This article was written by Norman A. Bishop of Bozeman, Greater Yellowstone region field representative of the International Wolf Center. For many years Bishop was Yellowstone Park's Resource Interpreter.

Ralph Maughan

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Following the killing by wolves of several head of livestock in Madison Valley, emotions are running high, and Montana Governor Judy Martz trumpets, "Families are afraid to allow their children to play outdoors."

In Montana, we have about100 wolves; in Alaska and Canada, 59,000-70,000. In 2002, Mark McNay of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game compiled A Case History of Wolf-Human Encounters in Alaska and Canada. Since 1970, he listed 16 cases of non-rabid wolves biting people; six bites were severe. Coincidentally, the Norsk Institute (NINA) in Trondheim compiled The Fear of Wolves: A Review of Wolf Attacks on Humans. They summarize: "The fact that...encounters with wolves (even without injury...) are considered worthy of publication in the scientific literature is an indication of the rarity of such events." McNay's report, and the NINA report are both available from www.wolf.org. 

The risk of a wolf attacking a child is not zero, but so low as to beg comparison with other hazards to children. There are between 200,000 and 300,000 wolf-dog hybrids in the U.S. From 1981-1999, 13 people have been killed by hybrids, and one by a captive wolf. Domestic dogs bite a million people per year in the U.S., of whom 60-70% are children. Of these bites, 16-18 per year are fatal. Rottweilers and pit-bulls are responsible for 60% of fatal attacks; most by family dogs, at home. Between 1890 and 2001, cougars killed 17 and injured 72 people in the U.S. Some 29,000 Americans are injured and 200 killed annually by vehicle collisions with deer. In California, since 1995, 40 people have been killed, and 3,058 injured in vehicle crashes with cattle. That's animal hazards, but what else kills children in the USA?

Six juveniles were murdered daily in 1997. Between 1980 and 1997, nearly 38,000 juveniles were murdered. Of the 163,200 children abducted each year, 100 are ransomed or killed. In all, 50,000 children die in the U.S. annually: babies from choking, drowning, falls, poisons, and burns. Some 203 kids under 14 died in bicycle crashes, and 362,000 were treated at emergency rooms. Motor vehicle crashes in 1998 killed 1,765 kids, and 272,000 were injured. At home, 4.5 million kids are injured annually; 600 die, and 4,700 are injured in fires.

By all means, families should be afraid to allow their children to play without careful supervision - outdoors, indoors, upstairs, downstairs, in a vehicle, on anything with wheels. But not because of wolves.