Animation Source Forums

I know I am going to get my head bitten off, but many of you say that "They eat only sick or dying", "No healthy wolf will kill any human or attack," and that stuff.. Well, The hunters kill them for a reason And they ARE eating off most of the caribou, not the "sick" or "dying/old" ones. It's just easier for them to catch if it's sick or dying/old. However, if they can get their paws on a healthy one, then they WILL, however eat them. As much as I love wolves.. I did my research and many people told me this.

I heared of wolves killing pregnant moose that were not able to escape or defend themselves. And they say older, sick, and young animals are just easier to catch as stated before. That doesn't mean that a wolf will just stick to that and ignore any healthy targets that become avalible.


People dealing with wolves must be careful not to run or show any weakness. Wolves do take advantage of those situations by instinct and may attack, and Also There was a woman who was recently attacked by a healthy wolf in Fairbanks because she saw it and ran.

Here is something someone said(If the person who wrote this is on here, then I hope you will not be mad if I posted it here),

"Interesting debate. Now there was a time when I vehemently opposed any wolf killing of any type merely because I have always admired and most likely romanticized them. Do not get me wrong, you will find few people as obsessed with wolves as I am, but through the years and my personal goal to become a wolf biologist I have learned much more and though my idealized image of the wolf may have been false I still respect and love the animal. Yet, that's exactly it. The wolf is an animal -- not only that, a wild animal. Wolves are opportunistic animals. They are not really what could be classified as friendly like a dog or a nice person. Wolves will kill whatever they can to eat. Sick, old, or young animals are usually just the easiest to catch. If a wolf or wolf pack could.. they'd gladly take the healthy beasts and they do when given the chance. Wolves have also been hunted throughout time... and guess which wolves were killed? The bold ones, the ones that weren't afraid of humans. When thinking about genetics in a broad sense, that basically means that the shy ones survived. Now that wolves are largely protected in the United States -- at the moment, and no, not in Alaska persay -- the bold "gene" is reappearing. Wolves can and probably will be a threat to humans if not controlled. While there aren't many recorded wolf attacks in North America that can't be explained by rabies or provocation, there are such records in Europe and Asia.

Now to get to my main point:
Wolf management, in a humane way, can be useful in three ways.
1. Wolves will be reminded that humans are dangerous.
2. Wolf populations that remain protected will often grow too large for the environment suitable for their survival. When this happens, that wolf populations has overreached its carrying capacity (outgrown the resources to put it simply), and wolves start to die. The environment fights back when a population grows too large and often in an unpleasant way. For instance, wolves in Minnesota have been dying of mange, a horrible disease. Being shot may just be a more humane way to die than a disease, eh?
3. If a wolf threatens a farmer's livestock or kills a beloved family pet, that wolf is often killed. You may oppose this, but frankly, if this law weren't in place.. MANY more wolves would be killed and hated.

Now, since I am positive a large part of this debate rests on the Alaskan methods of wolf management, I will now focus on that. People are currently allowed to shoot wolves from airplanes and basically just for sport. It is my personal opinion that this method is inappropriate and unfair. People that fear a large, controlling government may flinch as I say this, so bear with me, this is just an idea. I basically think it would be more proper for the government or a related agency to deal with populations that have grown out of control rather than people that would just like to kill a wolf for the fun of it or for the money. I will admit, that statement does show my personal bias and love toward wolves... but I will also state that I don't really agree with hunting for sport period.

I will also note here that from my research I haven't seen any proof that shows that deer or caribou populations have been wiped out by the return of the wolf. Decreased, yes, but environmental laws rule that if the prey fall too much... so will the wolf. Everything is balanced.

-- Now, I know I'm rambling. I probably could have ordered this in a more efficient manner, but more information keeps coming as I type and I'm too lazy to proofread and organize a post on a game.

Just food for thought. I'm always happy to talk about wolves and dispel myths.

-"

I'll not tell you the person who wrote this to me as in respect.

Now, I am a huge wolf fan, I love them, and would love to see one in real life (at the zoo).


- Bunny
Do feel free to post your thoughts. =D

Oh yes, I agree with that, I love wolves, they are my life but I know all too well how dangerous they can be when they want to.

I knew wolves would attack and kill a healthy adult human if thye saw one and they ran, even my pet dogs will chase someone if they runaway, it's a natural instinct to chase prey fleeing from them and wolves in larger numbers won't always go for the weak or old animals but go for the fitter ones instead for more meat.

That is exactly why rangers at safari parks and zoos always take a gun with them when they enter any predators enclosure and always two people, never alone, and if challenged by a wolf you must never ever show fear or weakness as they are less likely to attack a healthy human who challenges them but a gun is always helpful, one warning shot into the air should frighten them away.

Very informative topic here, hehe, I also would like to be a wolf expert.

I agree with you 100%. Yes, I love wolves, but they can be very dangerouse. Yes ive heard it too. I respect wolves and how they act. Although there has never been a record of a wolf killing a human on North America, *since i have checked* it is not impossable. Yes, you are correct and I agree with you . I am a huge wolf fan too and I have seen wolves in person *Yay! * but i was atleast fifteen, twenty feet away from it.

