Wolves Killing People
3a. Categories Of Attack
The Linnell Report identified three kinds of wolf attack: rabid, predatory and defensive.
1. Rabid Attacks
Rabies is a viral infection of the central nervous system and is fatal when established in a victim. The virus spreads when a carrier of the virus bites an uninfected animal. The virus is passed via the saliva of the carrier into the bite wound of the victim and makes its way to the brain.
Rabies Carriers
Rabies used to be widespread throughout Europe and domestic dogs were the most important carriers of the disease. But better dog control and vaccination in the 20th century made dogs virtually harmless. However, in India and other Third World countries domestic dogs are still the primary source of infection.
The most important carrier of rabies in Europe today is the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Owing to extensive use of vaccines to inoculate fox populations, the disease is now receding eastwards. Consequently the number of cases of rabies in Europe has greatly diminished. In parts of the US, important carriers of rabies are the skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and the racoon (Procyon lotor).
Lorges Forest Rabid Attack
A dramatic example of a well documented attack by a rabid wolf was recorded in Lorges Forest, France in 1851 (de Beaufort 1988). A rabid wolf run amok for 45 kilometres (28 miles) in seven hours, through nine villages, biting 41 people of whom 14 subsequently died of rabies. The wolf also bit nearly 100 animals and many presumably died from rabies too.
The Lorges Forest wolf attack is typical of many accounts of rabid wolf attacks in Eurasia, whereby a lone wolf rampages for several kilometres biting many people and animals on the way.
Rabies Victims
A storming rabid wolf, like the one in Lorges Forest, very soon becomes paralysed and dies, if not shot first.
Casualties of bite attacks can be treated successfully nowadays by inoculation with anti-rabies serum, provided the spread of the disease through the body is caught sufficiently early. Nevertheless, rabies still kills between 40,000 and 70,000 people a year (WHO 2001), mainly in Third World countries, where access to treatment is difficult.
2. Predatory Attacks
Rabid attacks are shocking, but it is predatory attacks, when victims go missing and dismembered parts of bodies or ripped blood-covered garments are found, that especially shock and horrify people.
Rabid attacks are carried out by a lone wolf on just a single day. In contrast, predatory attacks are carried out by a lone wolf or by several at once in a pack. A rabid wolf will bite and run, but a predatory attack is pressed home and a victim may sustain several wounds. A rabid wolf never eats the victim, but in a predatory attack, if the victim is killed, the corpse may be eaten on the spot or removed to be fed on somewhere else. Predatory attacks may recur over a period in an area, for some years even, perhaps until the responsible wolf dies. See Table 3 below to compare different categories of attack.
Vimianzo Predatory Attack
The Gevaudan wolf case (outlined in Attacks On Humans) is the best know example of a predatory attack.
Another example is the Vimianzo episode in Spain (Linnell et al 2002:22). Six children were attacked over a period from 1957 to 1959 and two of them died. The attacks stopped after two wolves in the area were killed.
3. Defensive Attacks
A wolf may attack defensively if sufficiently provoked by someone. Defensive attacks can befall shepherds and hunters when they corner a wolf and try to kill him with sticks and rocks. Or they dig cubs out of a den and the adult wolves return to their offspring.
A shepherd in Leon, Spain, was digging into a wolf den in 1983 to get at the cubs when his two dogs cornered an adult female wolf. The shepherd tried to kill the wolf by throwing stones at her, but she leapt at him, bit his face and ran off (Linnell et al 2002:23).
Another kind of defensive attack is when a wolf goes right up to someone who is unaware of the wolf. If the person makes an unexpected sudden movement the wolf might bite in alarm before fleeing. A characteristic of defensive attacks is that they are not vigorously followed through by a wolf, who is quick to retreat or fairly easily driven off.
| Table 3. Summary Of Categories Of Wolf Attack | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rabid | Predatory | Defensive | ||||
| Style of Attack | bite & run | press home | bite & flee | |||
| Wolf's Intention | gone mad | eg wants food | wants to escape | |||
| Duration | single day | recurring over a period | single day | |||
| Cause | rabies virus | unthinking human behaviour | human provocation or wolf spooked | |||
| Outcome | wolf dies or is shot | wolf shot or escapes | wolf shot or escapes | |||
© Wolf Trust 2004. All rights reserved.