No Wolf Attacks on Humans?

[Jinx]

Having some upcoming business in Alaska (new territory to us), a coworker claimed how there has never been a report of an incident of a wolf attacking a person. I don't know why he thinks he's the authority on this, and I find it hard to believe. Any SDopers know the SD on this?

[Harmonious Discord]

While reading lumberjack pioneer accounts you run accross the wolve attacks. Normaly the attacks are in winter. Animal attacks happen to any species man interacts with. They may not be as likely to attack as an individual, but as a hungry pack they are fearless. Don't believe the idiots that claim wolves don't attack, they will say your an exeption when it happens, and it's unheard of. It's common enough to be watching what the heck you do when in an area with a wolf population. That goes for bears and the like also.

Death by wolf. (http://www.wolf.org/wolves/news/live_news_detail.asp?id=1340)

Wolf attacks man. (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/01/04/sask-timberwolf050104.html)

[Jinx]

I told the guy that his claim is only because those tasked to record such incidents were eaten by the wolves! ;)

[Harmonious Discord]

I rememer the guy that told everybody bears won't hurt people and ignored warnings. Him and the girl friend were eaten. It's a movie now so I can't find the articles. They've all been submerged.

Timothy Treadwell a bear munch lunch (http://www.slate.com/id/2124360/)

[Unregistered Bull]

Two Indian cases:

In Uttar Pradesh during a 2-year period (1996–1997), a wolf or wolves killed or seriously injured 74 humans, mostly children under the age of 10 years (Mech 1998). (http://www.sinauer.com/groom/article.php?id=24)

In Bihar State sixty out of 80 children from 63 villages were attacked and killed by wolves from 1993 to 1995. (http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/a-wkp5-linnell-results.html)

National Geographic had big piece on the predation of human children on on their TV program. Most recently there has been a leopard in India suspected of preying on human children. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243893,00.html)

[Colibri]

The way this is usually phrased is heavily qualified. It is usually stated as "there have been no documented fatal attacks by a healthy wild wolf in North America. Wolves in Europe and Asia have been known to kill humans.

I believe this qualified statement may actually be true, or at least was until recently. This is supported by this article, which is an account of the same attack described in Harmonious Discord's first link:

First fatal wolf attack recorded in North America? (http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=16084)

Conservationists have long assuaged the public’s fear of wolves by saying that there have been no documented instances of a healthy wild wolf killing a human being in North America. Until now, that is.

Given that a handful of fatal wolf attacks have been recorded in India and Europe, experts say such an attack in North America has always been a possibility. But the odds are extraordinarily low, points out L. David Mech, a leading wolf biologist: "Wolves are still not any more dangerous than they ever were."

However, even this recent attack can't be considered to be fully confirmed.

The OP's coworker no doubt has heard a distorted version of the qualified statement, or else misremembered it.

[Colibri]

Note that the "lumberjack accounts" mentioned by Harmonious Discord would probably not be considered by scientists to be "documented accounts."

[Barrington]

If it's any consolation, Jinx, I've heard a similar claim made on a TV documentary a few years ago - the only difference was that this something like "there isn't a single recorded case of anyone being killed by a wolf" (emphasis mine). It seems to be something of an UL.

[Northern Piper]

Here's the CBC report from the time of the event: Wolf attack likely killed man, police say (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2005/11/10/wolf-attack051110.html)The body of the 22-year-old man was found at Points North Landing near Wollaston Lake two days ago. The community is about 450 kilometres northeast of La Ronge.

An autopsy indicated he was likely killed by animals, according to RCMP spokesperson Heather Russell.

"All of the injuries discovered in the autopsy are consistent with animal bites. But you can't completely rule everything out until the investigation is complete," she said.

Russell said the autopsy hasn't confirmed what sort of animals attacked the man, but noted wolves have been sighted in the area and there were tracks – believed to be wolf tracks – around the body.

I told the guy that his claim is only because those tasked to record such incidents were eaten by the wolves! ;)
There's an element of truth to this, as the Wollaston Lake case suggests - one of the reason for the uncertainty is that the fellow was out alone, so there are no witnesses. The police and coroner are forced to make inferences, based on the nature of the wounds, the tracks in the snow, etc. And since wolves are pack animals, it's far more likely that an attack would occur in those circumstances: a pack taking down a single person, rather than a pack attacking a group of people.

[misterW]

I rememer the guy that told everybody bears won't hurt people and ignored warnings. Him and the girl friend were eaten. It's a movie now so I can't find the articles. They've all been submerged.

Timothy Treadwell a bear munch lunch (http://www.slate.com/id/2124360/)

I wouldnt relate wolf attacks to grizzly attacks. I dont think anyone claims that grizzlies wont attack people -- there are numerous documented cases of it. And whatever the guy in "the grizzly man" documentary said is also somewhat beside the point -- he was clearly somewhat insane. But from what I have read, wolf attacks are much less likely (although certainly not impossible).

