Police seek potential witness in suspected animal attack on child in Quadeville, Ont.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are seeking a potential witness who they say might be able to help their investigation into a suspected animal attack that left a young girl with serious injures last week.

On June 24, the OPP urged parents in the Quadeville, Ont., area to keep their children indoors or under close supervision after a young girl was found earlier that day with severe injuries at a location along Quadeville Road.

Police have said they suspect the wounds were caused by an animal, though further testing and analysis is required. The child remains in hospital in serious but stable condition.

On Friday, OPP said they're looking for a man in his 60s who was in the Quadeville area before the incident. 

"This individual is not a subject of the investigation but may have information that could assist the case," according to a news release.

"If he was a witness to the incident, that may help us identify what the cause of the injuries were and what type of animal," acting Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Del Guidice told CBC in an interview. 

Police described the man as having grey and white hair, possibly with white facial hair. He was last seen wearing a black leather jacket with a white motorcycle helmet. The man owns a grey or black motorcycle described as a Ducati or Suzuki-style bike. 

He may be from the United States and used to live in the the Killaloe or Bonnechere Valley area, OPP added. 

Quadeville is a small community about 60 kilometres southwest of Renfrew.

Emergency services responded around 12:30 a.m. to reports that an eight-year-old girl who had been missing for hours was found with potentially life-threatening injuries in the woods in Quadeville. Members of the community had initially searched for the girl when she went missing on the previous evening.

OPP officers from the Upper Ottawa Valley detachment are investigating the incident with the Ministry of Natural Resources, under the direction of the OPP criminal investigation branch, with assistance from OPP forensic identification services and the OPP emergency response team.

A wooded area near the intersection of Quadeville and Letterkenny roads was closed off with police tape in the days following the incident.

Nearly two weeks after the attack, parents in the area are still being asked to keep their kids close or indoors, OPP said Friday. 

The ministry has set animal traps in the Quadeville area as a precaution. 

"Investigators are continuing efforts to identify the cause of the attack in consultation with the [ministry] and experts in animal attacks," according to the news release. 

Del Guidice said he does not know when the test results will come back. 

The attack shook the tiny township of about 300 people. Joseph Fiorentino, a local pastor, said last week that people were frightened "because of the ambiguity and the mysteries involved."

Reached on Friday, Fiorentino said the lack of answers continues to cause fear and frustration among some parents, but he acknowledged police investigations sometimes take time. 

"Longer than we'd like to wait," he said. 

Del Guidice said police are working very hard to come up with answers, adding that as a parent himself, "[this case] does hit close to home."

The girl was airlifted to the children's hospital in Ottawa, with Ornge ambulance service confirming they took a pediatric patient to CHEO with critical injuries "relating to an animal attack."

Her status is improving, according to Fiorentino. "The family has a lot more hope now based on that status," he said. 

Police are still asking anyone with relevant doorbell or surveillance video to come forward.

Del Guidice declined to say whether OPP have ruled out that a person caused the girl's injuries.