If there are wolves where people are going about their business surely the people ought to be able to defend themselves if they were attacked? Sounds like a reasonable justification for carrying something which could be used to defend yourself from a wolf attack doesn't it?
EU’s wolf climbdown has Dutch farmers reaching for their guns
- Thread starter ukhunter2017
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Scarpa
Well-Known Member
A wolf attack, especially on an adult, is extremely rare and mostly associated with habituation and feeding from human sources or rabies (mainly non European). This is from https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/Deutschland/Report-Wolf-attacks-2002-2020.pdf
"While being aware of the potential risks associated with wolves it is also crucial to place this into
context. In Europe and North America we only found evidence for 12 attacks (with 14 victims),
of which 2 (both in North America) were fatal, across a period of 18 years. Considering that there
are close to 60.000 wolves in North America and 15.000 in Europe, all sharing space with hun-
dreds of millions of people it is apparent that the risks associated with a wolf attack are above
zero, but far too low to calculate."
However, if I am wild camping or hiking in an area with wolves I will carry a small pepper spray for peace of mind.
"While being aware of the potential risks associated with wolves it is also crucial to place this into
context. In Europe and North America we only found evidence for 12 attacks (with 14 victims),
of which 2 (both in North America) were fatal, across a period of 18 years. Considering that there
are close to 60.000 wolves in North America and 15.000 in Europe, all sharing space with hun-
dreds of millions of people it is apparent that the risks associated with a wolf attack are above
zero, but far too low to calculate."
However, if I am wild camping or hiking in an area with wolves I will carry a small pepper spray for peace of mind.
And when Bruin comes along?
Europe had stories and tales for a thousand years of children being gobbled up by wolves
(from Fenrir to red riding hood. Romulus to the boy who cried wolf via the three little pigs etc)
Yet nowadays it's "yada yada very rare blah blah blah unlikely mumble mumble probably they were feeding them or something "
I simply don't buy it
Scarpa
Well-Known Member
In those days not only did wild animals live pretty close to villages where people were out foraging and collecting forewood but rabies was fairly common, feral dog packs and possible wolf/dog crosses were also around villages. Stories are common place, but I'd rather trust accurate and verifiable accounts. In Spain in the 50s there was a spate of predatory attacks, mainly on children. A smallish wolf population with adequate prey resources, a fear of humans resulting from limited problem animal hunting and a wild territory seem to be necessary to reduce risks of wolf/human encounters. Bears are much more of a problem recently but I still wouldn't like to see them wiped out. One got killed on a railway line about 25km from my house a couple of years ago, it seemed to have travelled up from Slovenia where they are much more common in the south of the country.
Predators That Kill Humans: Myth, Reality, Context and the Politics of Wolf Attacks on People
Seventeen species of large mammalian carnivore have been documented to kill people, although of these only five or six seem to do it on a regular basis. Predatory attacks on humans are generally rare, which combined with very variable and inconsistent reporting makes...
link.springer.com
This hits close, I live in wolf country but i was born and raised on a farm in the Netherlands. Having lived in multiple ancestral wolf habitats over the years it has been clear that a well managed and research based control program is beneficial to all species involved.
For Holland it's very simple; In the mid 1800's when the wolf was eradicated there were 6 million people living in the country and no cars. Now there are 18 million pepole living there and over 9 million cars.
If it did not fit then, it sure as h#ll is not going to fit now and that is without taking the increase in livestock into acount.
If it did not fit then, it sure as h#ll is not going to fit now and that is without taking the increase in livestock into acount.
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