Wolf-Human Incidents in Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada
By Bill Route, International
Wolf Center
On September 27th, 1998 in Algonquin Provincial Park,
Canada a 19-month old boy was grabbed by a wolf and tossed three
feet. Much of the following information was related to me by the
park's Chief Naturalist Dan Strickland and helps put the incident
in perspective:
A wolf, believed by park staff to be the same wolf, had been
observed and photographed by hundreds perhaps thousands of visitors
over the summer in and near two of the park's largest campgrounds.
Most reports suggested the wolf was non-threatening towards
humans. Park visitors were excited about seeing a wild wolf.
In three separate incidents in July, August and September
a wolf tangled with and injured dogs in and around the same
two campgrounds. In mid September the park issued a notice to
dog owners to be aware of the wolf and to keep pets under supervision.
On Friday, September 25th, a wolf circled a young girl in
one of the campgrounds. Her parents and neighboring campers
intervened. They sprayed the wolf three times with pepper spray.
The wolf left after the girl was ushered in to a nearby camper.
The effectiveness of the pepper spray can not be judged because
how well it was applied can not be reconstructed. However, the
tenacity of the wolf upset the parents and prompted park officials
to take action.
After hearing of this incident park officials decided to remove
the wolf but they were unable to locate the animal that day
(Friday).
The next day, Saturday, a wolf tangled with a fourth dog,
but again park officials were unable to track down and remove
the wolf.
At 10 a.m. Sunday, at the Lake of Two Rivers campground, a
wolf grabbed 19-month old Daniel Howell around the chest then
tossed the infant about three feet. In a local newspaper, the
Owen Sound Sun Times, the parents were quoted as stating "It
wasn't hit and run. He hit him [the infant] and then it was
wait and see. He [the wolf] circled the picnic table a number
of times before he was scared off enough to leave." The child
had been playing with a toy truck in the middle of camp with
the parents about 20 feet away. The father saw the wolf come
out of the brush, but thought it was a dog. The father took
his eyes off the animal briefly and seconds later he saw the
wolf with his son in its mouth. After the wolf tossed the infant,
the mother grabbed her son and older daughter and jumped up
on a picnic table. Neighboring campers and the father chased
the wolf away.
The wolf proceeded west through a nearby camp ground then
laid down in a marshy area. Within an hour a park ranger had
shot and wounded the wolf. Minutes later another ranger killed
the animal. The wolf was a 66 pound male that appeared to be
in good condition and looked typical of wild Algonquin wolves.
Only grass was found in the wolf's stomach. The wolf tested
negative for rabies.
Daniel was driven by park officials 35 kilometers to meet
an ambulance which proceeded to a hospital in Huntsville. The
infant received puncture wounds to the front and back requiring
two stitches and was released that day. Although the wolf tested
negative for rabies the infant was given rabies shots as a precautionary
measure.
This was the fifth incident in 11 years, involving
four different animals, in which fearless, usually non-aggressive,
wolves have bitten humans in Algonquin Park. Two of the bites,
including this latest, could be considered serious.
In 1987 a 16-year old girl was briefly seized on the arm after
she shined a flashlight in the eyes of a wolf at close range.
The bite was interpreted as a "disciplinary" or "annoyance"
reaction to the light. The wolf was shot the next day and tested
negative for rabies. The girl received two slight scratches.
In August 1994 a fearless wolf was observed by many campers
in the park. It seemed uninterested in food but growled at people
in a seemingly aggressive manner, tore up camping gear, and
bit two people. On August 3rd, a nine-year old boy suffered
a single tooth puncture wound and a skin tear on his side, on
September 1st a woman suffered a similar wound on the back of
her leg. The wolf was shot eight days later and it seemed normal
and tested negative for rabies.
On August 18th, 1996 a wolf seized the head of a 12-year old
boy who was sleeping without a tent. The boy was dragged an
estimated seven feet before the wolf was driven off by his father.
The boy suffered a broken nose and six lacerations to the lower
face that resulted in 80 stitches. The injuries were not life
threatening but severe enough to warrant plastic surgery. It
has been hypothesized that the wolf was trying to get the sleeping
bag and not the boy. There was another tear along the side of
the sleeping bag that was consistent with the wolf's trying
to tug at the bag. Possibly, the wolf grabbed the boy's head
when it tried to get another purchase on the bag. This wolf
had been observed many times by visitors over the preceding
12 days. The wolf had shown an interest in loose articles of
clothing and camping gear but did not seem aggressive towards
humans. In fact it had pulled a pack out from under the head
of another sleeping camper on August 11th. Again, the ca mper
was not in a tent. The wolf was not interested in food left
out at the site but made repeated darting movements for the
pack even after the camper attempted to scare it off. Apparently
this behavior is not unprecedented. In Tales
of the Wolf by D. Casey and T.W. Clark, the authors made
three reference to objects being taken from under the heads
of sleeping humans.
Why has Algonquin had so many incidents involving
bold, fearless wolves? Below are three possible explanations:
Captive released wolves or wolf/dog hybrids
- It is possible that one to several captive wolves
or high proportion wolf/dog hybrids have been released around
the Algonquin Park area. The International Wolf Center, for
example, gets around a hundred calls each year from well-intentioned
pet owners wanting homes for wolves or wolf/dog hybrids they
can no longer care for. Captive facilities are often full so
many of these animals are euthanized, a few are naively released
in to the wild. Algonquin is surrounded by densely populated
areas including the cities of Ottawa and Toronto so the potential
for the illegal release of once captive animals is high. This
would explain the tame nature of some of the animals.
Wild "wolves" with latent dog genetics
- Using the argument above, it is possible that one or more
high-proportion wolf/dog hybrids have been released in the Algonquin
area in the past and that some, even just one, has bred with
wild wolves. Depending on the hybrid mixture and which genes
are expressed in the offspring, one might expect that some of
these offspring would be more tolerant and less timid than pure
wolves. These dog genes could exist in the population for years.
Algonquin first started recording fearless wolves in 1963 when
a wolf ripped in to a tent containing a nine month-old child.
The wolf, which was later killed, ate some hot dogs and left
the child alone. In the 1970s a now famous wolf named "Rosie"
fed from a bird feeder and allowed close approaches by some
humans. Fearless wolves continued to be observed in the 1980s
and 1990s.
Bold wild wolves - Wolves are intelligent
and highly adaptable animals. Wolves in Algonquin may be getting
rewarded (fed) occasionally during their exploits at camp sites
and rarely suffer any negative experiences (they are protected
in the park) until killed by park officials. Thus some individuals
may begin learning they can scavenge in and around camp sites.
Some could begin considering humans, especially small children,
as potential prey. This scenario has been hypothesized for the
recent events in India. Algonquin officials have visitor reports
that many of the wolves received food during their visits to
camp sites. Some wild wolves, especially when wild prey is scarce,
will tolerate humans when food is present.
Conclusions
Captive wolves and wolf/dog hybrids should never be released in
to the wild. The potential for injury to humans, the likely need
to eventually kill the animal, and the high potential for wild
wolves to get blamed and suffer the consequences, is too great.
Similarly, feeding large predators is rarely a good idea.