[Rubystreak]

This cite is from the National Parks Service fact sheet (http://www.nps.gov/archive/olym/issues/isswolf.htm) about wolves on the Olympic Peninsula:

12. Will wolves attack people?

Like that of any wild animal, wolf behavior can never be completely predicted. However, the history of interactions between wolves and people in North America clearly indicates that the risk to humans from wild wolves is practically nonexistent. Millions of people recreate without incident in wolf habitat in Canada, Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and more recently, the Yellowstone area. There has never been a documented case of a healthy wild wolf seriously injuring or killing a human being in North America. In contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have documented a total of 301 human deaths from domestic dog attacks in the United States during the years 1979 through 1996.

Bolding mine. This is the statement that I've heard distorted into "wolves never kill people." Note, it's healthy, wild wolves in North America. Overall, I'd say humans have nothing to fear from wolves around here, that's safe to say.

[Cunctator]

I remember reading this "fact" in a book when I was a child. There was even a claim that a Canadian newspaper, based in Ontario (in Sault Ste Marie?) had had a longstanding reward on offer for proof of an attack by a wolf and had never had to pay out the reward.

[Chronos]

The other thing about that qualified statement is, how do you prove the animal was healthy? If I came across a situation of a wolf attacking a human, I would at least assume that the wolf wasn't entirely right in the head. Humans are (or can be) pretty dangerous animals, and wolves are smart enough to have learned that long ago. Absent any other evidence, I'd consider the attack itself a pretty good indicator that the wolf wasn't healthy.

[Harmonious Discord]

Experts always put in qualifier's and hope people will assume that the statement is true for all cases, and it isn't. Wolves kill and maim people all the time. The question wasn't only about killing either. It was about attacking and they attack people way to many times, for people to not be wary in habitat with wolves or other carnivorous animals.

[Charlie Tan]

Wolves kill and maim people all the time.
I'd like to see some unbiased cites for that claim, and also an explanation to "all the time", which seems to me that you're meaning it's an everyday occurance. Of course, you could be meaning something else. If so, please clarify.

[Harmonious Discord]

I'd like to see some unbiased cites for that claim, and also an explanation to "all the time", which seems to me that you're meaning it's an everyday occurance. Of course, you could be meaning something else. If so, please clarify.

All the time to mean at any time they wish, since it's up to them, so no time is to be excluded from when they are dangerous. There are alread links of attacks posted, so why would I bother to look for more, since they won't apparently be from somebody you trust.

[Ludovic]

#1. Wolves are mammals.
#2. Wolves kill and maim people all the time!
#3. They better not go after my French Fries!

[Charlie Tan]

All the time to mean at any time they wish, since it's up to them, so no time is to be excluded from when they are dangerous. There are alread links of attacks posted, so why would I bother to look for more, since they won't apparently be from somebody you trust.
Yes you did. I checked those and you provided cites for two incidents, one were wolves were "suspected". Further digging at the sites you linked to revealed some interesting pdf:s one which managed to find a grand dozen wolf attacks on humans (fatal and non fatal) during the 20th century in all of North America. The authour notes: The fact that individual aggressive encounters with wolves (even without injury, e.g. Scott et al, 1985) is considered worthy of publication in the scientific literature is an indication of the rarity of such events.

Remember this is your own cite.

Your broad brush statement "Wolves kill and maim humans all the time" then in fact meant (using your own cites and explanation about "all the time"):
Wolves kill and maim humans whenever it damn pleases them. In fact, it's happened on average about once ever nine years in all of North America, during the 20th century".

Glad I got that cleared up.

[Stranger On A Train]

I wouldnt relate wolf attacks to grizzly attacks. I dont think anyone claims that grizzlies wont attack people -- there are numerous documented cases of it. And whatever the guy in "the grizzly man" documentary said is also somewhat beside the point -- he was clearly somewhat insane. But from what I have read, wolf attacks are much less likely (although certainly not impossible).Treadwell was clearly buggered in the head (not just from his advocacy of the gentleness of bears, but his other behavior as documented in Grizzly Man) but the fact is that the frequency and overall number of attacks by brown or grizzly bears (Ursus arctos and U. a. horribilis resepctively) are vastly less than most people would expect, and the significant per capita attacks by the North American Black Bear Ursus americanus) are negligable, particularly given suburban encroachment and the often close proximity of bears to human habitation. Wikipedia has a proportedly complete list of fatal bear attacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America_by_decade) in the 20th and 21st century, but I haven't backchecked this to confirm. Despite black bears living in more diverse environments and being vastly better represented across the North American continents, they don't show proportionally more attacks than browns.

