Posted on 06/06/2005 6:47:41 PM PDT by yooper
"Its only a matter of time before all of the Dachshunds are gone and a toddler is snatched."
Oh what wonderfully incisive logic.
Poor little guy!
Wolves are documented as having attacked humans in Europe quite frequently. There is a claim that wolves have never attacked humans in North America. This could be attributed to the fact that Indians didn't keep written records and that the white men that first came west didn't either.
Do you really think that a predator the size of a wolf won't attack humans? coyotes are wolves, just a smaller version and they have been known to attack humans especially children. This is well documented and if you want to do a bit of research on it feel free.
Dogs, a close relative of the wolf and coyote attack humans daily, so what makes you think the wolf won't? Are they some how endowed with a special sense that allows them to determine that humans are not attackable, do they have a "Oh, well they are human I can't attack them!" attitude?
Anyone that thinks wolfs won't attack humans, especially children when they get hungry enough simply have been brain washed by the Bambi syndrome.
BTW if it was your dog you might not be so flippant about it being eaten. Also, you might want to ask the ranchers in Wyoming about all the cattle the wonderful Yellowstone wolves kill every year and mouth off to them about how it is only a few freaking cows and what's the big deal? I am sure they will tell you why it is a big deal.
The logic is inescapable to anyone versed in logic.
To my knowlege no documented wolf attack on a human exists, but as I said in my post, until very recently wolves were shot on sight. Being a smart animal, they reacted logically and ran away from humans the minute they spotted humans. That was the status quo since humans began recording history; wolf kills Farmer's chicken, Farmer reacts with deadly force. Wolf reacts by running away from Farmer trying to kill wolf.
Today the equation has changed. Wolf kills chicken, no response from Farmer who doesn't want to tangle with the MDNR. The result? Wolf is not afraid anymore and snatches Dachshund from a backyard in which small children also play.
The first key question here is why the wolf did what it did, and the answer is simple. It is a wolf. It was hungry.
The second key question is whether or not a hungry wolf can discern between a dachshund and a small child. I maintain that it cannot, and being a carnivore, a wolf attack on a small child is imminent. Bears are also carnivores, and bear attacks on humans are well documented.
Why anyone would apply logic to the possibility of a carnivore attacking someone made out of meat, and coming to the conclusion that the carnivore wouldn't do so, exhibits a total lack of logic and critical thinking skills.
Yeah ... let your toddler out in the back yard after midnight and zaa-zoom they're gone ... while an evil wolf with a glint in his/her eye smacks their lips in the wood line nearby. What we have here is the next episode of 'JAWS' ...
They were probably looking for the dogs electronic collar ... after all ... at this point, we're talking money.
You haven't read the book on wolves.
According to authorities there has never been a documented case of a wolf attacking a human in the US.
/sarc
I really enjoy reading your accounts of "real" nature analysis. I have a cousin in N. Ft. Myers that I intend to visit soon and if it is not too far from where you are located, I'd love to drop by and see your area.
To a wolf, they do. When I first read this I assumed it to be mistaken ID for a big domestic dog (esp. the remark about it looking like a oversize shepherd.) as a stray or feral domestic will tend to be a lot bolder around people. Wolf packs will (normally) avoid large groups of humans or even signs of human activity. The classic "lone wolf," that either operates on the outside edges of his pack's territory, or has completely been exiled from it, can be entirely unpredictable without the enforcement of pack rules to define his behavior.
Some of the problem is this..
The remains of a person is found. What killed him/her? Bear ? wolverine? Did a wolf actually kill the victim or just feed on the kill?
The 'authorities' can't or won't attribute the kill to a wolf. Hence, no documented case.
Dear Yooper
There is a well published case of a wolf grabbing a sleeping child by the face and trying to drag it out of the tent. The boy's father managed to get the wolf to release the boy and leave.
But the boy was a major surgical challenge.
That case was in Readers Digest, so no AgencyPerson has any excuse to claim they "didn't know". All they had to do was take their face out of the Enquirer for a monent or two.
Or stop drooling over the cover girls on the mags and take a moment to acquire some hard data.
Next time anyone sees something like that "no wolf attacks on humans" like what Disney had on screen at the end of Dances With Wolves, just remember that Disney brought us Bambi, the fire, and generations of fire management ala Disney. Think Yellowstone fire. Think Disney's Bambi legacy.
Think HollyWeird BS!
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