Wolf attacks on humans

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Main article: Gray Wolf

Two of the Wolves of Perigord, on display at the chateau of Razac, Thiviers

A wolf attack is an attack on a human by a wolf or wolves.

1 Wolf attacks
2 Causes
3 Attack patterns
4 List of fatal wolf attacks
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 References

[edit] Wolf attacks

[edit] Europe

In Scotland, during the reign of James VI, wolves were considered such a threat to travellers that special houses called "spittals" were erected on the highways for protection.^[1] The people of the Scottish Highlands used to bury their dead on offshore islands to avoid having the bodies eaten by wolves.^[2] In Imperial Russia 1890, a document was produced stating that 161 people had been killed by wolves in 1871.^[1] During the First World War, starving wolves had amassed in great numbers in Kovno and began attacking Imperial Russian and Imperial German fighting forces, causing the two fighting armies to form a temporary truce to fight off the animals.^[3] After the fall of the Soviet Union, documents were discovered indicating that a number of wolf attacks had occurred in villages during the Eastern front. This information was apparently supressed by the Soviet government in order to hide the consequences of the mass confiscation of firearms during the war.^[4]

A hypothesis as to why wolves in Eurasia historically acted more aggressively toward humans than those in North America is that in the past, Old World wolf hunting was mostly an activity for the nobility, whereas American wolf hunts were partaken by ordinary citizens, nearly all of them possessing firearms. This difference could have caused American wolves to be more fearful of humans, making them less willing to venture into settled areas.^[5]

Nevertheless, with the exception of one attack on a French shepherd in 2001,^[6] modern Western Europe has had very few attacks and no recent fatalities due greatly to the near complete lack of Wolves in Western Europe. "Lupus," a German group of wildlife biologists says it has documented 250 encounters between people and wolves in the Lusatia region and there were no problems in any of the cases.^[7]

[edit] North America

Though most Native American tribes revered wolves, their oral history does confirm that they were in fact on occasion attacked by wolves long before the arrival of European settlers. Woodland Indians were usually the most at risk, as they would often encounter wolves suddenly and at close quarters. An old Nunamiut hunter once said in an interview with author Barry Lopez that wolves used to attack his people, until the introduction of firearms, at which point the attacks ceased.^[8]

When settlers began colonizing the continent, they noticed that though the local wolves were more numerous than those in Europe, they were less aggressive.^[8] In Canada, an Ontario newspaper offered a $100 reward for proof of an unprovoked wolf attack on a human. The money was left uncollected.^[1] Though Theodore Roosevelt considered the large timber wolves of north-western Montana and Washington to be equal in size and strength to Northern European wolves, he noted that they were nonetheless much shyer around man.^[9]

In modern times, as humans begin to encroach on wolf habitat more contacts are being noted. Often the contact is because the person is walking their pet dog and the wolf pack considers the dog a prey item, inciting an attack.^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]

[edit] Asia

In 18th century, Japan experienced an outbreak of wolf attacks due to rabies spreading from China and Korea.^[14]

Traditionally, Hindus have refrained from killing even man-eating wolves, due to the superstition that even one drop of wolf blood spilled could result in a bad harvest.^[15] During a 2-year period (1996–1997) in Uttar Pradesh, wolves killed or seriously injured 74 humans, mostly children under the age of 10 years. The attacks were well documented by wolf authorities.^[16] One of the worst cases ever recorded occurred in 1878 in British India. During a one year period 624 people were killed by man-eating wolves.^[17] A series of guidelines have been written by Yadvendradev V. Jhala and Dinesh Kumar Sharma, both from the Wildlife Institute of India to avoid wolf attacks. Vulnerable-aged children, according to Indian researchers, are children between the ages of 2-10 who live in areas where huts are scattered and where vegetation can conceal a predator. ^[18]

