Nothing To Laugh At

Judging by the email I get, one popular feature here at the Crabitat is the continuing "animal uprising" silliness that gets posted whenever there's something in the news worthy of mention. This particular animal story, however, is no laughing matter. A black wolf attacked six people on a Canadian beach. Four of those injured were children. The wolf was later killed, and did not have rabies.

The victims at first believed the animal was a large black dog when it appeared in broad daylight Monday and then attacked beachgoers along the shores of Lake Superior, Melanie Dufresne, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Natural Resources, told AFP.

The victims were bitten in the arm, hands, ankles and head and were hospitalized but have since been released, she said.

It took several terrifying minutes before the animal was finally chased from the beach.

The incident occurred in a provincial park, only a few hundred meters (yards) from a main cross-country highway, where the animal was shot several hours later.

The wolf, which weighed some 33 kilos (73 pounds), did not have rabies and appeared to be healthy, said Brent Patterson, a wolf specialist at the ministry.

The animal was most likely two to three years old and "was not starving," Patterson said.

Wolf attacks on humans are considered extremely rare, he said. "There's never been any proven fatality in the wild in North America."

That last statement would appear to be completely untrue as there was a reported fatal wolf attack in Canada itself. This is a serious problem that will get worse as more of these predators are reintroduced into areas near human populations. It is a policy that really needs to be looked at very hard.