What should have been an ordinary day at ZooAmerica turned into something frightening in seconds, after a 17-month-old child got close enough to a wolf enclosure to be bitten.
In her CBS 21 News report, Maxine Rose said police believe the child’s parents were sitting about 30 feet away on a bench and looking at their phones when the toddler slipped through a small opening in a wooden fence, reached a hand through the metal barrier around the wolf habitat, and was injured.
The child survived with what park officials described as minor injuries.
That detail matters, because the story could have ended in a much darker way. A toddler got close enough to a wolf for the animal to grab the child’s hand with its mouth. Even if the injuries were limited, that is the kind of moment that leaves a whole community shaken.
And now the parents are facing criminal charges.
What Police Say Happened At The Zoo
Maxine Rose reported from Hershey that Derry Township Police say the parents, Carrie B. Sortor, 43, and Stephen J.B. Wilson, 61, are each being charged with misdemeanor child endangerment.
According to Rose’s reporting, the couple was seated roughly 25 to 30 feet away from the enclosure, a distance she noted was about the length of a school bus. Police say they were paying attention to their cell phones while their child moved into the barrier area near the wolves.
That is the central allegation in the case.
The 17-month-old, according to police as described by Rose, squeezed through an opening in the primary wooden fence and then reached a hand through the metal fence surrounding the wolf enclosure. At that point, one of the wolves instinctively grabbed the child’s hand with its mouth.
That word, instinctively, is important.
It points to one of the basic realities of any zoo or wildlife park. The animals are still animals. They may be behind barriers and in managed habitats, but they are not props and they are not pets. Once a small child gets into the wrong space, the margin for safety gets dangerously thin.
Bystanders Helped Pull The Child Away
One of the most important details in Maxine Rose’s report is that several bystanders stepped in.
According to police and park officials cited by Rose, those bystanders helped pull the child away from the wolf after the animal grabbed the toddler’s hand.
That likely prevented something worse.
It is easy to read a story like this and focus only on the criminal charges, but the immediate human reality is that this child was in danger and strangers nearby reacted fast enough to help. In moments like that, bystanders can make all the difference.
Rose reported that the child suffered minor injuries, according to a spokesperson for the park.
That outcome is a relief, and the relief is real. But it sits beside another obvious feeling too: disbelief. A toddler managed to get through one barrier, reach through another, and get bitten by a wolf, all while the adults responsible for that child were, according to police, not fully paying attention.
That is exactly the sort of story that sticks with people because it feels both shocking and preventable.
Why The Parents Are Now Facing Charges
The charges in this case are not about a freak accident alone.
They are about supervision.
In her report, Rose said charging documents accuse the parents of child endangerment because police believe they were distracted by their phones at the time the child wandered away and reached the enclosure. She repeated the detail that the parents were sitting about 30 feet away, and police described them as focused on their cell phones while the child was moving through the fencing area.
That is what pushed this from a disturbing zoo incident into a criminal case.
Rose also spoke with local people who reacted strongly to that point. One person told CBS 21 that what happened was “absolutely unacceptable,” while another said people get only one chance to keep their eyes on children and grandchildren and have to take that responsibility seriously at all times.
Those reactions were not complicated, and that is probably why they landed.
This is one of those cases where most people already know the basic expectation. Around dangerous animals, crowds, barriers, or roads, toddlers need constant attention. Not occasional attention. Constant attention.
That is not harsh. It is just true.
What ZooAmerica Said About The Barriers
Following the incident, Maxine Rose reported that a spokesperson for the park emphasized that the child was not inside the actual enclosure.
That distinction matters, especially because stories involving children and zoo animals can quickly lead people to imagine something even more dramatic than what happened. The child, according to the park, was not in with the wolves. Instead, the toddler got through the first barrier and then reached a hand through the metal fencing of the enclosure itself.
The park also said safety is a top priority.
In the statement quoted by Rose, ZooAmerica said its habitats are designed with multiple layers of protection and that clear signage and barriers are in place to help ensure safe viewing. The statement added that guests are expected to remain within designated areas and to closely supervise children at all times.
That is the zoo’s side of the safety argument.
And frankly, it is a reasonable one. Zoos do have a responsibility to build strong barriers and provide clear warnings. But parents and guardians also carry an obvious duty when they bring very young children into places built around wild animals.
A fence is not a babysitter. A sign is not supervision.
Rose also spoke with a visitor who said ZooAmerica is careful with its warning signs, gates, and setup, and suggested the zoo had acted smartly while the parents had not.
That comment was blunt, but it reflected the mood of a lot of the reaction shown in the report.
A Community Reacts With Shock And Relief
As Rose explained during the later part of her coverage, reaction in the community has been mixed, though not really divided on the core facts.
Some people, she said, are asking whether Hershey or ZooAmerica could have done more. Others are focusing squarely on the parents and the allegation that they were distracted by their phones.
That mix makes sense.
Whenever a child gets hurt in a public place, especially near an animal enclosure, people naturally start asking whether the barriers were sufficient. But at the same time, many parents hearing this story will probably go straight to the same thought: how did a 17-month-old get that far without an adult physically close enough to stop it?
That is the detail that is hardest to get around.
Rose also said there was a general sense of shock in the community that this happened at all, along with some relief that it did not become far worse. She and anchor Candace Scalise both noted that nationally, there have been more horrific zoo incidents involving children, and this one stopped short of that.
That is true, and it may be the reason this story is hitting people so hard. It feels like a disaster that nearly got bigger.
The Parents Did Not Want To Talk
Maxine Rose reported that she and her crew went to the couple’s home in Lititz to give them a chance to respond.
Instead, she said, they were immediately told to get off the property.
That means, for now, the public version of this story is being driven mainly by the police account, the charging documents, the park statement, and the reactions of community members. The parents have not publicly offered their own explanation through Rose’s reporting.
That does not mean they will not later.
But at this stage, the silence stands out. When parents are charged in a case involving a toddler and a wolf enclosure, people are naturally going to want to hear some account of how it happened. Right now, that side remains missing.
Child Welfare Questions Remain Unclear
There is also another layer here beyond the criminal case.
Rose said Derry Township’s police chief told her that information from the case had been passed along to Lancaster County CYS. She reported that it was still unclear whether the child remained in the parents’ custody.
That is a major unanswered question.
And it shows that this is no longer just a matter of one incident at a zoo. Once child welfare authorities are involved, the case expands into a broader examination of safety, supervision, and what should happen next.
That does not automatically mean a dramatic custody action has taken place. But it does mean the system is now looking beyond the wolf bite itself and into the overall circumstances around the child.
A Preventable Incident That Could Have Been Worse
Maxine Rose’s reporting leaves the public with a story that is hard to shake because it feels so avoidable.
A toddler got through a fence, reached into a wolf enclosure, and was bitten. Police say the parents were roughly 30 feet away and distracted by their phones. Bystanders had to help pull the child free. And now both parents are charged with child endangerment.
That sequence is sobering all by itself.
The child’s minor injuries are the one clearly lucky part of the story. Without that, this case could have entered an entirely different category of tragedy.
And maybe that is why the reaction has been so strong. This was not some hidden danger no one could have predicted. It was a fast-moving but very ordinary kind of failure: adults looking down at their screens while a toddler kept moving.
The charges will now work their way through court.
But the broader lesson is already sitting in plain view, and it is one Maxine Rose’s report captured clearly. Around little kids, dangerous spaces, and wild animals, distraction is not a small mistake. Sometimes it is the whole story.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