[edit] Causes

Habitat loss can cause the wolf's natural prey to diminish and thus cause the local wolves to turn to attacking livestock or on some rare occasions, even people. Close proximity to humans may also cause habituation. In this case, wolves lose their fear of humans and consequently approach too close. Habituation usually happens when people encourage wolves to come up to them, usually by offering them food, or when people do not sufficiently intimidate wolves. Habituation can also occur accidentally. With unrestricted hunting, forest clearing and intensive livestock grazing there is little natural prey, therefore forcing the wolves to feed on domestic animals and garbage, thus bringing them in close proximity to humans. However, wild wolves are often timid around humans, and usually try to avoid contact with them, to the point of even abandoning their kills when an approaching human is detected.^[19]

Wolves are susceptible to Rabies and can account for some attacks. Rabies was once widespread throughout Europe and domestic dogs were the most important carriers of the disease. Better dog control and vaccination in the 20th century made dogs virtually harmless, though, in India and other Third World countries, domestic dogs are still the primary source of infection. Rabid attacks are carried out by lone wolves on just a single day, and a rabid wolf very soon becomes paralysed and dies, if not killed first.^[19]

[edit] Attack patterns

A recent Fennoscandian study on historical wolf attacks occurring in the 18th–19th centuries indicated that victims were almost entirely children under the age of 12, with 85% of the attacks occurring when an adult was not present. In the few cases in which an adult was killed, it was almost always a woman. In nearly all cases, only a single victim was injured in each attack, although the victim was with 2–3 other people in a few cases. This contrasts dramatically with the pattern seen in attacks by rabid wolves, where up to 40 people can be bitten in the same attack. Some recorded attacks occurred over a period of months or even years, making the likelihood of rabies infected perpetrators unlikely, considering that death usually occurs within 2–10 days after the initial symptoms. The attacks tended to be clustered in space and time, indicating that human-killing was not a normal behavior for the average wolf, but was rather a specialized behavior that single wolves or packs developed and maintained until they were killed.^[20] Records from the former Soviet Union indicate that the largest number of attacks on children occurred in summer during July and August, the period when female wolves begin feeding their cubs solid food. Sharp falls in the frequency of attacks were noted in the Autumn months of September and October, coinciding with drops in temperature which caused most children to remain indoors for longer periods.^[4] When attacking humans, wolves rarely attack face to face. They typically try to knock victims down and carry them off without initially killing them. They will typically attack the neck and facial regions when attempting to kill directly,^[4] with some specialised man-eaters having been recorded to kill children by crushing their skulls.^[21]

Unlike the grey wolf, the red wolf has not been known to attack people. However, packs of red wolves were reported to scavenge on battlefield corpses during the Mexican-American War.^[22]

[edit] List of fatal wolf attacks

This is a list of known fatal wolf attacks worldwide by century in reverse chronological order. The list does not include confirmed wolfdogs.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] 2000s

Name, age, gender	Date	Location, comments
8 year old boy	April 6, 2006	Nakhodka, Eastern Russia. Two eight-year-old boys had approached the wolf enclosure in the Nakhodka zoo, with one boy stretching out his hand to stroke the animals, resulting in one wolf biting the boy, and another seizing hold of his leg. Although the child escaped, he died early the next morning.^[23]
Kenton Joel Carnegie, 22, male	November 8, 2005	Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Carnegie had gone for a walk and didn’t return to the surveyors' camp where he was working. His body was found to be partially consumed in an area known to be frequented by four wolves which regularly fed on human refuse. The pathologist who performed the autopsy, testified Carnegie had lost about 25% to 30% of his body mass in the attack, with the top midsection to the thigh being partially consumed.^[24] Though originally the possibility of the culprit being an American Black Bear had not been ruled out, a coroners' jury concluded after a two year inquiry that the attackers had indeed been wolves.^[25]^[26]
Two people	2005	Khost province, Afghanistan. Occurred during what was considered to be the worst Afghan Winter in over a decade.^[27]
Four people	2005	Naka, Paktia province, Afghanistan. Two victims were killed during trips to other villages.^[27]
Two people	Early February, 2005	Muinak district, western Uzbekistan.^[28]
Homeless man	January 2nd, 2005	Village of Vali-Asr, near the town of Torbat Heydariya, northeastern Iran. Wolves entering the village seeking refuge from harsh weather attacked an elderly homeless man in front of witnesses who attempted to fight off the wolves while waiting for police assistance. Police intervention never came, and the victim died.^[29]
Three people	Winter, 2003	Astrakhan region, Russia^[30]
Three shepherds	Winter, 2003	Sredneakhtubinsk district, Russia^[30]

