MYTH: Wolves are very dangerous and commonly attack people.
REALITY: Wolf attacks are among the rarest of all large mammal
attacks on humans.
DETAILS: All wild animals can be dangerous to humans, especially those that frequently come into contact with humans and become "habituated," losing their natural fear. This often occurs when an animal associates people with food causing the animal to become aggressive toward humans. Habituation is thought to be the cause of the first probable human fatality attributed to wolves in North America since 1900. This fatality occurred in November, 2005 in northern Saskatchewan. Subsequent investigation by Paul Paquet, a University of Calgary wolf biologist and provincial authorities has determined that some wolves in the area had been attracted to a garbage dump; had possibly been fed and regularly photographed at a nearby mining camp, causing the animals to become habituated. Like dogs, wolves are curious animals, readily investigating something new in their environment. And the vast majority of wolf-human encounters are simple curiosity on the part of the wolf. Wolves are, however, very territorial and intolerant of the presence of other canines. Hikers with dogs have occasionally been followed, barked at, and growled at by resident wolves protecting their territory from a trespassing canine. Wolves have also been documented exhibiting these same behaviors when pups are present. A person in wolf country has a greater chance of being hit by lightning, dying of a bee sting or being killed in a vehicle collision with a deer than being injured by a wolf. Source: Lukens, Jim. "Idaho, eleven years with wolves what we've learned." News release, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, April 25, 2006. http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/wildlife/wolves/dogs.pdf
MYTH: Wolves are causing serious economic harm to local communities.
REALITY: Wolves in Yellowstone have attracted more than 35 million dollars annually to local economies.
DETAILS: Wolves also play an increasingly important role in the Northern Rocky Mountain region's economy. According to a recent study, the roughly 151,000 people who visit Yellowstone National Park each year to see wolves bring in $35 million annually to Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, which is multiplied several times within the local economies. And nearly four percent of Yellowstone National Park's 2.8 million annual visitors say they would not have visited the nation's oldest national park if wolves weren't there. Source: John Duffield, Department of Economics, University of Montana. http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/04/07/news/state/25-wolves.txt