Wolves are pack animals that (generally) engage in cursorial hunting of herd prey. They are certainly physically capable of taking down a human being, but at least the wolf species of North America generally demonstrate extreme wariness toward any animal in an upright posture, probably due to evolutionary pressures to avoid encounters with much larger and more dangerous predators like the recently extinct big cats of genus smilodon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilodon) and homotherium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium), the brown bear, and the Short-Faced Bear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus), all of which attack from an upright bipedal or leaping posture.

However, all of these animals are wild, and to paraphrase Charlotte Brontë, most things freeborn will submit to anything for food. If they're hungry or injured, and the best source of food is one of those noisy hairless bear cubs, then they'll attack and feed. But this seems to be an extreme of behavior that they don't typically engage in.

Stranger

[Chronos]

but at least the wolf species of North America generally demonstrate extreme wariness toward any animal in an upright posture, probably due to evolutionary pressures to avoid encounters with much larger and more dangerous predators like the recently extinct big cats of genus smilodon and homotherium, the brown bear, and the Short-Faced Bear, all of which attack from an upright bipedal or leaping posture.Or perhaps even due to evolutionary pressures to avoid us. We've been coexisting with wolves for a while now, and a human with a pointy stick is at least formidable enough to make a wolf pay dearly for its meal.

Yes, a wolf encounter should be considered a dangerous situation, but the key is that wolves don't like those encounters either, and make a reasonable effort to avoid us whenever possible. And one statistic I'm absolutely certain of, is no human ever got attacked by a wolf that was a mile away at the time.

[Stranger On A Train]

Or perhaps even due to evolutionary pressures to avoid us. We've been coexisting with wolves for a while now, and a human with a pointy stick is at least formidable enough to make a wolf pay dearly for its meal.Possibly, but considering the amount of damage a single wolf, much less a pack fo them, could do to even a person armed with an edged melee weapon, I'd guess that they had a prior inclination to avoid people, similar to the big cats that live reclusive lives in remote areas; they generally avoid people even though they could pose a serious threat to even a man armed with a firearm. Of course, even a larger, stealthy predator doesn't want to risk injury if easier prey is available, but I doubt that many animals unfamiliar with humans would understand the function of a rifle or the threat it poses.

There are other reasons wolves might be reclusive and avoidant, particularly in response to human encroachment, including erosion of habitat, reduction of prey species, and the threat of injury or death from automobiles. This is a population-level effect, however, and probably hasn't made any signficant instinctual or genetic impact so far.

Stranger

[GomiBoy]

Couple of points if I may - this only applies to my experiences growing up in Montana, so YMMV

Bears only attack people in four instances:
1 - Person gets between bear and food (espec animal kill
2 - Person surprises bear
3 - Person gets between mother and cub
4 - Bear is sick / injured
Otherwise bears tend to avoid people. Probably learned behaviour - we are the biggest baddest predators around, after all, and every time a bear's scrapped with a person in the last 25-odd years, the bear has been destroyed. Their sense of smell and hearing is several times better than ours; my most frequent experience with grizzlies has been them going the other way whenever they spotted or smelled me, or in very rare instances bears (mostly blacks or browns) coming into our camp because we were cooking meat of some kind. In all instances, the bear was driven off very very quickly by shouting and making threatening gestures with a stick (from a safe distance, of course, and with a .44 magnum and pepper spray as backup :)) - my mom has a hell of a good story about driving a brown bear out of our camp by smashing a rotten log and sending a huge cloud of splinters into his face.

As for mountain lions, they will track and attack people. They don't have an instinctive fear of people, and I have both personal and anecdotal experience of this - I've been tracked by a lion while hunting deer with my father. We circled the mountain top, saw lion tracks, said 'how cool' until we realized lion was following us, and got the heck off the hill. There are also numerous instances of lions attacking people, usually when human habitation encroaches on lion habitats. Recent incidents have been reported in Washington State, near Seattle.
Warning: Gross Photo (http://www.komotv.com/news/national/5372391.html)
Another in Northern California (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003545456_webcougarattack28.html)

Finally, wolves - wolves are incredibly timid towards humans. Every piece of evidence provided thus far proves that attacks on humans are extremely rare unless the human is doing something stupid - feeding the wolves, associating themselves with a food source (i.e. leaving garbage around a camp) or else the wolf is sick or injured.

All wild animals are dangerous, especially key predators, but some more than others. So I wouldn't worry about wolves or bears nearly as much as mountain lions when hiking or biking around the wild country :)

[wolf_meister]

With a name like wolf_meister, I felt it mandatory to enter this discussion.
I also appreciate those posters who have already expressed their "pro-wolf" sentiments.
This is a slight hijack but I think a bit of perspective should be interjected here.
Rubystreak posted this statstic:
In contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have documented a total of 301 human deaths from domestic dog attacks in the United States during the years 1979 through 1996.
My God that is almost 18 deaths per year !!! :eek: When will we start addressing the canine menace stalking the populace?
When the movie "Jaws" was released, just about everyone that lived near an ocean became fearful that a shark would attack and swallow them. Actually, more people are killed by lightning than by sharks.
When you consider the chances of your life being shortened by your fellow humans (drunk drivers, murders, drive by shootings, mindless shooting sprees, etc), the number of folks attacked by wolves sort of pales in comaprison doesn't it?

