[swampdog]

Epyon

There hasn't been a reported case of wolves attacking humans.

http://www.google.com/search?q=wolf+attack

It has been widely discussed whether a healthy wild wolf has ever attacked a human on this continent. In fact, many say such attacks have never occurred in North America. HISTORY STATES OTHERWISE! It depends on which century you want to research wolves attacking and killing humans,1800's, 1900's or 2000's. Through some quick searches we found some noted naturalists have long documented wolf attacks on humans:



* John James Audubon, of whom the Audubon society is named, reported an attack involving two men traveling through part of Kentucky near the Ohio border in the winter. The two men were carrying axes when they were viciously attacked by a pack of wolves, they managed to kill three wolves. One man was severely wounded and one man was killed, and devoured by the remainder of the wolves, only bones remained the next day. This occurred about 1830 ( Audubon,J.J.. and Bachman,J,: The Quadrupeds of North America.3 volumes. New York, 1851-1854)



* In northwestern Colorado, an 18-year-old girl was viciously attacked while bringing in milk cows, she screamed and her brother, who was nearby armed with a gun responded to the scene and killed the Wolf. The wolf was a healthy young animal barely full-grown. This occurred in the summer about 1881 ( Grinnell,G.B; The Trail and Campfire- Wolves and Wolf Nature, New York, 1897)



* In1942, Michael Dusiak, section foreman for the Canadian Pacific Railway, was attacked by a wolf, the wolf was killed by the trains engineer, and firemen with picks and other tools. It should be noted that this wolf was scanned and inspected by an Investigator Chrichton, a Conservation Officer. His assessment was the animal was young healthy and in good condition. ( " A Record of Timber Wolf Attacking Man"Journal Of Mammology, Vol. 28, No. 3, August 1947)



Here are some examples from British Columbia:



Wolves overran Vancouver Island in the 1980's. Attacks became so common that many articles were published in Canadian magazines documenting such attacks:



* Aug., 1987 a 16-year-old girl was bitten by a wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, she was bitten on the arm, clothing prevented severe lacerations. The wolf was shot by the Natural Resources personnel and tested negative for rabies. Well-known wolf biologists Dr. David Mech took issue with this attack stating it could not really be considered an authentic attack since the girl wasn't severely injured. (Interview with Ron Tozer, Park Naturalist for Algonquin Provincial Park, July 25, 1988)
* In August, 1996 eleven-year-old Zack Delventhal was viciously attacked, the boys face had been ripped open, his nose was crushed, parts of his mouth and right cheek were torn. Blood gushed from puncture wounds below his eyes, and the lower part of his right ear was missing and dangling. The wolf was killed by Park authorities and found to be a young healthy adult male wolf ( Cook, Kathy; " Night of the Wolf " Readers Digest, July 1997 p. pp. 114-119)
* Sports Afield Magazine, December 2000 January 2001 issue, in Alaska a picture of six-year-old John Stenglein, lying in a hospital bed viciously attacked by a healthy male wolf, the wolf was killed by loggers near his camp. Also this same article reports a 22-year-old man in his sleeping bag on a beach near Vancouver BC who was also viciously attacked by a healthy male wolf, the wolf was killed by Canadian officials.
* In Northern India since 1996 there has been more than 80 people killed and eaten by wolves, in1998 30 (thirty) of those killed were children between ages of one (1) and twelve (12.) See National Geographic, Man Eaters of India)



Wolves are known as man-eaters throughout the world, don’t be fooled by unfounded rhetoric that “there has never been a documented wolf attack on humans” or “wolves are needed within our ecosystem to allow natural management to begin”. Lewis and Clark didn’t eat horsemeat when exploring the west because they wanted to; the wolf population was so large that game (deer, elk and moose) was in such short supply that they had to kill one of their own horses to survive.

Russian nobility never threw serfs off their sleighs to slow down the wolf packs, either.

As far as a lawsuit goes, if someone gets killed by wolves in a National Park, where there were no wolves before they were reintroduced, I'm sure there would be some kind of suit.

The wolves weren't really my point and I apologize for getting off topic. My point was the goverment wasting our money, which we both seem to agree on.

Why pay sharpshooters when the sharpshooters(us) would be glad to pay for the privilege?