3 wolves launch an attack on 37-year-old woman staying in zoo's safari-style lodge

The woman was bitten "on the neck, the calf and the back" at the Thoiry zoo by wolves around 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the French capital.

A 37-year-old woman was attacked and seriously injured by three wolves in a zoo outside Paris Sunday. The police and prosecutors are investigating how did the incident occurred. The woman was bitten "on the neck, the calf and the back" at the Thoiry zoo around 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the French capital, a source close to the case, as per reports.

(FILES) A photograph shows a wolf at the Thoiry Zoo in Thoiry, near Paris, on August 1, 2002. A 37-year-old woman was seriously injured on June 23, 2024, after being bitten by wolves at the Thoiry zoo (Yvelines) in an area off-limits to pedestrians, according to sources close to the case and the Versailles public prosecutor. (Photo by MARTIN BUREAU / AFP)(AFP)

Maryvonne Caillibotte, chief prosecutor in Versailles, had said the woman's life was in danger, but later Sunday a source told AFP her injuries were no longer life-threatening.

The woman went for a jog early Sunday morning after spending the night with her family in the zoo's safari-style lodge, according to preliminary investigation findings. (Also Read: Zambia safari horror: Elephant pulls out tourist from vehicle, tramples her to death)

CEO of Wow Safari Thiory, Christelle Bercheny, told AFP that the woman had "crossed the American reserve on foot", a place normally "only accessible by car".

Bercheny said that there were signs reminding people of the "rules of survival" to be followed in the park. "The behaviour of the animals in the reserves is that of animals in freedom or semi-liberty," she added, referring to their reaction to the intrusion of a human.

The woman "ended up in the safari zone, which is supposed to be restricted to cars. That's where she was attacked by three wolves," Caillibotte said.

It was not clear "whether she made a mistake or the trail wasn't clearly marked", she added.

First responders got to the scene "very quickly", the wolves were "moved away, then returned to their area", Caillibotte said.

The source familiar with the case said earlier the woman must have got through "security systems, a trench and an electric fence supposed to keep the animals in".

Lodges in the wolf zone, advertised on its website at between 220 and 760 euros ($235-810) per night, promise "silence, rest and disconnection", according to the zoo's adverts.

They offer "a one-of-a-kind, very intimate experience with the arctic wolves you'll be able to see from the living room".

The Thoiry Zoo was established in 1968 by Paul de la Panouse, the owner of a neighboring chateau that has been in his family since the 16th century. In April, he told the regional newspaper L'Independant about how he first supplied the zoo with a ship carrying 120 animals from Kenya. De la Panouse sold the zoo to a group of investors in 2018.