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

by johnchristopher 7y ago

zatertip 7y ago
General principle. We're the top of the food chain. Bad policy to let other species get ideas.
tdb7893 7y ago
My guess is that if it attacked someone once it might try again, at least that's the theory with dogs who attack people
- jdm2212 7y ago
  With lions, there's something similar IIRC. Once they realize how easy humans are to kill, they won't eat anything else.
  - GuiA 7y ago
    This sounds like an exaggerated claim, although it’s hard to search for this and get any meaningful results proving it or disproving it. If it were to happen with humans, you could expect it to happen with other species. Does a lion who taste (say) another lion get similarly hooked on lion flesh? If not, what would be special about human flesh? Some suggest that animals hunting humans would likely do so because they’re older/injured animals who have a harder time catching their natural prey.
    - AdrianB1 7y ago
      Why would a lion try to eat another lion if humans are so easy to hunt? And how would a lion taste another lion? Killing cubs? It happens, but the lioness is putting a strong fight, it is easier to eat humans.
      - the_af 7y ago
        Male lions kill cubs as part of their natural lifecycle. When a new male lion takes over a pride, by killing or driving away the former leader, it will kill all cubs. I don't think lionesses are very successful at preventing this. From Wikipedia (article: Lion): "When one or more new males oust the previous males associated with a pride, the victors often kill any existing young cubs, perhaps because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die. Females often fiercely defend their cubs from a usurping male but are rarely successful unless a group of three or four mothers within a pride join forces against the male." What you say is true however: lions won't select other adult lions as their prey, for obvious reasons.
        AdrianB1 7y ago
        So it is not for eating, like suggested before. Thank you for the confirmation.
    - greenhatman 7y ago
      It's about how easy it is. In some parts of Africa you do get Lions that prey on humans. If Lions who attack humans always get killed, only the ones that don't survives and reproduces.
      - GuiA 7y ago
        That initial line of reasoning makes sense, but then it becomes another argument. If it's about opportunity (makes sense, catching a human does seem easier than an antelope) rather than anything intrinsic to human flesh, then why would killing them so that they don't reproduce matter? "Opportunity" does not get transmitted genetically.
        the_af 7y ago
        I think the actual argument is about learned behavior, not genetics. Lions who realize humans are easy prey will eat nothing else. So you must get rid of the lion somehow, and killing it is the easiest way. Otherwise the same lion will hunt humans again.
    - the_af 7y ago
      > If it were to happen with humans, you could expect it to happen with other species. Predators often select the weak within their natural prey, such as the young or the old. So it does happen with other species. > Does a lion who taste (say) another lion get similarly hooked on lion flesh? Lions won't select other lions as prey because lions are notoriously dangerous game. Unarmed humans are very easy targets, however. That's the "hook".
eloff 7y ago
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 7y ago
  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.
logfromblammo 7y ago
Three reasons: 1. Humans are dangerous prey (eventually). The attack means the wolf was desperate enough to risk its life on a big gamble in order to eat. It was probably hoping to grab one of the kids and get away with him before one of the parents killed it. Even though the attack was unsuccessful, a desperate animal will do otherwise stupid things to survive. Even if it didn't attack another human, it would certainly go deep into human territory and try for livestock. 2. A humane cull of an unfit, packless individual is better than leaving it to die from a starvation spiral. 3. A necropsy would provide useful data on the health of the local pack.
pvaldes 7y ago
To capture it was the right thing; is necessary to discarding Rabies. To kill it was a possibility, but not the only, having in mind that there was not humans killed or irreversibly damaged in this case. Wolves could learn that humans are food, but can learn also that humans are help, and they are grateful for life in this case. The dog and the wolf is the same animal, and is one of the animals that we humans understand best psychologically. When people repeat that a wolf that attacked an human once will became a serial killer, forget that attacks can be triggered for many reasons and that dogs can learn from its mistakes also. There was not kill in this case, so if the wolf learned something is that humans team and are not easy to kill, not the opposite. It was an elder and disperate animal, probably without a supporting pack and with months, maybe a couple years of life at best. Maybe would had deserved a second opportunity. Could had been a good candidate for a wolf sanctuary and end this days in captivity perfectly.

