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2018-12-13 01:29:09

•   About Wolves
  Wolves are the epitome of evil beasts, notorious for killing people, livestock and game。 This attitude arose from fear and ignorance about wolves。
     But。。。scientists researching wolves in recent years find the wolf is a surprisingly different animal:-
  Wolves do not generally kill people。
    
  Wolves can live close to people。
  Wolves do not inevitably kill livestock。
  Wolves kill fewer livestock than presupposed。
    
  1。 Wolves do not generally kill people。
  Researchers from many countries made a lengthy and exhaustive search for records of people killed by wolves (Linnell et al 2002)。
     They found only 17 fatalities in the last 50 years in the whole of Europe, Russia and North America - a population of 1,000,000,000 people。
    
  See this in perspective。 About fifteen people are killed on average per year in horse riding accidents in England and Wales alone (Office for National Statistics)。
     Horses are more dangerous than wolves。
  Again, almost all the wolves in the US outside Alaska live in Minnesota。
     These 2,500 wolves have killed no one。 Yet one or two people are killed each year in that state by the rarity of lightning strike (NOAA)。
     Lightning is more dangerous than wolves。
  --
  For a summary of Linnell et al 2002 - and more about wolf attacks。
    
  2。 Wolves can live close to people。
  People believed wolves can only live in wilderness, such as forests。
     But wolves are highly adaptable, living in all kinds of terrain from Arctic snow fields to Mediterranean farm fields and Middle East deserts。
     Some wolves even live next to towns and wander into them to scavenge for food。
  Example: a wolf pack was studied (Promberger et al 1993) living on the edge of Brasov, a town of 400,000 people surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains in Romania。
     People in the town ignored the wolves, thinking they were just stray dogs。
  Wolves are found living close to towns, and wander into them, in countries as diverse as the US and India (eg Hart J 1999; Jhala 2001)。
    
  Another example: wolves studied living on farmland in Spain typically crossed busy motorways via the bridges built to take traffic over them (Blanco 2001)。
    
  3。 Wolves do not inevitably kill livestock。
  Wolves can live close to livestock without killing or molesting them, as research in the US shows。
    
  Example: wolves have lived in the 250 square kilometre Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota, since the 1980's (Gese 2003)。
     They make forays outside the reserve for wild deer and by-pass groups of cattle without disturbing them。 The wolves live mostly on wild prey and only rarely kill livestock。
    
  Wolf toleration for livestock is noted for wolves elsewhere in the US and western Canada (Fritts et al 1992; Mech 1995; Bangs et al 2001)。
     Of course this does not mean that wolves are necessarily livestock-friendly everywhere。 But it shows that wolves do not necessarily and inevitably kill livestock all the time。
    
  4。 Wolves kill fewer livestock than presupposed。
  Most research on wolves comes from North America。 Researchers there find that wolf depredation is remarkably less than presupposed and only a tiny fraction of livestock farms in wolf range suffer depredation (Fritts et al 1992)。
    
  To be conservative, these findings apply only to these wolf populations and not necessarily to wolf populations in other countries。
     However, in light of these findings, people cannot claim that wolf depredation is always severe。
  For more see Lupine Essay Wolf Depredation。
    
  Conclusion
  The wolf is not the catastrophic slayer of myth。 When people take time really to look at wolves we find an even more mysterious beast。
     The wolf disposition of coexisting with humans and toleration of livestock is puzzling。
     Explaining this mystery and understanding how we can live with a fellow top-predator, instead of exterminating it, is one of the big challenges for humanity。

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  2018-12-13 01:29:09

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