Kid got wolfed down

[Gary]

10 year old Turkish boy was eaten by a wolf - his father found the body.

Interesting, wonder if the attack was prevoked?

Do we blame the wolf? Personally I'd say no, but I'd like to hear more details if anyone finds them.

:biggthump in advance.

 

[Tantalus]

where did you get the story Gary?

Tant

 

[Nightfall]

Me too. Never heard of wolves bothering people before unless the story was written by the Brothers Grim. But most of the fairy tales dealing with wolves seem to have been written to give them a bad name. Would a wolf go after someone if they were hurt bad enough? The person that is. Or could it have been the wolf was old or sick and couldnt hunt other prey?

 

[jakunen]

I'd guess probably the latter. The only reports I've read of wolf attacks have been bitches defending cubs, or where people had provoked the attack.

 

[NickBristol]

Might just be that the poor kids was in the wrong place near the wrong wolf at the wrong time? It's not implausible that a hungry wolf could see a small boy as a fairly low-risk meal.

How likely is it that a 10-year old would or could provoke a wolf? Not sure I'd have had the cojones to do it at 10. At 16 then definitely I'd have had a go

 

[Gary]

It came over on a radio news bulletin today.

As you all know I have a interest in wolves and I heard no more since the news bulletin so wondered if anyone else had more info.

I suspected a rabied wolf but without more details its hard to guess.

 

[jakunen]

Nothing on BBC or Ananova about it...

 

[C_Claycomb]

Just for general interest, if you haven't met this site before:
http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/a-wkp1-intro.html

Seems a pretty good investigation into wolf attacks on people.

 

[Tantalus]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1628383,00.html

one wolf? this is odd in itself

i suspect a dog is more likey to have approached a human

Tant

(thanx to google news search )

 

[shinobi]

Here's something I found on the net;

News 24

Starving wolf kills kid
29/11/2004 11:55 - (SA)

Ankara - A wolf driven by hunger killed a Turkish boy in a small town in central Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported Monday, quoting local officials.

Ten-year-old Onur Bahar was found dead by his father in a field near their house in the outskirts of Talas on Sunday afternoon; the wolf had gone for the boy's throat and torn his left arm off, the agency said.

Provincial governor Ekrem Calik told Anatolia that the prints at the site showed the boy had been attacked by a wolf which descended on the town, probably because of hunger.

The beast might have been drawn to the neighbourhood by the smell of bones dumped outside a nearby supermarket, he said.

Martin

 

[tenbears10]

Turkish sheep farmers have some very serious sheep dogs to protect the flock from wolves so there must be some worry about attacks but if this transfers to attacking children as well I'm not sure.

I've seen them with 4 inch nails sticking out of their collar to prevent wolves attacking their neck. You have got to be worried about something to need those 2.

Bill

 

[al]

his poor father

 

[Paganwolf]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1628383,00.html

one wolf? this is odd in itself

i suspect a dog is more likey to have approached a human

Tant

(thanx to google news search )

Im with Tant here, the size of the dog in the pick there is what you would be dealing with, these are powerful dogs and are quite capable of tearing a childs arm off, my bull mastiff is of comparitable size and if she went awol no adult male would be able to hold her off she weighs in at around 9 stone and has awesome strength, lone wolves are few and a pack which is what would have more likely attacked the child would have torn him to peaces. Many rogue stray dogs roam around Turkey and a wolf would have a much better chance of gaining a meal than a wild dog, so who is more likely to be hungry :?:

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

Wolf attacks are extremely rare, often poorly documented and often apocryphal. I never feared Wolves in Alaska. The Coyote has rapidly expanded into the wolve's former ranges, including Washington D.C. There have been documented killings of young children by Coyotes. These animals are much like us. They are infinitely adaptable and come in a multitude of individual personalities. The Alpha wolf could not survive without a pack with Betas and the poor Zeta. Do they have a bad reputation from our own fears and self interests? Yes, but the flipside are people who romanticise wolves, Whales and Bald Eagles into something equally untrue to fit some anthropomorphised world view. These creatures are niether. Now a disease bearing mosquito is something infinitly more dangerous.

 

[C_Claycomb]

According to the link I posted, the cases of children in India being attacked was to do with natural prey being driven out, or killed off, and the limited stock being well guarded...and children being somewhat less well guarded.

Not saying that it wasn't a dog.

 

[Gary]

Cheers guys.

 

[bambodoggy]

I haven't a clue what happened here but things are rarely as straight forward as the press would have us think.
I tend to go with Gary's possible theory that it was most likely a rabid wolf.

Other than that wolves don't attack humans very often but.....they are opportunistic and if an older hungry wolf came across a small boy, maybe he's twisted his ankle or something, then the wolf would be tempted to take an easy meal. Likewise a dog may have killed the boy and the wolf just took an easy meal as wolves do rather like carrion.

Doubt we'll ever know for sure but one thing I can be fairly sure of is that if we traced it back enough it's bound to be MAN's interferance at some point.

 

[Pete E]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that part of the problem in Europe is when Wolves and feral dogs interbreed. Apparently it does not happen very often, buts its thought that when it does, the offspring don't have the same fear of man as 100% wolves do. As aleady mentioned, rabbies can also result in strange behavior.

As we are relying on about 17th hand news reports from journalists whom very often would not know the difference between my Border Terrier and a Wolf, I doubt we will ever get the facts in this case...

Regards,

Pete

 

[greg2935]

I remember a similar case in Zimbabwe where it was claimed a young boy had been taken by jackals (these are dog like in appearance, and fear man in a similar manner to wolves), it turned out the boy had been killed by his uncle, the jackals, being scavengers, ate him. They usually go for the throat and stomach first as those are the easiet parts of he body to get into! If my memory serves me right, there was also something like that in Aussie with a mother blaming a death on dongos/dingos whatever you call them. I can't remember properly now, but I think the mother killed the baby in that case as well

Greg

 

[Pete E]

Greg,

In the case of the woman in Australia, she was intially convicted but cleared at a later date. I believe they actually made a film about it..

Regards,

Pete