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> Are wolves even a threat? Outside of movies theyre pretty harmless. Are you kidding? Humans often had a fear of wolves throughout history. And rightfully so.
by RetroTechie 4mo ago
> Are wolves even a threat? Outside of movies theyre pretty harmless.
Are you kidding? Humans often had a fear of wolves throughout history. And rightfully so.
But the reverse is also true. Hence wolves tend to stay away from people so encounters are rare. But where not, human-wolf close encounters can end deadly sometimes. Even for the humans (especially children).
- the_real_cher 4mo agoLooks like zero documented death by wolves in the entirety of the 20th century in the contiguous North America.
- danielvf 4mo ago1. Wolves were basically exterminated in the continental US for most of the 20th century 2. There were still deaths from wolf attacks in North America during that time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks_in_North_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks_in_North_...
- idiotsecant 4mo agoWhat are you talking about? There's tons of wolves in my county. They aren't 'basically exterminated' at all. And there's zero human attacks. Lots and lots of cow attacks though.
- stephenhuey 4mo agoYellowstone park rangers killed the last wolves there in 1926, and by the middle of the 20th century, the total population in the Lower 48 had been reduced to a few hundred in Minnesota and Michigan. https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/wolf-management.htm https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/wolf-managemen... This map shows how now there are nearly 7,000 in the contiguous states of the USA: https://nywolf.org/learn/u-s-wolf-populations/ https://nywolf.org/learn/u-s-wolf-populations/
- hcfman 4mo agoIf I recall correctly, Yellowstone national park has around 8 wolf packs. Whereas the Netherlands 14. That's pretty absurd! Looking the other way for a really long time results in crazy situations.
- peterashford 4mo agoWikipedia suggests hundreds of deaths in various regions around the world - more common in the past, which suggests, I think, more wolves = more deaths.
- RetroTechie 4mo agoSeems like you didn't read the Wikipedia article: "The country with the most extensive historical record is France, where nearly 10,000 fatal attacks were documented from 1200 to 1920.[1][2][3] A study by the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research showed that there were eight fatal attacks in Europe and Russia, three in North America, and more than 200 in south Asia in the half-century up to 2002.[4] The updated edition of the study revealed 498 attacks on humans worldwide for the years 2002 to 2020, with 25 deaths, including 14 attributed to rabies." As another commenter noted, this is most likely due to wolf populations decimated by hunting and/or habitat destruction. In North America, those numbers make sense as eg. US is relatively sparsely populated compared to other developed countries. And most wolves will reside in areas less-populated still, and/or national parks. So encounters are rare. US != rest of world. So it's in same order of shark attacks. Which is not how most humans die. Personally I'm not scared of wolves. Maybe throw some stones at one if encounted, to keep it wary of humans. Rather than try & be friendly, and have it attack a child later on. But don't be naive about them. They're among the biggest canines, and not used to / bred to be human-friendly. Give them space.