
Survivors of rare wolf attack recount how animal tried to drag man from tent - curtis
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/wolf-attack-rampart-creek-banff-1.5245105
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Dowwie
>>> The attack happened at the Ramparts Creek campground on the Icefields
Parkway north of Lake Louise, around 1 a.m. on August 9.

\- No cell phone coverage at Rampart Creek or at any campgrounds on the
Icefields Parkway

This is a much more primitive campground than those catering to a larger
population in Banff. Lake Louise campground is surrounded by an electrified
bear fence, and bear-proof bridge, and has staff patrol the area at night.

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johnchristopher
Why was it necessary to kill the wolf after ? To check for transmittable
diseases ?

~~~
eloff
Basically because an animal that has attacked humans once will do it again.
Plus it doesn't hurt to reinforce the idea that people aren't food by killing
off predators that think otherwise. For social animals, the others in the
group may learn there are consequences. On an evolutionary level, we cull any
genes that may make an animal more likely to consider humans as prey.

~~~
varenc
Relatedly, here's the case of the two "Tsavo Man-Eater" lions:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_Man-
Eaters](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_Man-Eaters)

It's estimated the pair killed 28-31 humans during a 9-month span in 1898.
Several theories suggest that the lions became accustomed to humans by first
eating the remains of the deceased before moving on to full out attacks on the
living.

Amazingly, recent research compared the Δ13C and Nitrogen-15 isotopic
signature of the lions with other references and mostly confirmed the above
estimate for the number of humans consumed.

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La-ang
You're in wolf territory, so what do you expect?

~~~
munificent
What a thoughtless comment.

Wolf attacks on humans are _incredibly_ rare. According to Wikipedia, there
have been only nine wolf attacks in North America in the past _hundred years_.
You are more likely to be struck by lightning _twice_ than you are to be
attacked by a wolf.

Saying people should expect wolf attacks simply because they are in a place
inhabited by wolves is like saying you should expect to be attacked by a whale
because you happen to be in the ocean.

~~~
vesinisa
Exactly. This comment is not even an exaggeration, wolf attacks on humans are
exceedingly rare. People fear wolves usually either out of ignorance or for
economical reasons (livestock).

~~~
willhslade
To be completely fair, weren't wolves aggressively eradicated and only
recently reintroduced in some areas of North America?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_distribution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_distribution)

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dsfyu404ed
And this is why you pack heat when you're
camping/hunting/fishing/hiking/whatevering in remote areas where carnivorous
animals large enough to eat humans are known to be. They might not do it often
but it's not rare enough to totally discount. If you have kids with you the
pool of animals that may consider you a food source is much lower. You can get
a HiPoint for like $100ish. That's cheaper than a lot of other gear.

~~~
briga
Millions of people get by just fine in the national parks without carrying any
firearms every year. Maybe carrying a tiny gun could help, but with a large
animal like a grizzly or a wolf it could just as easily escalate the
situation.

~~~
AdrianB1
Carrying a tiny gun is pointless, a .22LR handgun is practically useless
against a wolf (please, don't come with the 1 in a billion exception).

If millions of people get by just fine it does not mean you should never take
any precaution because "it will not happen to me either". With this mindset it
is better to carry some salt and pepper and prepare yourself to be tastier :)

~~~
uwagan
millions of poeple fly on airplanes too yet dont wear a parachute.

~~~
AdrianB1
But they have trained pilots and certified airplanes with redundant systems.
That means they take all the precautions possible.

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eitland
I've been pointing out for a while that animals that are fully capable of
hunting and eating reindeer and moose are also fully capable of hunting and
eating humans.

To which people answer that the wolf is afraid of humans.

AFAIK this misses the point as the reason why wolves shun people is because
they instinctively know we are going to hurt them.

i expect more attacks on people unless action is taken to keep wolves scared
of people. By that I don't necesarily mean kllling wolves but ratheruse pepper
spray, elctro shock etc etc.

~~~
dfsegoat
Recently listened to a hunting guide on a podcast talk about a run in with a
group of wolves:

They were somewhere in the Rockies and were being stalked by a pack. The alpha
held their attention fixed, while several other wolves flanked them on both
sides.

They ended up having to take a shot at the alpha and that broke off their
attack.

Good luck using pepper spray in that scenario.

~~~
eitland
Mark my use of the phrase "not necessarily" :-)

I guess I'm collecting downvotes from the other side of what I'm used to.
Normally in local debates people will immediately try to frame someone as
"kill all wolves" the moment one points out wolves are dangerous so that
phrase was a defense against that, but it goes the other way as well:

By all means: do shoot if you are surrounded by a pack!

And maybe electroshock won't work ever, in which case we'll need to come up
with something else.

My point is:

Wolves are dangerous but saying so doesn't mean I'm saying we should kill all
wolves.

