OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - A police report indicates that an Oshkosh zoo worker accidentally left open a gate to the wolf area before a child was bitten.
The incident happened Friday at the Menominee Park Zoo.
The 3-year-old boy’s mother told police she saw a group of people up close to the wolves, and took her son to that area.
She said she was taking pictures of the wolves, and as she was putting her cell phone away, she heard people yelling that her son’s fingers were inside a chain-link fence surrounding the wolves.
As she looked up, a 12-year-old wolf bit the boy in the middle and ring fingers of his left hand, drawing blood.
According to the report, health officials told the child's parents to have him get rabies shots in case the wolf was infected. Zoo officials didn't want to have the wolf euthanized, which wouldn't be needed to test it for rabies. A rabies test requires brain tissue samples, which cannot be done on a live animal.
However, the Wisconsin Division of Public Health told parks officials the wolf had to be euthanized and tested for rabies. Test results found the wolf did not have rabies.
You can read the entire report by clicking on the PDF above