Again, this was a hijack and I don't think wolf attacks was the #1 concern of Jinx. (More a matter of intellectual curiosity I'd say). Still, a bit of perspective does put things in order doesn't it?

[Chefguy]

I can only offer a perspective of someone who lives in the subject state. In the 20 years I spent growing up here and in the nine years I've been back, I've never heard of, nor read of, a wolf attack on a human. Can't speak for the 30 years in between. Wolves don't just live in the wild; there is at least one pack that hunts in Eagle River, which is part of the municipality. I have a friend who sees them quite often. Other than the occasional missing dog, wolves pretty much avoid human contact. The statement that "wolves kill and maim people all the time" is total unsubstantiated hogwash.

[TV time]

So let me get this right - you are saying I shouldn't wrap my mother-in-law in bacon and have her sit out in wolf country?

darn!

[GomiBoy]

So let me get this right - you are saying I shouldn't wrap my mother-in-law in bacon and have her sit out in wolf country?

darn!
Depends really. Do you like your mother-in-law?

[Billdo]

Depends really. Do you like your mother-in-law?

Actually, my main concern would be the waste of good bacon.

[TV time]

Actually, my main concern would be the waste of good bacon.I see you have met my mother-in-law.

[Rysto]

You guys can defend wolves all you like, but I just can't believe that they aren't dangerous to humans. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8275461&postcount=319) :D

[Sal Ammoniac]

Jinx, I think what your coworker meant was that wolves had never been known to attack a person on a business trip. Wolves apparently demonstrate extreme wariness toward any animal in an upright posture and carrying a laptop, probably due to evolutionary pressures to avoid encounters with PowerPoint.

[Raguleader]

Jinx, I think what your coworker meant was that wolves had never been known to attack a person on a business trip. Wolves apparently demonstrate extreme wariness toward any animal in an upright posture and carrying a laptop, probably due to evolutionary pressures to avoid encounters with PowerPoint.

Also, because they have no doubt played Half Life (like everyone else in North America), and associate suits and briefcases with semi-villanous guys who can NOT be killed. :D

[saoirse]

When the movie "Jaws" was released, just about everyone that lived near an ocean became fearful that a shark would attack and swallow them. Actually, more people are killed by lightning than by sharks.

I think I get what you're saying. We should be afraid of sharks who can control the weather, right?

From what I remember of the line about wolf attacks, it included the caveats "documented cases of American citizens" being killed. I always wondered how the wolves would know that I was an American, and not say Slovakian and therefore presumably fair game.

[GomiBoy]

You guys can defend wolves all you like, but I just can't believe that they aren't dangerous to humans. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8275461&postcount=319) :D

Should have carried silver bullets.

Oh, and not pissed off the werewolves. Always a good idea to not piss off werewolves.

[Muffin]

A wolf attacked a family who were camping in Lake Superior Provincial Park last fall: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1157580611668&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112101662670

That being said, wolf attacks are so few and far between that they are not worth worrying about. I've come across wolves many times, and have never had any problems. Once one trotted beside me for half an hour while I was skiing, but the wolf was curious rather than sizing me up for dinner.

Attacks on dogs by wolves is another matter. For example, when my cousin lived in Cambridge Bay, she said the town had a problem with a wolf pack that would run a female through town so as to attract the male dogs. When the dogs ran out of the town following the female, the pack would kill one of the dogs.

[Chefguy]

Attacks on dogs by wolves is another matter. For example, when my cousin lived in Cambridge Bay, she said the town had a problem with a wolf pack that would run a female through town so as to attract the male dogs. When the dogs ran out of the town following the female, the pack would kill one of the dogs.

On the other hand, we spent a long weekend at the Winterlake Lodge (http://www.withinthewild.com/page/17) a few weeks ago, which is about 200 miles northwest of Anchorage on the Iditarod Trail. They have recreational sled dogs there (about 20 dogs). I asked them about problems with wolves and they said zero in all the years they've been there.

[CaerieD]

Attacks on dogs by wolves is another matter. For example, when my cousin lived in Cambridge Bay, she said the town had a problem with a wolf pack that would run a female through town so as to attract the male dogs. When the dogs ran out of the town following the female, the pack would kill one of the dogs.

This was said to be a common tactic used by coyotes for isolating dogs when I lived in Nevada, too. If true, that seems remarkably intelligent to use a female for bait like that! I'd be interested in reading about what's actually known about this particular behavior.