Understanding wolves
Six Injured In Rare Wolf Attack
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The Canadian Press
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com
The wolf, which has been blamed for several separate attacks Monday at the popular Katherine's Cove beach on Lake Superior was shot by park staff.
The wolf had a broken clavicle and tooth when it was shot following the attacks, which may explain its abnormal behaviour, said health unit inspector Bob Frattini.
"Wolves work in packs and not individually, and it was probably ostracized," Frattini said.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency plans to conduct further testing on the wolf's body to try and find other possible causes for the attacks, which left several families injured and badly shaken.
The attack on the Wright family occurred on Bathtub Island, a large rocky area within wading distance of the mainland and about 100 metres south of Katherine's Cove.
Brenda Wright, on a day trip with her sister-in-law, two children and their cousins, aged 10 and 13, said her family was probably attacked first. Park officials say they aren't sure about the order of the attacks.
Her son, Casey, 12, noticed a black, doglike animal running across the beach.
She said the animal nipped the ankle of her 13-year-old nephew, Jake, then clamped down on her son's buttock, carrying him about half a metre before dropping him and lunging at her.
The wolf's teeth tore into her hands and her leg as she fought back and the group raced into the shallow swimming area. Wright said the wolf followed them, this time going after Emily Travaglini-Wright, 14.
"(Emily) was a real fighter. . . She got mostly claws in her head and her arm," her mother said.
 | Emily Travaglini-Wright, 14, of Sault Ste. Marie, displays wounds she suffered while fighting off a wolf that attacked her and four other family members at Katherine's Cove beach in Lake Superior Provincial Park. Photo credit: Margaret Cameron-Mcqueen, the Canadian Press. http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/images/hs/hs1469793_1.jpg This article can be found at: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=
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Alerted by the screams, two strangers raced over and managed to scare off the wolf. As families hid in the trees, the wolf returned minutes later and rifled through their picnic stashes.
For Jerry and Rachel Talbot, it started at around 4 p.m. The Wawa, Ontario, couple, on their way to a wedding in Sudbury, with granddaughters Leah, 3, and Madison, 5, pulled off Highway 17 for a quick swim at a popular picnic area in Lake Superior Provincial Park.
According to park staff, more than a dozen others were enjoying the end of the Labour Day weekend at Katherine's Cove when the Talbot family wandered onto the beach and began to remove their shoes.
Jerry Talbot noticed a black animal chasing a girl across the sand. Too slow for the girl, the animal veered off and grabbed a slower, smaller target: Leah.
It clamped its jaws around the blond toddler's left upper arm and began dragging her away from her grandmother and sister.
The girl was dragged about six metres before the wolf dropped her on her back, startled by the shrieks of her grandparents and those who had jumped in to help.
Leah started to run, but she was in sand and she was in shock.
The wolf grabbed the hood of the little girl's black jacket. This time, Rachel Talbot's advances and screams caused the wolf to drop the girl momentarily and she lunged forward, scooped up the child and raced to her vehicle. Jerry Talbot and Madison were close behind.
The International Wolf Center is one of the premier sources of information on wolves. What follows are excerpts from wolf [FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions] found at: http://www.wolf.org/wolves/index.asp
* There are three species of wolves in the world: the gray wolf (Canis lupus), the red wolf (Canis rufus) and the Ethiopian (or Abyssinian) wolf, (Canis simensis). Some researchers believe the Ethiopian wolf is not a wolf, but actually a jackal.
* The gray wolf, Canis lupus, lives in the northern latitudes around the world.
* There are five subspecies of the gray wolf in North America and seven to 12 in Eurasia.
* Wolves usually live in packs which consist of the adult parents, referred to as the alpha pair, and their offspring of perhaps the last 2 or 3 years. * Pack size is highly variable because of birth of pups, dispersal, and mortality. Generally, a gray wolf pack has from six to eight wolves, but in Alaska and northwestern Canada some packs have over 30 members.
* Territory size is highly variable. Gray wolf territories in Minnesota range from about 25 to 150 square miles, while territories in Alaska and Canada can range from about 300 to 1,000 square miles.
* Wolves breed at slightly different times, depending on where they live. For example, gray wolves in the Great Lakes Region breed in February to March, while gray wolves in the Arctic may breed slightly later in March to April.
* The gestation period of gray and red wolves is usually around 63 days.
* Adult female gray wolves in northern Minnesota weigh between 50 and 85 pounds, and adult males between 70 and 110 pounds. Gray wolves are larger in the northwestern United States, Canada, and Alaska where adult males weigh 85 to 115 pounds and occasionally reach 130 pounds.
* The average length (tip of nose to tip of tail) of an adult female gray wolf is 4.5 to 6 feet; adult males average 5 to 6.5 feet. The average height (at the shoulder) of a gray wolf is 26 to 32 inches.
* Adult gray and red wolves have 42 teeth, while adult humans have 32.
* The massive molars and powerful jaws of a wolf are used to crush the bones of its prey. The biting capacity of a wolf is 1,500 pounds of pressure per square inch. The strength of a wolf's jaws makes it possible to bite through a moose femur in six to eight bites. In comparison, a German shepherd has a biting pressure of 750 pounds per square inch. A human has a much lower biting pressure of 300 pounds per square inch.
* Gray wolves prey primarily on large, hoofed mammals such as white-tailed deer, mule deer, moose, elk, caribou, bison, Dall sheep, musk oxen, and mountain goat and smaller mammals, such as beaver and the snowshoe hare.
