Dog saves family from wolf attack ( Self Defense does work )

The Province ^ | December 26, 2007 | Lena Sin

[george76]

Day of tobogganing almost ends in tragedy as wolves stalk children.

In the dusky northern light three days before Christmas, two Fort Nelson families came dangerously close to two hungry wolves, until the family dog, Shadow, narrowly averted disaster.

The wolves appeared quietly at about 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 22, as darkness was creeping in on the winter wonderland 100 kilometres east of Fort Nelson, where the families were tobogganing.

About 30 metres away, a sleighful of three children -- one aged four and the others aged three -- were being happily towed along the base of a hill by an all-terrain vehicle.

Father Kyle Keays was oblivious to the danger until he suddenly heard his wife's shriek from the top of the hill.

Shadow, their Rottweiler-cross, had broken from the grasp of Keays' wife and was bounding down the hill toward the wolves, who were moving in toward the children.

"I looked back and saw my dog intercept the lead wolf -- there were two of them. They were heading towards the kids and the dog came in," ...

Being too far from the children, Keays headed to his nearby work camp to grab a rifle.

"The wolves were definitely not afraid,"

There have only been a few documented cases of fatal wolf attacks in North America.

Earlier this month, wolves attacked dogs in three separate incidents in Prince Rupert, resulting in the death of a young maltese...

And a pack of wolves were also reported to have attacked three women and their dogs in Alaska last week, where wolf attacks have been increasing in frequency.

[ArmyTeach]

Never encountered a wolf in the wild, and I support any measures people take to protect family, home and pets. My neighbor and friend had an 89% wolf hybrid that I really became attached to...

[sinanju]

Alas, wolf hybrid stories usually end in tears...

[captain anode]

Wild animals would never attack a plump, juicy, ripe...

...ah, Hello Little Red Riding Hood!

[george76]

A kayaker’s life-and-death struggle with a hungry wolf on B.C.’s remote north coast... has prompted a conservation officer to warn against taking wolf encounters too lightly.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1875274/posts

[captain anode]

To an environmentalist, ANOTHER man is the least important species on the planet.

Only he is the most important ENVIRONMENTALIST in the universe.

[ArmyTeach]

Yeah, often true. But in this case I think ‘Velma’ has probably passed on to canid heaven.

[claudiustg]

There was a German Shepard from a neighboring farm that I used to meet at a particular place in the orchard when I was a kid. We’d run around and play. He ripped the throats out of 5 of our sheep before they figured it out and put him down.

[RussP]

I have a beautiful Alaskan Malamute. I wonder if she could defend me against a wolf. (Not that I expect to see one any time soon near my home in the suburbs.)

[Atchafalaya]

Years ago my grandfather bought 20 goats and 8 sheep (huge (or hugh) mistake. He got rid of the goats but kept the sheep (now 15 or so) and we’d find one or two with their throats ripped out and not much else touched. This happened twice and my uncle got pissed; he corralled the sheep in the barn for a week and then staked one out 25 yards from the barn’s loft door. He and I sat there and around 2 AM the pack came by. He had his Browning Light 12 and I had a 16ga Ithaca 37; we both were shooting buckshot. We each fired 5 shots; 2 Collies, 1 German Shepherd, 1 Catahoula, 1 large mixed breed, and two got away. We SSS’ed and never had any more problems. The Collie and Shepherd owners came by looking...TS. I think the ewe that was bait was barren after that episode/S

[saganite]

I read that the old sled teams were mostly made up of Wolf hybrids and were considerably heavier, stronger and tougher than the current breed of sled dog which is bred to run.

[Eska]

Bountys worked; was an incentive to trap wolves for rural people. People set snares and check them every 3-4 weeks; everything strangles quick in snare and freezes till april. Ak no.8's are like over 100 bucks, snares not as productive, and fuel costs limit everything. Most locals who trap, concentrate on martin, get a couple wolves a winter. Bountys would stimulate the locals to get out and limit the exploding wolf numbers.

I've had yearling wolves walk up my lane, had adults try eating my sled dogs, and had wolves follow my dogteam, until they heard me coming on trip back; then jump off trail. Have chased them on snowmachine on lakes with fresh snow, shot at them on river bank, ect. I'm glad old wolf is here, never want to see him gone, but understand that balance of nature is a load of garbage too.

And you don't want wolves in lower 48 or your elk & deer pops will be 10% of what there are today and that's a fact. Not as many people in Alaska; wolves pretty much stay away from people most of the time. They wouldn't have many places to go in lower 48 where they didn't cause problems.

[Greg67]

The two wolfs engaged in attacking easy pray wen surprised by the dog and engaged in life or death fight. No singular wolf would attack a dog similar size or two wolfs a men and a dog similar in size with then. They are opportunistic and survival instinct still rules above being hungry. It’s all in numbers. A pack will attack big game or humans with no hesitation.

[Eska]

People haven’t bred wolf blood into sled dogs for 50 years. We have mckensie river bloodlines here where I live; the rural subsistence people who can’t afford snowmachines or fuel use dogteams to haul wood. Feed their dogs salmon from the river.

If you’d ever had a dog come up in your face along the trail; pull out 44 and shoot him on the spot; you’d understand completely why wolf crosses are complete stupidity. A wolf cross would rip your throat out. Completly unpredictable and the reason why so many native kids are hurt & killed by dogs in villages.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I don't care if it's 89 % wolf hybred, a wild animal is a wild animal, and can't get from the ( Nature of the Beast ).
The wild animals should be just that, left in the wild.
There is a reason why there is a thing called population management for deers to mange the population of deers.
Same thing goes for wolves, the population should be managed, but, not pushed to the point of extinction.
The same thing goes for forest management, cut down the under growth so we won't have the unnecessary wild fires.

[Sparticus]

And you don't want wolves in lower 48 or your elk & deer pops will be 10% of what there are today and that's a fact.

This is the primary reason for reintroducing wolves in the lower 48. With all those pretty wolves to eat the excess big game there wont be large enough game populations to allow all those nasty hunters with all their nasty guns to have hunting seasons.

[P8riot]

My neighbor’s wolf-hybrid story ended up as a motionless lump in my riding ring after it attacked one of my horses

[tom paine 2]

We live just south of Green Bay. Last winter two wolves walked across our deck at about 4AM in the morning. Our German Shepard went crazy and the wolves just casually sauntered off not fearful at all. scary animals.

[Captain Rhino]

Quite a debate between the pro and con sides of the issue going on in the comments section of the actual article. Some additional information about the incident posted there as well from the shooter.

[Does so]

"...There have only been a few documented cases of fatal wolf attacks in North America..."

Would released wolf-dog hybrids form a pack?

I've heard no good endings about wolf-dog hybrids: friendly-enough to approach humans, and poor-enough hunters to get skinny.

[BufordP]

GOOD DOG!