Kayaker Attacked By Wolf

This story comes from The Vancouver Sun and tells the tale of a kayaker who had to fight off a wolf while camping on a beach in a remote area of British Columbia.

The kayaker, who chose to remain anonymous, was on a four week solo excursion from South-East Alaska to Northern Vancouver when he chose to camp for the night on a beach in the Anderson Islands. At about 4 PM, when the 31 year old was setting up his tent, a female wolf emerged from the woods, and immediately ran towards the man. For the next several minutes, he fought with the animal, attempting to pry her strong jaws from around his leg and hands. He suffered multiple cuts and bight wounds in the process. Eventually he drug the wolf along with him over to his kayak, were he pulled a knife from his life vest and began to stab the creature. Finally, after a number of knife wounds to it's chest and neck, the wolf retreated into the woods.

Next the man used his marine radio to call for help, as his hands were so badly damaged from the attack that he was unable to paddle his kayak. A boat from a near by resort came to collect him and his gear. The rescuers also found the wolf dying nearby in the woods and shot it as well. When the body was analyzed, it was found that she weight about 55 pounds and was severely malnourished. A healthy female should weigh in the range of about 85 to 90 pounds.

The scary thing about this incident is that it has been deemed a predatory act. In other words, the wolf was so hungry and malnourished that it was willing to risk attacking a person in order to get food. It also goes to underscore the point of how dangerous these creatures can be, and that it's still possible for them to do a great deal of damage to us while out in the wilderness.

The kayaker elected remain anonymous because he didn't want to make a big issue out of the attack. He felt that it gave wolves a bad name and he recognized that this was a rare and extremely isolated incident. It's kind of refreshing to hear someone take that position, as by now he probably could have sold the rights to his story to Outside magazine or some publishing house.