# No wolf has ever attacked a human being... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600 "2000-07-14T20:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dumb\_Ox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dumb\_Ox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumb_Ox)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/21 "2000-07-15T01:01:19Z")
> [@](#): > > There has never been a documented case of a healthy wolf attacking a human. The way this statement usually reads is “There has never been a documented case of a healthy, **wild** wolf attacking a human **in North America**.” As **astro** and others have pointed out, health _captive_ wolves can be extremely dangerous. And it goes without saying that if an animal has rabies, all bets are off. Regardless, this statement doesn’t mean that healthy, wild wolves aren’t dangerous. If you get between a wolf and its pups or encroach on a kill, you can expect some aggression. But attacks by wild wolves on humans in North America are exceedingly rare, if they happen at all, in part because wolf-human encounters in the wild are themselves quite rare. The above statement is probably true, provided you keep fairly strict definitions of “wild” and “documented.” The attacks on the caretaker in Minn. and the camper in B.C. were both by human-habituated wolves. Many “documented” wolf attacks are anecdotal accounts from unreliable sources or outright fabrications by wolf opponents, such as the ranching industry. This makes it difficult to identify genuine wolf-to-human aggression. Finally, it is important to remember that wolves in India (_Canis lupus pallipes_) are a different subspecies from wolves in North America (_Canis lupus lupus_, _Canis lupus rufus_, and _Canis lupus mexicanus_). The European wolf is considerably more aggressive than the North American wolf, so some of the medieval stories about wolf attacks probably had some basis in fact. But when European settlers came to North America, they didn’t realize that they were dealing with a different subspecies, and transferred all their prejudices about the European wolf to the North American wolf. Many of our own stereotypes about the North American wolf descend from settler’s beliefs about the European wolf. ---
**Author:** ![Winterwolf498](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cc9497/32.png) [@Winterwolf498](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winterwolf498)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/22 "2012-05-30T19:16:55Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > The way I heard it, it goes: \*\*“There is no documented case of any healthy wolf ever attacking a human being in North America.”\*\*This leaves several possibilities open, such as undocumented cases of rabid wolves attacking people in Asia. Have any of these statements been ACTUALLY PROVEN? Show me some evidence! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/23 "2012-05-30T19:22:12Z")
> [@Winterwolf498](#): > > Have any of these statements been ACTUALLY PROVEN? Show me some evidence! You do realize you are continuing a conversation from 12 years back, right? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/24 "2012-05-30T19:22:54Z")
Of course, there are numerous cases of zombies attacking the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/25 "2012-05-30T19:23:00Z")
\ Damn…beaten to the obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/26 "2012-05-30T19:29:18Z")
Um… hello… Little Red Riding Hood…? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/27 "2012-05-30T19:30:25Z")
> [@Winterwolf498](#): > > Have any of these statements been ACTUALLY PROVEN? Show me some evidence! It looks like there was a significant amount of evidence posted to this thread, but none of the links work anymore because they’re all very old. Please note that all the posts to this thread before yours were made on July 14, 2000. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/28 "2012-05-30T19:38:54Z")
Obviously the people maintaining those web sites were attacked and killed by wolves to destroy the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/29 "2012-05-30T19:45:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Obviously the people maintaining those web sites were attacked and killed by wolves to destroy the evidence. Only you would support such blatant anti-wolf nonsense. Everybody knows that was sheep in wolves’ clothing that did that smear job. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/30 "2012-05-30T19:49:30Z")
A place you can get up and personal with wolfs inside their enclosures. Swing by there sometime if you are driving down to see the Big Rat down in Floria. They aren’t that scary. > **[HOME | seacrest](https://www.seacrestwolfpreserve.org/)** ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/31 "2012-05-30T19:52:08Z")
Well, this was pretty easy: [Wolf attacks on humans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans#List_of_fatal_wolf_attacks) Most are in Asia, but a few were by wild wolves in North America (March 7, 1888 sounds interesting). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/32 "2012-05-30T19:53:17Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > A place you can get up and personal with wolfs inside their enclosures. Swing by there sometime if you are driving down to see the Big Rat down in Floria. They aren’t that scary. > > [http://seacrestwolfpreserve.org/](http://seacrestwolfpreserve.org/) I had wolf preserves once on my waffles. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/33 "2012-05-30T19:58:56Z")
Wow, look at the name. The wolves have learned to use computers. It’s just a matter of time before they do attack now. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/34 "2012-05-30T20:01:43Z")
I realize this is a zombie, so perhaps no-one knows any more, but I was baffled by the “factoid” quoted in the OP: > [@](#): > > Did You Know? > Lupine–Whose name comes from lupinus, the Latin word for “wolflike”–was once thought to ravage the land in the same way that wolves wrought havoc upon the populace… I know “lupine” as an adjective, meaning wolflike, and as a flower, also spelled “lupin”. Neither of these seem likely to be capable of ravaging the land. So what is this “factoid” about? If it is the flower, though, Denis Moore’s behavior becomes somewhat more understandable. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/35 "2012-05-30T20:04:18Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Well, this was pretty easy: > > [Wolf attacks on humans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans#List_of_fatal_wolf_attacks) Most are in Asia, but a few were by wild wolves in North America (March 7, 1888 sounds interesting). 1888 sounds like a suspiciously round number. I bet a Delorian is what set them off. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/36 "2012-05-30T20:09:03Z")
People, people. Don’t mess with the zombie wolf. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/37 "2012-05-30T20:10:01Z")
Zombie wolfs are unhealthy by definition, right? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/38 "2012-05-30T20:10:46Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I know “lupine” as an adjective, meaning wolflike, and as a flower, also spelled “lupin”. Neither of these seem likely to be capable of ravaging the land. So what is this “factoid” about? [The flower, apparently, but the factoid is in doubt.](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lupin) ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/39 "2012-05-30T20:13:50Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I know “lupine” as an adjective, meaning wolflike, and as a flower, also spelled “lupin”. Neither of these seem likely to be capable of ravaging the land. So what is this “factoid” about? Thought the same thing. Didn’t realize it was 12 years old either. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600/40 "2012-05-30T20:44:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I had wolf preserves once on my waffles. A wølf once bit my sister. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-wolf-has-ever-attacked-a-human-being/25600.md?page=3)