# News on a much-debated topic: Do wolves kill people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406 "2011-12-07T19:40:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/61 "2011-12-13T05:42:20Z")
Did we ever get an answer to how many fatalities? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/62 "2011-12-13T17:11:16Z")
No, the article has a rather large chart with a list by decade, and a line within each decade for each attack (fatality?). If I get bored I may go tally it all up, but I’m not sure when. It goes back to pre-1700s. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/63 "2011-12-13T21:48:28Z")
It was twelve since 2000. Twelve. It’s in my first post. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/64 "2011-12-13T21:58:16Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > It was twelve since 2000. Twelve. No it wasn’t. Twelve attacks that caused fatalities. There were something like 20 total fatalities. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/65 "2011-12-13T22:21:19Z")
> [@Hbns](#): > > Did we ever get an answer to how many fatalities? > [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > It was twelve since 2000. Twelve. It’s in my first post. > [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans#2010s), for what it’s worth, lists 12 wolf attacks on humans worldwide since 2003, only two of which were in North America. You’re missing a key word there. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/66 "2011-12-13T22:32:43Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > No it wasn’t. > > Twelve attacks that caused fatalities. There were something like 20 total fatalities. You are correct. This has been pointed out before in post 35: > [@waenera](#): > > I might point out that the link goes directly to the part of the article entitled “List of fatal wolf attacks”. And the chart from 2000-present lists 12 attacks (with a total of 21 people in those 12 attacks). Finding this information took me maybe 45 seconds, not 45 minutes. Why people STILL need to be spoon fed this much discussed factoid is beyond me, as the question was settled three days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/67 "2011-12-13T22:43:17Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > No it wasn’t. > > Twelve attacks that caused fatalities. There were something like 20 total fatalities. Actually since 2000 there have been 21. You missed the chick from the 2010 section. It took me all of 2 minutes to count the number of people and read the entire contents of the 2010 chart and 2000 chart. I guess some people would rather spend a day and a half bitching about they don’t have the time to go reading articles than actually spend two minutes to actually read the article. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/68 "2011-12-13T23:38:34Z")
I read somewhere there was also a tradition in Europe of feeding criminals/undesirables to the wolves, which created the wolf populations there patterns of predation not experienced in NA. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/69 "2011-12-14T00:21:20Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Actually since 2000 there have been 21. You missed the chick from the 2010 section. > > It took me all of 2 minutes to count the number of people and read the entire contents of the 2010 chart and 2000 chart. > > I guess some people would rather spend a day and a half bitching about they don’t have the time to go reading articles than actually spend two minutes to actually read the article. As I said, the label of the chart was off the screen, so I didn’t know that it WAS a chart of fatalities. If I had, that would have made a big difference. I scrolled to the top of the article and saw it was about wolf attacks, and made a quick, casual question that I assumed the person would be able to parrot back quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/70 "2011-12-17T02:57:42Z")
[Here’s what current pop-culture has to say on this issue](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqP2o62sZMs&feature=relmfu). (links to trailer for Liam Neeson’s new movie). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406.md?page=3)