An eight-year-old girl has been seriously injured after a wolf attack at a wildlife park in Germany, proving once again that nature's idea of a petting zoo is a bit more literal than ours.

The incident occurred at the Johannismühle park in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, where the girl was inside an enclosure with a staff member and two other children. Police have launched an investigation into the "precise circumstances," which is German for "we're still figuring out how this happened, but we have some theories."

The girl was airlifted to hospital following the attack on Wednesday, and while no one else was injured, she reportedly suffered head injuries, according to Bild. The park, located in the town of Baruth/Mark, has been temporarily closed and is slated to reopen on 2 November - presumably after a thorough review of its "interactive" visitor policies.

For those unfamiliar, Johannismühle isn't your average zoo. It offers small group tours where guests can spend time with animals, including feeding wolves and petting llamas. Because nothing says "family fun" like getting up close and personal with an apex predator that has no concept of personal space.

The park is home to grey and arctic wolves, along with brown bears and lynx, all of which are presumably now reconsidering their career choices.

This incident is part of a worrying trend of animal attacks at European zoos and wildlife parks. This week, a keeper at a Dutch zoo died after being mauled by a leopard, and earlier this month, a man was killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. It's almost as if wild animals are, well, wild.

Police have not released further details, but one thing's for sure: the wolves aren't commenting, and the llamas are keeping a low profile.