Parents of toddler hurt by wolf at Zoo America charged with child endangerment
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 7 months ago • 11 commentsBy: The Associated PressBy The Associated Press
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
April 7, 2026, 6:58 PM EDT / Source: The Associated PressBy The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The parents of a toddler who suffered a minor injury at a Pennsylvania theme park zoo after squeezing through a fence near a wolf enclosure and making contact with one of the animals have been charged with endangering the welfare of children, police said.
Evidence showed that the parents both walked about 25 to 30 feet away from the child to a seating area with benches and appeared to be paying attention to their cellphones when they noticed what was happening shortly before noon Saturday at ZooAmerica in the Hersheypark theme park, police said in a statement.
The child went through a small opening in a wooden barrier perimeter fence and entered a restricted area near the wolf exhibit, Derry Township Police said. The child reached a chain-link fence enclosure and was hurt after placing a hand through it.
"From the injuries sustained, it appears as though one of the wolves in the enclosure instinctively and naturally grabbed onto the child's hand with its mouth. Several bystanders intervened and helped pull the child away," police said in the statement.
The parents, who live in nearby Lititz, Pennsylvania, await a preliminary hearing later this month on the misdemeanor charge. Messages seeking comment were left with the father's lawyer Tuesday; it was not clear who represents the mother.
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said the decision to file a criminal charge was carefully considered.
"We looked at a lot of factors — the age of the child, the circumstances, how diligent you have to be because it's potentially dangerous," Chardo said in a phone interview.
"We looked at it closely," he said.
ZooAmerica North American Wildlife Park is part of the sprawling entertainment complex in Hershey, which features a chocolate-theme amusement park. The zoo's website says it has three gray wolves.
A spokesperson for the zoo said in a statement that the boy, who is a year and a half old, crawled under an exterior perimeter fence and put his hand through "the primary metal enclosure surrounding the wolf habitat."
"A wolf approached and made contact with the child's hand. This was not a forceful or aggressive action, but rather a brief, investigatory behavior consistent with how wild canines interact with unfamiliar objects in their environment," the zoo said.
Wolves use their mouths much as humans use hands, the zoo said, and they check out unfamiliar objects by mouthing them.
The zoo said the boy's injuries were "minor, surface-level," and the animal is up-to-date on vaccinations and remains in the exhibit.
Derry Township Police Chief Garth W. Warner said he was not sure how long the parents' attention was distracted.
"There are plenty of opportunities for a child of that age to hurt themselves on things," Warner said. "Let alone, be left alone, essentially by themselves, where they could get themselves into a situation like this child did."
Hersheypark made headlines last summer when a lost boy wandering on a monorail line was rescued by a park visitor who climbed onto a building and jumped onto the rails. The child was unharmed and reunited with his family.
Tags
Who is online
123 visitors
"There are plenty of opportunities for a child of that age to hurt themselves on things," Warner said. "Let alone, be left alone, essentially by themselves, where they could get themselves into a situation like this child did."
Agreed.
There is far too much of that in certain quarters. I think it is time to make "parents" accountable.
That's long overdue.
Which quarters would those be?
you know....the lefty liberal quarters We are automatically bad parents because of our loose morals
Dauphin County PA leans a little to the left.
Lititz leans more to the right. In fact their two solid Red districts usually beat the three blue districts every election..
The mother a Mrs Sortor is 42; the father, Steven JB Wilson is 61; residents of Lititz
Maybe with some Taro cards or voodoo knuckles we can more correctly assume which Quarter it was, /S
I often felt like feeding each of my 3 kids to the wolves, but they were all teenagers at the time ...
6 or 7 year olds can maybe walk 25 or 30 ft behind their parents at a theme park as long as they are being monitored.. Toddlers? Definitely no.
I know, right? A tight leash is required. And I mean that literally. When I see toddlers being led with a leash by a parent I think that parent is a good parent
when I suggested a leash for my 2nd son when he was a toddler, I was accused of being a potential child abuser by the ex.
So glad I never had children!
I am glad the wolf was not blamed, and the child was not hurt