The 10-day quarantine placed on
ZooMontana’s pair of gray wolves after a report that one of them might
have bitten a young child has ended, and the wolves are back on public
view.
Jeff Ewelt, the zoo’s executive director, said
Billings Animal Control put the mandatory quarantine in place after a
local clinic called the zoo on Oct. 19 and said it was treating a child,
about 3 years old, for a possible wolf bite.
The injuries were described as not serious and were being treated as a minor dog bite.
Few
details about the incident itself are known by the zoo, and neither the
family nor any witnesses or anybody else with information about the
incident has stepped forward to speak with zoo officials.
The
United States Department of Agriculture inspected the wolves’ enclosure
at the zoo, and while a final report hasn’t been issued, Ewelt said
initial investigations have shown that the zoo was in compliance with
the exhibit’s fencing.
It’s also not immediately clear
how the incident might have happened, as the enclosure has a secondary
fence at its outer edges that a person would have to climb or be lifted
over in order to get close to the wolves and the primary fence.
“I’m
looking forward to putting this incident behind us,” Ewelt said. “We
look forward to getting our healthy wolves back into the public eye.”
New signs have been added to the outer fence to caution the public to stay on the designated side of the fence.
Ewelt said he expects the USDA final report to be finished within the next several days.
