Wolves kill woman in Alaska

[Matthew Carberry]

Looks like the first documented wolf predation of a human by healthy wolves in Alaska, 2nd on the continent (Saskatchewan?).

When the Friends of Wolves advocate, Patricia Feral, would use the "wolves haven't killed a human" meme in arguing against hunting or trapping I always thought she was facing the same risk as death penalty supporters who claimed we hadn't killed an innocent person.

They not only left off the "yet" they also left off the "documented".

http://www.adn.com/2010/03/11/1179368/teacher-likely-killed-by-wolves.html

Her family is taking the tragedy well, not blaming the wolves for being wolves.

Lessons learned:

Patricia Feral is an obnoxious idiot

Don't run in predator zones without being armed

Don't wear iPod earbuds in unsecure areas, awareness is key

[Harold Tuttle]

THere was a young singer jumped & killed by coyotes in Canada last fall

http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2009/10/canadian_singer_attacked_by_co.html

[Matthew Carberry]

THere was a young singer jumped & killed by coyotes in Canada last fall

http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2009/10/canadian_singer_attacked_by_co.html

In most of the Lower 48 / Canada that had any amount of people all the wolves were killed off.  Coyotes, which better coexist with people, have been evolving into their niche.  I seem to recall reading that they are getting larger and rather than operating as discrete individuals are taking on pack behavior.

Can't stop nature.

[Perd Hapley]

Sarah Palin was right.   

[Iain]

I seem to recall reading that they are getting larger and rather than operating as discrete individuals are taking on pack behavior.

I thought that was a case of finding out that they operate in groups and always have done.

There is speculation that the size issue with coyotes is due to hybridisation with wolves, and that there is significant wolf heritage amongst the coyotes in the area that the woman was killed.

[Boomhauer]

The yotes down here operate in packs. Pretty creepy hearing them at night...

I wouldn't have a problem with them normally, but with 2 dogs and a cat outside, I worry about our (and our neighbor's) animals. Everybody takes a rifle with them when walking in the woods now.

[dogmush]

I grew up bumming around the bush of Alaska.  Animals that eat you are second nature to me.

I'm continually surprised wharn folks in FL seem confused that an alligator ate a cat/dog/person.  What did they think it was doing waiting close to the edge of the lake, Sunbathing?

Despite americans overwhelming need to "Protect Nature" there are many things in nature that can protect themselves just fine.  And without our nifty tools, we are not at the top of the food chain.

[Tallpine]

Friends of Wolves advocate, Patricia Feral,

What a fitting name ... 

[Regolith]

In most of the Lower 48 / Canada that had any amount of people all the wolves were killed off.  Coyotes, which better coexist with people, have been evolving into their niche.  I seem to recall reading that they are getting larger and rather than operating as discrete individuals are taking on pack behavior.

Can't stop nature.

Coyote behavior is fairly complex, actually.  They adapt their behavior depending on circumstances in order to keep their population numbers relatively stable.  It's why we were able to get rid of wolves, but haven't really made a dent in the coyote population.

This blog post has a fairly good explanation of what's going on.

[Jocassee]

I grew up bumming around the bush of Alaska.  Animals that eat you are second nature to me.

I'm continually surprised wharn folks in FL seem confused that an alligator ate a cat/dog/person.  What did they think it was doing waiting close to the edge of the lake, Sunbathing?

Despite americans overwhelming need to "Protect Nature" there are many things in nature that can protect themselves just fine.  And without our nifty tools, we are not at the top of the food chain.

The scuttlebutt I've always heard is that gators are fairly docile compared to, say crocs, mostly eating fish and stuff. I know bull gators can get aggressive so an attack on a person may not surprise me but actual ingestion would be a shocker. Cats and dogs not so much.

[stevelyn]

What a fitting name ... 

She purposely changed it to that.

That took place just right up the peninsula from me. What I (we) can't figure out is why weren't the locals putting pressure on them if they were seeing them routinely? It would be an easy $400 for each pelt if they were prepped properly. If nothing else they make nice couch covers.

You can't say "wolf" down this way without having a large convergence of trucks and 4-wheelers headed to the area they were seen. At night the mountain sides are lit up with the criss-crossing of beams from the high-powered and high-priced spotlights.   

[Stand_watie]

I thought that was a case of finding out that they operate in groups and always have done.

There is speculation that the size issue with coyotes is due to hybridisation with wolves, and that there is significant wolf heritage amongst the coyotes in the area that the woman was killed.

And hybridization with feral dogs. I don't know if there are any studies, but it's fairly intuitive that dogs able to crossbreed with coyotes (rather than being killed by them), are going to tend to be larger than coyotes.

[Iain]

Read a bit more on it last night. The hybridisation issue is an odd one. With coydogs you get predator behaviour and less fear of humans. With coywolves you get increased pack size, pack hunting (coyotes apparently hunt in pairs mostly) and increased animal size.

They did a study on the coyotes in the area where the woman was killed. Remember rightly they captured and tested 100 animals, 22 had wolf heritage and one was mostly wolf. Some reckon that the red wolf is a hybrid.

[Tallpine]

There are a lot of us here that think it is only a matter of time before a wolf kills a child in Montana.   

[KD5NRH]

Read a bit more on it last night. The hybridisation issue is an odd one. With coydogs you get predator behaviour and less fear of humans. With coywolves you get increased pack size, pack hunting (coyotes apparently hunt in pairs mostly) and increased animal size.

Hmmm...no wolf sightings around here until recently, but our 'yotes seem to hunt in medium packs, except for the loners.  I've only seen a pair hunting once, but have seen 5-10 together a few times.  Day hunters tend to be loners.

Personally, I like to ensure that if my body is ever found mauled by wild animals, they will immediately be able to identify the attack location by the empty speedloaders, and the animals by the bullet holes.