[edit] 1900s

Name, age, gender	Date	Location, comments
Anand Kumar, 4, male	1996	Banbirpur, India. The wolf attacked Kumar whilst he, his two siblings and his mother were using the open ground for their toilet. When a police search party found the boy three days later, half a mile away, all that remained was his head.^[31]
74 people, mostly prepubescent children	1996-1997	Uttar Pradesh, India.^[5]
Patricia Wyman, 24, female	April 18, 1996	Haliburton, Ontario. Ms. Wyman had been hired as a new caretaker of the wolves at the Haliburton forest and wildlife preserve. The 5 wolves involved in the attack had been raised in captivity all their lives, but had never been socialised with humans.^[32]
Unidentified female	October, 1995	Village south of Vorozneh. The woman was working on a cornfield when the rabid female wolf attacked and bit her throat.^[4]
Unidentified person	1995	Karelia region of Northern Russia, by Finnish border.^[4]
60 children	April 1993-April 1995	Bihar State, India. All the children were taken from settlements primarily during March to August between 17.00 and 19.00 hrs. There were more female victims (58%) than males and 89% were 3-11-yrs old. Of the 80 child casualties, only 20 were rescued.^[33]
Alyshia Berzyck, 3, female	June 3, 1989	Minnesota. Killed by a pet wolf on a chain.^[34]
17 prepubescent children	1986	Ashta, India.^[35]
Unidentified woman	June 29, 1982	Near City of Dubrovna. Bitten to death on the face, arms and legs by a rabid wolf.^[4]
13 children, aged 4-10 years	February-August 1981	Hazaribagh in the eastern Indian district of Bihar. Known as the Wolves of Hazaribagh.
Child, 2, male	1981	Ft. Wayne, Michigan. Lone wolf kept as a pet.^[34]
Elderly woman	Late August, 1979	Death occurred in Sinezerka.^[4]
Unknown child	1978	Wheatland, Wyoming. Lone wolf kept as a pet.^[34]
B. Mashakova	March 30, 1972	Chelkarskij region, Kazakhstan. Rabid wolf.^[4]
4 children	1957-74	Spain.^[36]
Vitali Ushtinov, 5 years old	July 11th 1952	1 km from Village of Karmanov. Vitali was attacked whilst picking berries and dragged into the forest.^[4]
10 year old girl	April 29th 1951	Near the village of Tarasovok, Orichevskij region. The girl was killed by a wolf whilst bathing in a creek with a friend.^[4]
1 boy and 3 girls aged 3-6 years	July-August, 1950	Lebyazhskij region.^[4]
Svetlana Tueva	November 17, 1948	Unspecified Soviet province. Svetlana was attacked by 5 wolves when she and her friends were walking home from school. The wolves dragged her a kilometre into the forest. All that was found was an overcoat.^[4]
