Posted on 11/16/2002 5:20:31 AM PST by Straight Vermonter
SWANTON Tim Kougias has a mystery on his hands, and he knows it may remain unsolved, but it has added a touch of excitement to his life nonetheless.
On Tuesday, the Swanton resident and his wife, Maria, had just returned from a lengthy trip to Greece, Tim's homeland. As they settled back into their Country Club Estates home, Tim set his video camera on the kitchen counter.
"What is that?" Maria asked suddenly, pointing to the edge of their backyard, which straddles a wooded area.
Roaming along that border was a dog, or so Tim thought, until he noticed it was abnormally large, gray with a rusty tint and collar-less.
"It was big and huge," he recalled yesterday. "I knew it wasn't a dog, and I knew it wasn't a fox."
So Tim shot it.
With his video camera.
Tim's short footage is a bit shaky, but the animal can be seen clearly. As Tim's camera zooms in on the creature, it looks amazingly like a wolf.
Or a large coyote.
Or a wolf.
Or a large coyote.
"I don't know which one it is," Tim said.
When Tim's friend Joe Desrochers, of Swanton, saw the enigmatic footage, he told Kougias about the small pack of wolves experts say live in the Quebec wilderness, about 20 miles from the U.S. border on the south side of the St. Lawrence River.
Desrochers knew experts had predicted those wolves or their offspring will find their way to northern New England forests.
European settlers worked for centuries to eliminate wolves from the Northeastern U.S. and succeeded about a century ago. There has been debate about whether wolves should be reintroduced to the region, but the recent developments in Quebec could stop that argument.
Now another question remains: Did Tim Kougias photograph a wolf?
"When I saw Tim's film and remembered what I heard about in Quebec, I thought, 'This is weird timing,'" Desrochers said. "It looks like a wolf to me, but I'm no expert."
Residents from northeastern sections of the county, where coyotes are rampant, said yesterday they thought the animal looked like the coyotes they see roaming near their homes. Kougias and Desrochers hope to show the footage to a wildlife expert for a more educated guess.
In any event, the Kougiases have captured a gorgeous wild animal in a sliver of time.
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Contact Leon Thompson at 524-9771, ext. 112, or leon@samessenger.com
Nevertheless, there are some.
Here ya go--cut and paste that into your browser..
http://www.natureswolves.com/human/aws_wolfattacks.htm
They're extrememly dangerous, to America that is.
Enviros put these carnivores where they don't belong and then go about the process of bullying the surrounding communities off their property in order to give these animals "territory". All because suburban pipe-dreaming idiots and "backbackers" get all warm and fuzzy and decide to play God. Meanwhile the elitists among us are using them as a tool to further their agenda.
Most re-intoduced wolves aren't even the natural species. They're hybrids that lose their fear of humans during the "re-introduction" and other interaction.
They and other unatural predators (like the cross-bred inbred "Florida Panthers) are some of the most dangerous creatures on earth. I know this first hand.
My suggestion is if you see one these creatures anywhere near where you live, rid your area of them by any means necessary. Or suffer the consequences.
Those inbred Florida Panthers are doing a good job of killing themselves, whether through fighting or by getting hit by cars on the Tamiami Trail or Alligator Alley.
In all honesty, the most dangerous animal in Florida is the "endangered" American Crocodile. Currently, the tend to hang around the southern part (Flamingo) of Everglades National Park. I only hope that they don't reproduce enough to start moving elsewhere along the coast.
They won't. They have to have the consistant climate in the south and they (unlike gators) thrive in salt water. Salt water turns a gators brains into mush after a while.
Leave the gun, take the Canoles.
I just wrote Field & Stream asking for a compilation of Corey Ford's Lower Forty. They could probably put every issue of the magazine ever printed on a CD.
Do you not care that wolves DO attack humans? Here's one account, recent. There are others.
http://www.paragonpowerhouse.org/camper_wakes_up_as_wolf_attacks.htm
Camper wakes up as wolf attacks
by The Associated Press VICTORIA, B.C. - A 23-year-old man is recovering in Victoria General Hospital after an extremely rare wolf attack on a human. Scott Langevin, 23, required 50 stitches to close a wound on his head. A third of his scalp was shaved to allow for a crisscross of gashes to be treated.
The wolf also bit Langevin on his left forefinger. The University of Victoria student said he was asleep early Sunday morning outside his tent on Vargas Island near Tofino when he was awakened by something tugging at the foot of his sleeping bag.
He told a local television station he awoke to find a dark-colored wolf.
"I yelled to try to spook it off, and I kicked at it," Langevin said.
"It backed up a bit, but then it just lunged on top of me, and it started biting away through my sleeping bag."
Langevin said he rolled over in an attempt to get the campfire between him and the wolf, but the animal jumped on his back and began biting his head. He said he yelled to attract the attention of the rest of his camping buddies, members of a kayaking excursion.
Boaters Dave Leblanc and Doug Leys responded to the call about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Langevin was losing blood quickly but was conscious when he was loaded aboard the boat. He was eventually airlifted to Victoria.
Wolf attacks on humans are extremely rare, said Bill Woodhouse, a recreation officer with British Columbia Parks.
"There has never been a wolf attack in a park," Woodhouse said. "Wolves normally stay away from man."
Conservation officers tracked and killed two wolves in the area yesterday.
Posted: 7/06/2000
That's not what I said or implied. I'm opposed to the re-introduction of wolves to areas within the US where they have been eliminated. They are ferocious predators and create threats to humans now occupying space where re-introduction is being carried out. Further, the wolves are provided excessive protection from being destroyed by people who are threatened.
Coyotes are another matter. They have extended their range way beyond their original boundaries and are very destructive to small game populations nationwide. In my area they are classified as a pest and can be hunted all year (other than during deer seasons.)
If the wolf is re-introduced then people should not be prevented from protecting themselves and their livestock from them. If protection of self and property is not part of the program then re-introduction of wolves becomes a part of the effort to push people off the land. Not acceptable.
I agree with your concern about wolf packs. There are other reports of attacks on humans but I haven't searched for wolf packs specifically.
Right there tells you why the Wolf attacked this guy. As any wildlife expert tells you, if a wild animal is approaching you, ie. bear, cougar, and other animals, play dead. Do not entice the animal. And that is what this guy did.
The wolf was just curious, and when he tried to kick it, that is what upset the Wolf, and made it attack.
If we try to kick a normal house dog, does it not become offensive, and try to attack us back?
This is just my opinion
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