"Minn. Man Has Close Run-In With a Wolf"

[GreenPartyVoter]

THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. (AP) - Mike Olson had been working under his dad's deck for about 20 minutes when he realized he wasn't alone. "I cocked my head back, and I saw those two eyes looking at me," Olson said of the Monday encounter. "I got out real fast."

Olson had seen what he thought was a gray wolf. "It was probably 6 feet away," he said. "It was just laying down. It had its head up and was just looking at me."

Olson and his dad, Erling, called the police, who responded expecting to find a large, wolf-like dog beneath the deck.

"They put their head under the deck, and sure enough, it was a wolf," said Craig Mattson, deputy chief for the Thief River Falls Police Department.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20070510/D8P16H9O1.html

[villager]

1. so they slaughtered the wolf, afterwards. Typical.

n/t

[malaise]

3. Shot a sick wolf

Human beings are so cruel.

[hlthe2b]

5. mange is highly treatable... It alone does not make a "sick" wolf

[villager]

7. exactly

n/t

[rosesaylavee]

2. Damn.

They shot the wolf. :(

[Cleita]

9. I feel the same way. Sometimes local law enforcement can't

wrap their heads around bringing in rescue groups which exist all over the country especially in areas with wilderness areas. They shot a cougar at the beach in my area because it was hunting ducks at a time of year when there weren't any beach goers. I do live in cougar country and I think a lot of vacationers here on the coast don't realize that. Well, the Sierra Club got involved and cougars are now dealt with by tranquilizing them and transporting them to less populated areas.

[hlthe2b]

4. "Close Run-In" as if......

That seems to be one "old wives tale" that will never go away... Can we never get through to people how statistically unprobable it is to be attacked by a wolf?....

So, they shot it, because it had mange--readily treated, had they bothered to take the wolf to a rehab facility for just a few days.... Couldn't take a few minutes to dart the wolf with tranquilizer, now could they? Testosterone-consumed Assholes, if you ask me...:eyes:

[Cleita]

6. That's too bad. It probably was sick and looking for refuge

but being an endangered species it seems to me that an effort should have been made to bring in a wildlife rescue group.

DH and I used to camp in a place in Montana known as the Cabinet Gorge part of the Bitteroot Wilderness. There was a wolf pack there that the locals and Forestry Department didn't advertise. They didn't want to attract attention to them to give them a chance to survive. They are an important balance to the wilderness.

We used to lie at night listening to the howls when the pack was around. The wolf howls, unlike the coyote yapping, is really quite musical and makes you feel actually very close to nature. I'm sure they could be dangerous but like most wild animals if they are left alone to forage and hunt, they don't interact with humans unless under ecological stress where their habitat and food supplies are co-opted by development and other stresses.

[karlrschneider]

12. I have heard (and don't doubt) that there has never been a verified and documented

attack on a human in America by a wolf. I mean as opposed to being 'bitten' as in what dogs often do. One of my friends who lives -way- out in the boondocks has rescued a few of them (sick, orphaned, etc.) and I've gone with him into the fenced-in areas where they're living temporarily. They can be intimidating but from what I've seen aren't agressive to the point of an actual attack. I sat down on a log in the middle of 5 or 6 of them and a couple even
came over and let me scratch their necks.

[RL3AO]

8. Thats too bad. They are beautiful animals.

But can be very violent if hungry or feel threatened.

[melody]

10. Somebody with a gun just wanted to kill something n/t

[RL3AO]

11. If the wolf wouldnt let you capture him

why didnt the police tazer it until animal control could capture it and return it to the wild/or treat it for illness. Of course, there would be a thread on DU then saying "Police tazer wolf" and the first response would be "Damn police state"...ok, I'll stop rambling.

[karlrschneider]

13. If they had tranquilized it (not taser) I don't think many DUers would complain.

...

[hlthe2b]

14. Tranquilizer gun...

This is hardly new technology... Wildlife and animal control groups have used them for decades.... No tazer needed...:shrug:

[The Stranger]

15. Holy shit.

Doesn't that subhuman piece of shit realize he killed something for no fucking reason?

[riverwalker]

16. People move to rural areas

to be close to nature and the wilderness, then they totally freak out when they encounter a wild creature.
I've never been able to figure that out.

[question everything]

17. I dunno. We live in a suburb

as a suburb can be but we do feed the wildlife in the backyard and everybody come..

A few days ago, while having our morning coffee, a fox just strolled in, helped himself to some peanuts and water but when we opened the door to take a picture of him he ran away.. imagine that..

[Jim Warren]

18. not man apart

[AnnieBW]

19. Unless he lives in a house of wood or straw

I don't see why anybody should be afraid of a big, bad wolf. They're beautiful creatures. We just adopted one not too long ago.