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Wolves Attack Worker at Center Where Lion Killed Intern

Injured keeper says she is 'doing just fine'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 23, 2021 4:45 PM CDT
Wolves Attack Worker at Center Where Lion Killed Intern
A sign at Conservators Center at the property near Burlington, NC.   (Woody Marshall/The Times-News via AP, file)

A worker has been injured by two wolves at the same North Carolina exotic animal center where an escaped lion killed a college intern in 2018. Authorities say animal keeper Hayley Quay was bitten on the elbows and thigh in the wolf enclosure at Conservators Center Saturday afternoon and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, WFMY reports. The center says no member of public was in danger at any time and the wolves, 2-year-olds that have been at the center since they were puppies, will be placed in quarantine for 10 days, "as would any dog that bit a human." Animal control authorities say they were told that one wolf bit the keeper in fear after being startled and the other wolf then joined the attack.

The center says Quay had been in the enclosure trying to "socialize" the juvenile wolves, a male and female named Sitka and Rayne. "I have been working closely with wolves for my entire professional career and know that sometimes things like this happen, even when everything is done perfectly," Quay said in a statement, per WRAL. She said she is "doing just fine" and is looking forward to getting back to work "caring for Rayne and Sitka and all of the other animals at the animal park." In the 2018 attack, a 22-year-old woman was killed by a lion just 10 days after starting her internship. A witness said a gate was blocked by a large play ball, which allowed the lion to reach workers cleaning part of the enclosure. (More wolf stories.)

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