9 children aged 7-12 years	July-August 1948	Darovskij region.^[4]
Veniamina Fokina, 13 years old	1947	Village of Rusanov, Khalturinskij region.^[4]
Anna Mikheeva, 16 years old	1947	Village of Chernyabevij, Khalturinskij Region. Wolves attacked Anna and her mother, killing the former and dragging her into a forest. She was found partially eaten and with a broken neck.^[4]
Pimma Molchanova, 5 years old	May 8, 1945	Village of Shilyavo, kirovskaya oblast. Pimma was washing goloshas in a stream with a 7 year old friend. A wolf caught Pimma and her friend’s screaming alerted the villagers. Her body was found 500 metres away. The wolf had bitten through her throat and eaten her thigh muscles.^[4]
Maria Berdnikovu, 17 years old	29th April 1945	Village of Golodaevshchina, kirovskaya oblast. Maria and her sister were working 50 meters from a cattle yard. The wolf grabbed her by the throat and carried her off, followed by peasants. The wolf scaled a 1 meter fence and dropped its victim 200 meters into the forest.^[4]
36 children	1944-63	Kirov region, Russia.^[36]
Maria Polyakova, 16 years old	November 19, 1944	B. Ramenskij, kirovskaya oblast. Two wolves killed her whilst on the way to work.^[4]
Musinovu Tamaru, 14 years old	November 12, 1944	kirovskaya oblast. Nine wolves involved.^[4]
Perfilova, 8 years old	November 6, 1944	kirovskaya oblast. Killed and eaten by a wolf pack on the road to a collective farm.^[4]
Valya Starikova, 13 years old	Septmember 21, 1944	Village of Goldaevshchina, kirovskaya oblast. The wolf carried her into a forest. Only pieces of her shoes were found.^[4]
5 children	1937	Poland.^[36]
95 people	1926	Districts of Bareilly and Pilibhit, United Provinces, India.^[15]
10 people	1924	Kirov. Perpetrators were two rabid wolves.^[4]
Trapper and two Indians	1922	Ontario. Trapper did not return to the post office as promised, so two Indians were sent to find him. All three were killed by wolves.^[18]
Ben Cochrum	April, 1922	Ontario. Fisher river on Lake Winnipeg. The victims bones were found on April 17th among the remains of 11 wolves. Seven had been shot and four had been clubbed to death. Only when his rifle stock smashed did the trapper cease to fight and succumb to the wolf pack.^[37]
James Smith	March 4, 1910	Waterloo, Iowa. Wolves attacked him whilst he was alone in a wood, waiting for the return of a brother. When the latter returned he found his brother's bones. In the center of a circle of five dead wolves, was an empty repeating rifle, showing that he had been overpowered before be could reload the weapon.^[37]