People usually forget that wolves act as what they're supposed to be: they are predators. It's their job to kill, so that they can survive. Of course, any predator sticks to the easiest solution first, as it means less danger and waste of energy - but they surely don't stop from killing another beast, just because it would be "unfair" to kill it. A human without weapon, however, is about the most defenceless game they could hunt - so - it's no surprise they also go for people sometimes, specially if they never experience any danger coming from us.

Wolves are no pets, they are killers that operate in a natural fairness. That's why we can't have them as our domestic dogs: they may stay friendly in a group of well known people, if held in captivity, but form a serious danger to foreign ones.

Now, should we hate them for their capabilities? Seriously - no. I respect them for it. Same as other man-eating cases don't frighten me, I respect these animals for their capabilities to outrun human acts, thinking and morality. In fact they are the only ones strong enough in physical and mental matters, to set certain limits to our activities.

So - what can we do about it? Bushmen and Indians knew quite well how to live together with predatory beasts... they had and still have peaceful solutions to avoid conflicts, and they respect these beasts same as they respect representants of their own kind. Maybe we should just return to the wild and learn to coexist with these magnificent animals.

Well, wether you want to have it for true or not: it's the only truth. They are killers. The question is just: are humans killers too or not? And that can be answered easily: yes. And why? We have forwards pointing eyes, are agile and handsome creatures AND belong to the most intelligent representants of animalia. These are features that are assigned to most predatory life forms.

I highly doubt you have "wolves" as pets (in fact you already mentioned to have wolfdogs). The highest I can imagine so far would be wolfdogs, which is again something completely different.

I mean, seriously - just because I get on well with some tigers - that doesn't mean I can walk on the streets with them. If I'd do that, the incident would be preprogrammed.

As a side note: even wolfdogs need a predator-holder licence in certain countries. In Switzerland for example. Of course that doesn't mean that any breed is aggressive, but they can be dangerous - and fall therefore under the same law.

(And I'm aware that the US law is pretty labile up on predatory matters - such as that just some random private people can have pantherine species as their "pets", but hey - I work with these animals. I know how they tick - I know their lovely as well as their dangerous sides... and they are dangerous to foreign people - that's just factual.)

Full grown lions lick your face? Hardly. Our cats would tear you appart, if you enter a cage as a foreign person.

Hey, it doesn't matter. An adult lion would try to tear you apart as soon as you get to the fence. Any big cat interpretates humans as enemies. Only close friendships allow one to meet up with them... and that's simply a fact. They are no pets...

And, why I do think that? Because I actually study them. More than that, I even care for a bengal tiger cub. If evidence is needed, check my other topics: viewtopic.php?t=6252

Or one of my articles:
Man-Eating Behavior Among Big Cats

I agree mostly with the person who wrote that article. I certainly would rather die the quick death of being shot that suffering weeks upon weeks with a terrible disease that would eventually kill me. With humans and their intelligence, populations are falling and rising, so you may have to kill off some of the predators or the prey to balance the world again, until are humans disapear.
But wolves shouldn't be killed if they are threatening livestock or killed a pet. With human civilization pushing wildlife into smaller and smaller spaces, wolves have fewer natural prey and sometimes are forced to kill livestock or pets.

Actually, for a wolf, livestock and pets are their prey, just like lions, tigers and all other predators, just because us humans keep them for food, companionship and as guards does'nt make them immune to the food chain, wolves see any animal like that as potential food whether humans keep it or not, wolves can't distinguish between a humans pet and a wild food source, as long as they're concerned it's food, nuff said, sam with humans, just because we're humans does'nt mean wolves won't hunt and kill us for food.

...exactly.

So, what I actually meant before is - you have to learn accepting them as what they are: they are predators. They are magnificent animals with great capabilities, which have (just like humans too) a nice and social, but also a cruel face.

That doesn't mean they are "bad" or "evil" creatures - we all know that they can be careful and social. But they have no reason to be that in connection to humans or cattle.

Kovu, not that I am a mod or anything, but so you don't get in trouble.. Perhaps typing something other than just a post with just a smiley.

Okay, well, how about everyone stay calm? I wouldn't want this topic locked. There is many people that don't understand the wolf, and so I would like to hear their thoughts on this other than getting this locked.

Glad to see all of you agreed.

Posts with smileys come in quite handy in certain situations Well, what I would define as *SPAM*, that's smiley repeating, or repeatedly posting smiley-only replies (at least that's how I defined the rules for smiley issues on my own message boards a few years back). However, I'm aware that this doesn't necessarily fit this forum's rules. But hey, that's just me - accept it - or ignore it.

I do agree with you but teaching the wolfs not to trust people, we dont really need to kill them, Rubber bullets to no life threatning areas, mild electro shocking a fence can help too.


Also that when Wolfs were reintroduced in Yellowshone, The deer had been able to over graze with out fear, now they are more fearful and as a result vegitation has grown back, resulting in the gain of more animals. It's not all bad but still needs to be delt with.

Indeed, that's a big issue we were causing by removing the natural enemies from these animals. The equation that keeps our ecosystems stable has been seriously damaged by the acts of mankind - we don't only have problems with these so-called problem-animals, we also got problems with those who'd naturally keep the balance to these populations. Mankind sees todays game as its own property, of which we think that we can use and waste it how ever we want.

If we could just stay back a bit and begin to think more practical and rational, we wouldn't have any problems with wild predators at all.