The Provincial Police of Ontario (OPP) urged the parents in the Quadeville area, Ontario, to keep their young children inside or under close supervision on Wednesday, after a girl was found the previous day with serious suspicious wounds of having been caused by an animal.
The emergency services responded around 12:30 am on Tuesday to inform that an eight -year -old girl who had been missing for hours was found with potentially mortal injuries in Woods in Quadeville, a town located about 60 kilometers southwest of Renfrew.
Little is publicly known about the nature of the girl’s injuries, but OPP said in a statement on Wednesday morning that “researchers suspect that this was an animal attack.” They warned that “more evidence and analysis are required.”
They continued: “As a caution, parents in the Quadeville area must continue to keep their children inside or under close supervision.”
The OPP officers of the OTTAWA Superior Valley detachment are investigating the incident with the Ministry of Natural Resources, under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, with the assistance of OPP Forensic Identification Services and the OPP emergency response team.
Joseph Fiorentino, pastor of the Quadeville Pentecostal Church, said the incident had shaken the small municipality of some 300 people.
“The community is scared by their own young children due to ambiguity and mysteries involved,” Fiorentino told CBC on Wednesday.
It is not yet known what had happened to the girl or what caused her wounds, she said. “There are simply no answers at this time.”
Fifty members of the local community joined in search of the young woman on Monday night after she disappeared, Fiorentino said.
The girl was found in the forests area behind the houses located in Quadeville Road, with OPP requesting the help of Brudenell Lyndoch and the Raglan Fire Department.
OPP officers cordoned off the area, leaving residents by guessing what could have happened, said Fiorentino. “We don’t know anything about its status or condition at the time it was found,” he said.
The injured girl was initially transported to the St. Francis Memorial hospital in Barry Bay, according to Fiorentino.
Later, she was transferred by plane to the Eastern Children’s Hospital in OTTAWA, with the ORNGE ambulance service confirming that “they transported a pediatric patient to Cheo with critical injuries related to an animal attack.”
It is reported that the girl is in stable conditions in the Intensive Care Unit, said Fiorentino. A doctor “said it was a miracle that she was alive,” he added.
