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As families flee urban centres for the Canada Day long weekend, one popular eastern Ontario getaway is still under a warning that children should be kept indoors or under close supervision.
A suspected animal attack last week in Quadeville, Ont., left an eight-year old girl with potentially life-threatening injuries. Now there’s unease among tourists and locals alike about the safety of their kids.
“Parents now — and me as a grandparent with grandkids in that area — will definitely be more vigilant,” said Bev Stevenson, who works as a supervisor at the C O Country Market down the road in Combermere, Ont.
Stevenson said the local population doubles in the summer because families love the area, with its many lakes and cottages, as an escape from city life.
But the lack of information shared about last week’s apparent attack has allowed rumours to spread, she said.
“There might be a little bit more trepidation as to what [parents] allow their kids to do,” Stevenson said. “Which is sad, because that’s what the parents really enjoyed about having their kids up here on vacation — [the fact they can] be kids, which they don’t get that opportunity in the city.”
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are urging parents in the Quadeville, Ont., area to keep their small children indoors or under close supervision, after a girl was found Tuesday with severe injuries. In a statement, the OPP said investigators ‘suspect this to have been an animal attack,’ and added that further testing is required to confirm what happened.
‘Would be nice to have some answers’
Ontario Provincial Police have not said much about the attack, including what sort of animal they believe might have been behind it.
An OPP spokesperson told CBC on Friday that they couldn’t provide an update on the investigation.
“This whole thing is kind of shrouded in mystery, and that’s what makes a lot of folks coming into the store asking if we’ve heard anything,” said Stevenson.
“It just would be nice to have some answers.”
Dave Green, a tourist originally from England, has also been unable to find answers. He stopped in at Stevenson’s store during a visit to his sister-in-law’s cottage.
“It’s very concerning, of course it is,” Green said. “But nobody seems to know what the details are. So you have to be cautious of what you’re doing in the community.”
In the absence of concrete details, Stevenson said rumours have grown and spread.
As they arrive in the community, tourists “will be hearing a lot of stories, and unfortunately, not all those stories might be exactly correct,” she said.
“That’s why I’m hoping the OPP can release some information with exactly what happened, what we need to be aware of, what we need to do to keep safe if there is an animal out there.”