Wolves Killing People
4. The McNay Report
Background
A wolf attack on a child in Alaska in 2000 prompted stormy arguments there about the danger posed by wolves. Yet there was no comprehensive research in Alaska on wolf aggression. These two facts prompted McNay (2002) systematically to amassed a catalogue of wolf-human encounters from 1900 in Alaska and Canada. He also included Minnesota, where almost all wolves in the lower 48 states live.
McNay's aim was to understand non-rabid wolf attacks and close encounters with people (ie predatory and defensive attacks) and ultimately to enable better management of these situations.
To get his data McNay phoned or emailed relevant local authorities across the continent for contacts knowledgeable about wolf-human incidents. By following a network of leads he was able to pin down people with first hand information and dig up reports and articles.
Ice Bay
The incident which prompted McNay to start his research, and one of the most serious incidents of wolf attack in North America, is the attack at Ice Bay, Alaska.
On a spring day two boys aged six and nine were playing behind their school at an isolated logging camp. A wolf approached them from out of the forest, growling and baring his teeth. The boys turned and ran but one stumbled and was bitten many times by the wolf. Just then helpers arrived throwing rocks at the wolf and yelling. The wolf attempted to pick up the fallen boy and drag him to the forest but dropped him. A Labrador dog got between the two of them and the wolf withdrew. A few minutes later one of the boy's fathers went into the forest, flushed the wolf from cover and shot him.
The wolf was a five year old male, in good health, who had been radio-collared 160 kilometres (100 miles) away four years earlier. He had been seen around the camp the previous year but withdrew when anyone went near him. The wolf was seen a few days before the attack within the camp, seemed less afraid of people, but had never been aggressive to anyone. The boy recovered in hospital.
Two other incidents from the McNay Report, the alarming Vargas Island incident and the harmless case of Stuart Jansson, a Manitoba trapper, are recounted on the next page: Explaining Wolf Attacks.
Results & Conclusions
McNay traced and investigated eighty wolf encounters across the continent. (A few of these were wolves trapped or darted for research and some wolves had rabies.) Even so, wolves wounded people in only sixteen cases. No wounds were life-threatening but they were severe in six cases.
Although not exhaustive, McNay's research is an indication of the number of at least traceable predatory wolf attacks and close encounters with people during the 20th century in North America. Moreover, by detailing the circumstances of each attack, the Report can lead to a better understanding of predatory attacks and their management.
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