Copyright 2006, The Hamilton Spectator.
Additional related reading/information:
Newspaper ponies up for victim of wolf attack
Globe and Mail, Canada - 16 hours ago
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada - A three-year-old girl, the youngest of six people attacked by a black wolf Monday near the Northern Ontario community of Wawa, has done what hundreds couldn't: extract $100 from the Sault Star. Lou Maulucci, publisher of the Sault Star, said yesterday he'll make good on an offer that ex-publisher James Curran made 81 years ago and pay $100 to Leah Morgan.
"This is to inform the public that the Sault Daily Star will pay $100 to the first person who can establish to the satisfaction of
the editor that any timber or brush wolf has attacked any person in Algoma," Mr. Curran had stated.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060908.NATSSB08/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/
Newspaper to pay girl injured in wolf attack 'sustained 10 wounds to her right arm as the wolf tried to drag her into the bush by the hood of her coat. Worse still were the 10 rabies shots the Marathon, Ontario, girl had to endure Tuesday before the wolf carcass tested negative. Not surprisingly, the little girl also has developed a fear of dogs. “She will not go near a dog
at this moment,” her mother said. “We're in the middle of construction right now and we have to park the car two houses
down where they have a big dog that looks like a wolf. And she won't even step outside the house if she knows we have
to go to the car. “We had to park further down.” Leah’s sister, five-year-old Madison, who watched the attack, also is
coping. “She’s traumatized, as well, of dogs,” her mother said. “They're both going through the same thing. She wasn't
injured, but she was emotionally injured.”' Fort Frances Times http://www.fftimes.com/index.php/3/2006-09-08/26974
Wolf Attack Victim Gets Money From The Sault Star Soonews.ca http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=8450
No rabies in wolf that attacked campers Globe and Mail Globe and Mail 'The Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Ottawa confirmed the negative result yesterday. In three separate incidents on Monday afternoon, the wolf attacked a family of six, a three-year-old girl, and a woman. The victims had all been at Lake Superior Provincial Park, north of Sault Ste. Marie. Six people were left with cuts, scratches, and puncture wounds. The wolf was shot dead by a park employee hours after the attacks. Officials say wolf attacks on humans are rare ..' http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060907.NATS07-4/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/
Wolf attacks beachgoers
News24, South Africa - 13 hours ago
Montreal - A black wolf sowed terror at a popular Canadian beach, attacking six people -- including four children -- before it was shot dead, an official with the Canadian province of Ontario said on Thursday. The victims at first believed the animal was a large black dog when it appeared in broad daylight on Monday and then attacked beachgoers along the shores of Lake Superior, Melanie Dufresne, spokesperson for the ministry of natural resources, told AFP. The victims were bitten in the arm, hands, ankles and head and were hospitalised but have since been released, she said. It took several terrifying minutes before the animal was finally chased from the beach. The incident occurred in a provincial park, only a few hundred metres from a main cross-country highway, where the animal was shot several hours later. The wolf, which weighed 33kg, did not have rabies and appeared to be healthy, said Brent Patterson, a wolf specialist at the ministry. The animal was most likely two to three years old and "was not starving," Patterson said. Wolf attacks on humans are considered extremely rare, he said. "There's never been any proven fatality in the wild in North America."
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1995403,00.html
Wolf that attacked 6 tests negative for rabies Globe and Mail 'The wolf had suffered a broken clavicle and tooth when
it was shot following the attacks...' Emily Wright, 14, was among the half-dozen people who were attacked by the wolf at the beach at Lake Superior Provincial Park. The little girl, who received about 15 stitches to her arm and more to her face and ear, fought off the wolf after it ripped into brother Casey's buttock and tore the hands and leg of her mother, Brenda. The following day, all six of those who were injured were forced to endure numerous needles -- a precaution against rabies.... Before it was shot, the wolf attacked another couple at the north end of the beach. Then it clamped its jaws around three-year-old Leah Talbot's left upper arm and began dragging her away from her grandmother and sister. Ministry of Natural Resources officials say no one has ever been killed by a wolf in North America, and instances in Canada in which wolves have bitten people are rare indeed. “Although there are high populations in Ontario, it's rare you do actually see a wolf,” said ministry spokesperson Melanie Dufresne. Some wolves become “habituated” to people through over-exposure, but it's a rare one who won't run at the sight or sound of a human, she said. “They're so fearful of humans.” In the event a wolf doesn't turn tail and run, Ms. Dufresne suggests standing one's ground and trying to scare it off. “Obviously, if it's not scared, make yourself known to be human, make noise,” she said. “You don't want to run. Slowly back away and take refuge in a car or cabin.” Wolves can't
climb trees, she added.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060906.wwolff0906/BNStory/National/home
Tests reveal attacking wolf did not have rabies London Free Press 'Victim Emily Wright, 14, needed stitches to her arm,
face and ear after fighting off the wolf after it injured her brother, Casey, and mother, Brenda.'
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2006/09/07/1810285-sun.html
Other very important related reading:
Northern miner 'heroic' (VERY IMPORTANT READ)
http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/2005/articles01/northern_miner.htm
Woman escapes after wolf pounces - Campground: Attacks on humans are unusual but not unprecedented
http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/2006/articles07/woman_escapes_after_wolf_pounces.htm
Manhunters: A killing in Canada puts an end to the myth that wolves won't harm humans (VERY IMPORTANT READ)
http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/2006/articles08/manhunters.htm
Wolves Thrive
http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/2005/articles12/wolves_thrive.htm
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