Girl seriously injured in wolf attack at German wildlife park

An eight-year-old girl has been seriously injured in a wolf attack at a German wildlife park.

She was inside an enclosure at the Johannismühle park in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, with a staff member and two other children when the attack happened, police said.

They said in a statement that the "precise circumstances of the incident are the subject of an ongoing police investigation".

The girl was taken to hospital by helicopter after the incident on Wednesday. No one else was injured.

The park, in the town of Baruth/Mark, has been closed temporarily and is set to reopen on 2 November, according to its website, which did not give further details.

The park keeps grey and arctic wolves, along with other animals including the brown bear and lynx.

The girl was injured by at least one animal and suffered head injuries, according to German newspaper Bild.

It reported that the incident happened before the park opened at 10:00 local time (09:00 GMT) and that the girl could have been taking part in a special visit.

Johannismühle offers small group tours to allow visitors to spend time with some animals, with its site mentioning feeding wolves or petting a llama.

The incident comes after a number of other animal attacks at zoos and wildlife parks in Europe.

A keeper at a Dutch zoo died this week after being mauled by a leopard, and a man was killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park earlier this month.