OPP explains why investigators initially suspected an animal attack in Quadeville, Ont.

Residents in Quadeville, Ont. are reeling after a 17-year-old boy was charged following a serious attack on an 8-year-old girl. CTV’s Katie Griffin reports.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say investigators never ruled out human involvement in an attack on a child in Quadeville, Ont., despite police initially saying evidence suggested it was a possible animal attack.

A 17-year-old male was charged Tuesday night with attempted murder and sexual assault with a weapon on a person under 16 years old.

An eight-year-old girl was reported missing on Monday, June 23 in Quadeville, approximately 75 kilometres southwest of Renfrew. The OPP Canine Unit located the girl just before 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 24 with life-threatening injuries along Quadeville Road.

On June 25, police said investigators suspected the girl was injured in an animal attack, but added, “further testing and analysis is required.”

“When the attack happened, we honestly did not know what the cause was,” OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson said Wednesday morning.

“It was a tough balancing act to say, we don’t want to cause undue panic, but we also don’t want to underplay this and potentially, if it is an animal, have some other child suffer a similar fate.”

Dickson told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal the girl’s injuries were very serious.

“We brought in the experts who looked at these injuries and many of them too thought that the nature of these injuries looked like they would have been consistent with something caused by some type of wild animal,” Dickson said Thursday morning.

“While we went with that premise and we were following that line of thought, we also kept the investigation going on other fronts because, of course, you can’t get tunnel vision on an investigation where someone has been seriously hurt.”

Dickson said police also continued to investigate the possibility the injuries were caused by a person.

“The investigators formed those grounds to lay the charges on Tuesday of this week. It was a fairly recent development and we’re happy to put some sort of closure to this.”

In a media release Wednesday evening, the OPP said samples taken from the victim’s wounds “revealed no traces of animal DNA.”

The girl remains in hospital, according to police.

Ontario Provincial Police are planning to hold a townhall meeting in Quadeville on Saturday to “address questions and concerns from local residents.”

Dickson says police expect people to have questions about why investigators suspected it was an animal attack and why they were asked to keep children indoors.

“We know there’s been so much concern and people may not have understood why we took the steps we were taking, why we were saying it was suspected to be an animal attack and then, in the end, we are laying charges against a human being,” Dickson said.

“We want to hear their concerns. We want to explain to them why we did what we did, to the level that we can. We know that this has been a horrible experience for the entire community, not just for this young girl and her family but for everyone there. It’s a tight-knit community.”

LISTEN: OPP Spokesperson Bill Dickson with further details on the ongoing investigation

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Upper Ottawa Valley OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

Quadeville is located 160 km west of Ottawa.