Unfortunate Tidings
Missing Pets
As such let's begin the study of historical wolf studies:
WOLF ATTACKS ON HUMANS
By T. R. Mader,
Research Director
It has been widely discussed whether a healthy wild wolf
has ever attacked a human on this continent. In fact, many say such attacks
have never occurred in North America.
History states otherwise. Although attacks on humans are
uncommon, they have occurred on this continent, both in the early years of
settlement and more recently. Here is one report:
“NEW ROCKFORD, DAK, March 7 - The news has just reached
here that a father and son, living several miles northeast of this city, were
destroyed by wolves yesterday. The two unfortunate men started to a haystack
some ten rods from the house to shovel a path around the stack when they were
surrounded by wolves and literally eaten alive. The horror-stricken mother was
standing at the window with a babe in her arms, a spectator to the terrible
death of her husband and son, but was unable to aid them. After they had
devoured every flesh from the bones of the men, the denizens of the forest attacked
the house, but retired to the hills in a short time. Investigation found
nothing but the bones of the husband and son. The family name was Olson. Wolves
are more numerous and dangerous now than ever before known in North Dakota." (Saint Paul Daily
Globe, March 8, 1888)
Here an account is reported which included an eyewitness
and the family name. Some have reasoned the wolves were rabid. That is unlikely
as these animals were functioning as a pack. A rabid wolf is a loner. Our
research has never found a single historical account of packs of rabid wolves
on this continent. Individual animals are the norm. Further, accounts of rabid
(hydrophobic) animals were common in that day and were reported as such.
The winters of 1886-1888 were very harsh. Many western
ranchers went broke during these years. The harsh winter could have been a
factor in the attack.
Noted naturalists documented wolf attacks on humans. John
James Audubon, of whom the Audubon Society is named, reported an attack
involving 2 Negroes. He records that the men were traveling through a part of Kentucky near the Ohio
border in winter. Due to the wild animals in the area the men carried axes on
their shoulders as a precaution. While traveling through a heavily forested
area, they were attacked by a pack of wolves. Using their axes, they attempted
to fight off the wolves. Both men were knocked to the ground and severely
wounded. One man was killed. The other dropped his axe and escaped up a
tree. There he spent the night. The next morning the man climbed down
from the tree. The bones of his friend lay scattered on the snow. Three wolves
lay dead. He gathered up the axes and returned home with the news of the event.
This incident occurred about 1830. (Audubon, J.J., and Bachman, J.; The
Quadrupeds of North America, 3 volumes. New
York, 1851 - 1854)
George Bird Grinnell investigated several reported wolf
attacks on humans. He dismissed many reports for lack of evidence. Grinnell did
verify one attack.
This occurrence was in northwestern Colorado. An eighteen-year-old girl went out
at dusk to bring in some milk cows. She saw a gray wolf on a hill as she went
out for the cows. She shouted at the wolf to scare it away and it did not move.
She then threw a stone at it to frighten it away. The animal snarled at her
shouting and attacked her when she threw the stone at it. The wolf grabbed the
girl by the shoulder, threw her to the ground and bit her severely on the arms
and legs. She screamed and her brother, who was nearby and armed with a gun,
responded to the scene of the attack and killed the wolf. The wolf was a
healthy young animal, barely full grown. Grinnell met this girl and examined
her. She carried several scars from the attack. This attack occurred in summer
about 1881. (Grinnell, G.B.; Trail and Campfire - Wolves and Wolf Nature,
New York, 1897)
In 1942, Michael Dusiak, section foreman for the Canadian
Pacific Railway, was attacked by a wolf while patrolling a section of track on
a speeder (small 4-wheeled open railroad car). Dusiak relates, "It happened
so fast and as it was still very dark, I thought an engine had hit me first.
After getting up from out of the snow very quickly, I saw the wolf which was
about fifty feet away from me and it was coming towards me, I grabbed the two
axes (tools on the speeder), one in each hand and hit the wolf as he jumped at
me right in the belly and in doing so lost one axe. Then the wolf started to
circle me and got so close to me at times that I hit him with the head of the
axe and it was only the wielding of the axe that kept him from me. All this
time he was growling and gnashing his teeth. Then he would stop circling me and
jump at me and I would hit him with the head of the axe. This happened five
times and he kept edging me closer to the woods which was about 70 feet away.
We fought this way for about fifteen minutes and I fought to stay out in the
open close to the track. I hit him quite often as he came at me very fast and
quick and I was trying to hit him a solid blow in the head for I knew if once
he got me down it would be my finish. Then in the course of the fight he got me
over onto the north side of the track and we fought there for about another ten
minutes. Then a west bound train came along travelling about thirty miles an
hour and stopped about half a train length west of us and backed up to where we
were fighting. The engineer, fireman and brakeman came off the engine armed
with picks and other tools, and killed the wolf."
It should be noted that this wolf was skinned and
inspected by an Investigator Crichton, a Conservation Officer. His assessment
was that the animal was a young healthy wolf in good condition although it
appeared lean. ("A Record of Timber Wolf Attacking a Man," JOURNAL
OF MAMMOLOGY, Vol. 28, No. 3, August 1947)
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