlands was mauled by a leopard this week, and a man was killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park earlier this month.

The right-leaning New York Post leads with the most dramatic framing, saying the girl is fighting for her life after a vicious mauling. It relies heavily on Bild for the 9:30 a.m. calls, the Arctic wolf enclosure and the report that the wolves had been given water. It also notes that a park employee would not explain the closure and that the park and police did not answer its request for comment. It then spends space on the Dutch keeper's calls for help on a walkie-talkie. CNN, on the left, is more restrained: its headline and opening say only that the girl was injured by at least one wolf and seriously hurt, according to officials. In the text available, it does not mention the helicopter, the special event or the other attacks. Both agree on the girl's age, the wolf attack, the German location and the serious injuries. BBC News, in the alternative group, adds the police statement about the ongoing investigation, the reopening date, the park's small-group tours and the Yorkshire tiger death.