[edit] 1800s

Name, age, gender	Date	Location, Comments
203 people	1889	European sector of Russian Empire^[38]
Father and son, family name; Olson	March 7, 1888	New Rockford, North Dakota. The two men started to a haystack a few yards from the house to shovel a path around the stack when they were surrounded by a pack and devoured alive.^[34]
1445 people	1870-1887	European sector of Russian Empire.^[4]
35 children	1879-1882	Turku, Southwest Finland. Pair of wolves involved. In January 1882 a female wolf was shot and 12 days later a male wolf was poisoned, bringing the attacks to an end.^[20]^[38]
Boy	1882	Sortavala, Karelia.^[20]
7 year old girl	28 December, 1880	Akershus county, Southern Norway.^[20]
8 year old boy	1880	Uusikirkko, Karelia.^[20]
624 people	1878	British India^[35]
9 children	1877	Tampere, Southwest Finland. More than one wolf involved.^[20]
721 people	1875	North-Western Province and Bihar State, British India.^[39]
161 people	1871	Imperial Russia. The document stating this however, was produced in 1890.^[1]
12 year old girl	1859	Eurajoki, Southwest Finland.^[20]
14 people	1851	Lorges Forest, France. A rabid wolf ran amok for 45 kilometres (28 miles) in seven hours, through nine villages, biting 41 people of whom 14 subsequently died of rabies. The wolf also bit nearly 100 animals and many presumably died from rabies too.^[19]
266 adults, 110 children	1849-1851	European sector of Russian Empire.^[4]
20 children, one adult	1839-1850	Karelia. Unknown number of wolves.^[20]
3 children	1836	Kemiö, Southwest Finland. More than one wolf involved.^[20]
13 people	July 1833	Green River, western Wyoming, perpetrated by a rabid white wolf.^[8]
8 children, 1 woman	January 1831, Summer 1832	Karelia. Thought to have been a single animal.^[20]
Unknown African American, male	1830	Kentucky, near the Ohio border. While traveling through a heavily forested area, two African Americans were attacked by a pack of wolves. Using their axes, they attempted to fight off the wolves. Both men were knocked to the ground and severely wounded. One man was killed. The other dropped his axe and escaped up a tree. There he spent the night. The next morning the man climbed down from the tree. The bones of his friend lay scattered on the snow. Three wolves lay dead.^[34]
Eskimo woman	1829	Strangled by a wolf as her husband rushed to her assistance.^[18]
Aleksei Moiseev, 8 years old	1823	Village of Alakurskij. Aleksei went outside his village with some friends and was attacked by a lone wolf. Peasants intervened too late.^[4]
Petr Pitka, 3 years old	May, 1823	Village of Bolshie, Tuganitsy. The boy left his hut with his sister at dinner time. His four year old sister returned home, saying that her brother had been carried off by a wolf. His remains were discovered on June 2nd, in a haymaking field outside the village.^[4]
11 children, 1 woman	1820-1821	Gysinge, Sweden. Thought to be due to an escaped captive wolf.^[36]
11 children between 3.5-15 years of age and one 19 year old woman	30 December, 1820, 27 March 1821	Border between Dalarna and Gastrickland. The wolf was said to have been captured as a pup and raised in captivity for 3–4 years before escaping prior to the attacks^[20]
111 people	1804-1853	Non rabid wolves killed 111 people in Estonia, of which 108 were children, 2 were men and 1 woman.^[4]
6 year old girl	1800	Norway^[36]

[edit] 1700s

Name, age, gender	Date	Location, Comments
Sick Native Americans	1770	Wolves entered Indian camps to eat corpses of smallpox victims. They also attacked and killed the sick.^[18]
Ninety-nine people	1763-1767	Gévaudan, Auvergne, Languedoc; France. Beast of Gévaudan and whelps.^[40]
Four people	January, 1765	Soissons northeast of Paris. Known as the Wolf of Soissons.^[40]
Nils Nisson, 8, male	January, 1763	Hova Parish, Vastergotland County, Sweden. Lone wolf.^[20]
Farmer named Shōzaemon	February 1762	Japan. Killed a rabid wolf in self defence, but died 2 months later from the disease.^[14]
8 people	1750	Yuatsumi village, Japan. Perpetrators were 3 rabid wolves.^[14]
Borta Johansdotter, 12, female	3 August, 1731	Steneby parish, Dalsland County, Sweden.^[20]
Jon Ersson, 9, male	6 January, 1728	Boda Parish, Varmland County, Sweden. Probably killed by same wolf as below.^[20]
Jon Svensson, 4.5, male	17 December, 1727	Boda Parish, Varmland County, Sweden. Mauled and partially eaten by lone wolf.^[20]

[edit] Pre-1700s

Name, age, gender	Date	Location, Comments
Forty people	Winter, 1450	Paris, France. Known as the Wolves of Paris.^[40]
3 women	957	Gakkan', Hokucho, Japan^[14]
1 person	886	Kamo Shrine, Japan^[14]
13 year old child	851	Japan. The attack occurred within the house of a Shinto priest^[14]

[edit] Gallery

A 16th century engraving depicting a wolf attack from Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg's Die Emeis (1516)	Man attacked by a wolf on a highway, 16th century print	Wolf devouring woman, 18th century print	Woman defending herself from the Beast of Gévaudan, 18th century print
Late 18th century depiction of the Beast of Gévaudan		18th century print