WOLVES AND HUMANS

Danger posed by habituated wolves

In 2002, Fremont County (Wyoming) officials declared gray wolves and grizzly bears “unacceptable species,” citing the danger to human health and safety as a major concern. Neighboring counties soon followed Fremont’s lead.

While the threat to human safety posed by grizzly bears is evident, what has been the subject of little discussion is the possible danger posed by wolves. This issue was recently addressed by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks as the agency prepared its statewide wolf management plan.

“ Public safety is an important consideration because species such as the gray wolf, mountain lion, black or grizzly bear are capable of injuring or potentially killing a person,” according to Montana’s wolf conservation and management plan.

A few examples were provided. The document stated: “In Canada’s Algonquin Provincial Park, four different wolves progressively lost their fear of humans, resulting in five separate incidents over the last 11 years. These four wolves, though previously nonaggressive, eventually bit humans. Two incidents of wolf aggression towards people were serious and required stitches.

“ Each of the wolves was accustomed to humans and had been frequenting campgrounds, running off with backpacks, human food and other camping items over a period of months,” according to the document. “People interacted with these wolves at very close range until the wolf became too bold. Park managers removed the four wolves.

“ Some wolves in Denali National Park in Alaska have grown increasingly tolerant of close proximity to humans in and around campsites, although no injuries have been reported.

“ One incident on Vargas Island, British Columbia in which a wolf bit a camper paralleled the incidents in Algonquin Provincial Park. Park managers removed two wolves that had been loitering near camping areas. One recent incident in Icy Bay near Anchorage, Alaska left a young boy with several stitches after a wolf bite. This wolf was also removed.

“ It appears that most wolf-human encounters were not precipitated by the wolf perceiving the human as prey because of how the wolves behaved, the presence of domestic dogs, or the sequence of events,” according to the Montana document. This is in stark contrast to mountain lion incidents, in which it appears lions have perceived humans as prey; or in bear incidents in which bears attack after surprise encounters with humans, or apparently in defense of cubs or food.

“ For wolves, a loss of fear seems to be a common thread running through all North American wolf incidents resulting in human injury,” the plan stated.

“ It appears that wolves can habituate to humans or human activities as readily as bears or mountain lions,” the document stated. “Whether or not this degree of familiarity translates to a threat to human safety may hinge on prompt management response by the appropriate authorities.

“ It appears that habituation in wolves may not require a consistent pattern of food conditioning as seems the case for bears. Wolves may increase their tolerance for the close proximity of people through repeated, long-term social interaction with people and ‘being rewarded’ in some fashion, whether food or otherwise.”
Interestingly, most cases of wolves inflicting injuries on humans occurred in parks or preserves where wolves were legally protected. That’s the cause of concern regarding recent incidents in Yellowstone National Park.

An early March 2003, Bozeman Chronicle article by Scott McMillion reported that wolves in Yellowstone National Park “have become increasingly bold around people and at least one pair might have scavenged a handout from a lawbreaking traveler this week.”

Park service officials received reports that Yellowstone wolves approached cars containing people, peering in the windows. Wolves also walked close to people busy ‘wolf watching,’ and such encounters were reportedly becoming more common.

The park service decided to take action against wolves appearing too bold towards humans. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized the agency to use “less-than-lethal munitions (rubber bullets)” in attempt to aversively condition the animals into maintaining their distance.

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Wolf Attacks in Alaska and Canada
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Dec. 1, 2006
People in Alaska have been having harrowing encounters with wolves in recent years. According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, a wolf chased a bicyclist last December, gaining on the man as they traveled down the Dalton Highway until a trucker going by swerved and ran over the wolf, not stopping to receive his thank you from the cyclist.

A week earlier and 35 miles to the north, a wolf chased down and bit a woman who finally escaped, with several bites to her legs, by seeking refuge in a porta-potty. This wolf was killed by wildlife officials and tested negative for rabies. The wolf was believed to have been involved in two other human conflicts, including harassing about 10 tourists at a bus stop, and a second incident of chasing a motorcycle.

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North country encounters
The most comprehensive work published about wolf conflicts with humans in the north country is Mark McNay’s “A case history of wolf-human encounters in Alaska and Canada.” McNay provides details of 80 cases, including 39 cases involving aggression among healthy wolves, 12 involving suspected diseased wolves, and 29 cases involving fearless behavior from non-aggressive animals. Aggressive, nonrabid wolves bit people in 16 cases.
Read the McNay report at the link below:

2002: A Case History of Wolf-Human Encounters in Alaska and Canada (By Mark E. McNay) Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Wildlife Technical Bulletin #13, 2002 (52-page, 2007K PDF)

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Mexican Wolf Safety
Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been insistent that a Mexican wolf hanging out on a New Mexico ranch isn’t a threat to humans, check out the propaganda the agency helped to develop about human safety around Mexican wolves. Read the brochure here (click for larger image).

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Hundreds of years of history
No library about wolf attacks on humans would be complete without the European NINA report that examined wolf attacks on humans around the world, focusing on the last few hundred years.

The report concluded “there appears to be no doubt that wolves have on rare occasssions attacked and killed people. We identified three types of wolf attack, (1) attacks by rabid wolves, (2) predatory attacks where wolves appear to have regarded humans as prey, and (3) defensive attacks where a wolf has bitten a person in response to being cornered or provoked.”
Read the complete NINA report here:

Read the complete NINA report at the link below:

2002: The Fear of Wolves: A Review of Wolf Attacks on Humans NINA Report: Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, Ministry of the Environment (253K, 65-page, 1259K PDF, January, 2002, Scandanavia)