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

zatertip 7y ago

General principle. We're the top of the food chain. Bad policy to let other species get ideas.

tdb7893 7y ago

My guess is that if it attacked someone once it might try again, at least that's the theory with dogs who attack people

jdm2212 7y ago
With lions, there's something similar IIRC. Once they realize how easy humans are to kill, they won't eat anything else.
- GuiA 7y ago
  This sounds like an exaggerated claim, although it’s hard to search for this and get any meaningful results proving it or disproving it. If it were to happen with humans, you could expect it to happen with other species. Does a lion who taste (say) another lion get similarly hooked on lion flesh? If not, what would be special about human flesh? Some suggest that animals hunting humans would likely do so because they’re older/injured animals who have a harder time catching their natural prey.
  - AdrianB1 7y ago
    Why would a lion try to eat another lion if humans are so easy to hunt? And how would a lion taste another lion? Killing cubs? It happens, but the lioness is putting a strong fight, it is easier to eat humans.
    - the_af 7y ago
      Male lions kill cubs as part of their natural lifecycle. When a new male lion takes over a pride, by killing or driving away the former leader, it will kill all cubs. I don't think lionesses are very successful at preventing this. From Wikipedia (article: Lion): "When one or more new males oust the previous males associated with a pride, the victors often kill any existing young cubs, perhaps because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die. Females often fiercely defend their cubs from a usurping male but are rarely successful unless a group of three or four mothers within a pride join forces against the male." What you say is true however: lions won't select other adult lions as their prey, for obvious reasons.
      - AdrianB1 7y ago
        So it is not for eating, like suggested before. Thank you for the confirmation.
  - greenhatman 7y ago
    It's about how easy it is. In some parts of Africa you do get Lions that prey on humans. If Lions who attack humans always get killed, only the ones that don't survives and reproduces.
    - GuiA 7y ago
      That initial line of reasoning makes sense, but then it becomes another argument. If it's about opportunity (makes sense, catching a human does seem easier than an antelope) rather than anything intrinsic to human flesh, then why would killing them so that they don't reproduce matter? "Opportunity" does not get transmitted genetically.
      - the_af 7y ago
        I think the actual argument is about learned behavior, not genetics. Lions who realize humans are easy prey will eat nothing else. So you must get rid of the lion somehow, and killing it is the easiest way. Otherwise the same lion will hunt humans again.
  - the_af 7y ago
    > If it were to happen with humans, you could expect it to happen with other species. Predators often select the weak within their natural prey, such as the young or the old. So it does happen with other species. > Does a lion who taste (say) another lion get similarly hooked on lion flesh? Lions won't select other lions as prey because lions are notoriously dangerous game. Unarmed humans are very easy targets, however. That's the "hook".

eloff 7y ago

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 7y ago
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.

logfromblammo 7y ago

Three reasons: 1. Humans are dangerous prey (eventually). The attack means the wolf was desperate enough to risk its life on a big gamble in order to eat. It was probably hoping to grab one of the kids and get away with him before one of the parents killed it. Even though the attack was unsuccessful, a desperate animal will do otherwise stupid things to survive. Even if it didn't attack another human, it would certainly go deep into human territory and try for livestock. 2. A humane cull of an unfit, packless individual is better than leaving it to die from a starvation spiral. 3. A necropsy would provide useful data on the health of the local pack.

pvaldes 7y ago

To capture it was the right thing; is necessary to discarding Rabies. To kill it was a possibility, but not the only, having in mind that there was not humans killed or irreversibly damaged in this case. Wolves could learn that humans are food, but can learn also that humans are help, and they are grateful for life in this case. The dog and the wolf is the same animal, and is one of the animals that we humans understand best psychologically. When people repeat that a wolf that attacked an human once will became a serial killer, forget that attacks can be triggered for many reasons and that dogs can learn from its mistakes also. There was not kill in this case, so if the wolf learned something is that humans team and are not easy to kill, not the opposite. It was an elder and disperate animal, probably without a supporting pack and with months, maybe a couple years of life at best. Maybe would had deserved a second opportunity. Could had been a good candidate for a wolf sanctuary and end this days in captivity perfectly.