Wolveds do not attack humans!!!!

[multibeard]

Just found this story from The Canadian Sault newspaper!!!

Lucky bunch of people.

[Brant Buster]

Do you hjave a link?

[multibeard]

Here is the link. I had it in the original post but evidently lost it some where along the line

http://www.saultstar.com/webapp/sitepages/search/results.asp?contentID=181178&catname=Local%20News&type=search&search1=wolf

[skeeter@ccia.com]

yep that would ruin your day on the beach for sure...bet none of those with contact with the wolf were the ones stopping wolf hunting. We use to a few years back have problems with dog packs. They got into the bunny pens and cleaned them out quite a few times. As much as we hated to do it because it isn't their fault their owners just dumped them off in the wilderness to survive how ever they had to but we took care of that problem. Up until his passing, if you heard a dog bark in the woods while we were hunting, we would just listen and you would hear the tree limbs cracking..lmao..I don't recall him ever encountering some of the coyotes out there like I have...was a good thing too.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

oh.. he... being my cousin/hunting buddy

[L. Cooper]

The story reports the wolf as "skinny", and having an injured leg or foot.

I hope no one regards this as anything resembling normal wolf behavior. This incident is irrelevant to the wolf hunting argument, and deserves to be placed in the "weird news" category, not any rational discussion of whether or not wolves should be considered dangerous to people relaxing on beaches in parks.

In the midst of a culture of fear it is vital that we avoid fear mongering. I have visited that park and would do so again without a second's consideration that the small number of wolves in the park might get me.

It would certainly have been a surreal and frightening experience though.

[Cal Sibley]

But we're told that wolves don't attack humans, at least not in Canada. Of course thats not much consolation to the family of the young man killed by wolves earlier this year in northern Saskatchewan. He was working a government summer job. Wolves had been seen in the region, but no one appeared alarmed until the attack occurred. I suspect they are all armed now. I sure as hell would be. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[fabsroman]

The part the leave out is "normally." Wolves do not "normally" attack humans. I am sure that wolves will attack a human or humans under the right conditions. Exactly what those conditions are, I do not know, but some examples would be if they were starving or if we were threatening their young.

Heck, I believe dogs would attack humans under the right conditions, but dogs are mans' best friend. Every animal out there will attack at some point. Humans even attack humans when the conditions are right.

[L. Cooper]

Fabsroman: "Heck, I believe dogs would attack humans under the right conditions"

That is a good example of how fear affects perception and emotional reactions.

Dogs DO attack humans every day, and I mean EVERY DAY somewhere. Some cities are banning breeds known to attack humans in almost random events. Feral dogs are very dangerous in packs. Dogs are infinitely more dangerous to humans than wolves or bears or cougars or sharks (or sting rays), yet no one is suggesting we kill all dogs.

Why is it that with the very rare examples we have of wolves attacking humans we feel the need to wipe them out? Why do wolves evoke such emotion?

Because of Goldilocks.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

I don't think anyone here is suggesting the 'wipe out' of the wolves. They are the fascination of many because of their ways. (I have drawn pictures and made carvings of wolves for a friend of mine) and it is a given they are no different than anything else when it comes to survival..just do what ya gotta do... I do however think it has been mentioned about wolf hunts and the control of the numbers same as we do deer and other creatures of the world. We hunt them. Do they hunt wolves? Are they protected? As for dogs? I at times wish there was a hunting season on the owners of some...like the one who walks his dog without his scooper.......is the owner......not the pooper.

[Darkwolf]

We had an incident a few years ago in BC. A small pack of wolves on one of the gulf Islands near Vancouver Island were habituated by kayakers and hikers to the point where they were taking hot dogs offered from people's hands. Surprise, surprise, when one comes along and takes a curious bite out of a sleeping camper's scalp. The Wardens show up and shoot the small pack, to the outcries of all our weekend nature experts, and people wonder what happened?

there is strong evidence that similar circumstances happened in Saskatchewan. That the resource exploration company that the kid worked at was dumping garbage nearby and accustoming wildlife to come and feed there, and that the kid, along with most of the staff had no familiarity with animal behaviour and may have provoked an attack by running from the wolves when he encountered them. Since then, the company has been training it's personnel in wilderness and wildlife safety techniques.

A lot of this behaviour seems to be following the familiar pattern of other rising predator encounters around North America. Increasing incursion into wild ares by development and recreational users in larger numbers, causing an increase in wildlife encouinters, and habituation by large animals to humans.

It's that old problem they always had in the large national parks with people feeding wildlife and then somebody gets hauled out of his station wagon while feeding a grizzly bear. Now, with more areas closed to hunting and more people running into large wildlife, the odds go up that predators with no reason to fear people, and that associate them with food, are going to create problems....

Still, you have better odds encountering a wild wolf than a domestic dog....