Wolves Are Not a Threat

The Big Bad Wolf is a Myth

In 1697, Charles Perrault published a collection of eight folktales referred to as The Tales of Mother Goose. One of the folktales, Little Red Riding Hood, features a cunning wolf that deceives a young girl and then devours both she and her Grandmother. The centuries-old fairy tale remains a popular children's story to this day, establishing the mythical Big Bad Wolf as one of the most infamous villains ever written.

Pete Bengeyfield

Wolves are Not a Threat to Human Safety

For centuries, myths based in folklore have promoted the irrational fear that wolves are a threat to humans. On the contrary, wild wolves are wary of people and generally do everything possible to avoid them. Wolf attacks are exceedingly rare.

Over the past century, there has NEVER been a documented case of a wild wolf killing a human being in the continental U.S. and there have been only two documented human fatalities in all of North America. The fatal attacks occurred in Alaska and Canada, which are home to 70,000 wolves.

Since 1995, millions of people have visited Yellowstone National Park annually without incident. People are more likely to be injured by bison, bear, elk or moose in Yellowstone than wolves.

Comparing the Risks
‍
‍Dog attacks,
drowning,
hunting accidents,
lightning strikes,
bee stings,
vehicle collisions,
and even cows
ALL pose a much greater threat to humans than wolves

The Propoganda Continues

The fear and misrepresentation of wolves persists in contemporary times. Hollywood movies and TV almost universally portray wolves as savage beasts: snarling, blood-thirsty, and threatening to humans. In stereotypical fashion, vicious wolves are the bad guys who chase and attack the heroes of the story. After an intense, drama building scene, the audience breathes a sigh of relief as the heroes valiantly avert the danger, but the negative image of wolves remains etched in moviegoers' minds.

In real life, the wolf is not big and bad as storybooks claim nor the vicious beast depicted in movies. The wolf is simply an animal who lives in the wild; a sentient being, like us, with a family of its own. They need our help to dispel the myths and set the record straight. Until then, the wolf will suffer the real life consequences of human propaganda directed against its kind. And that makes the wolf the real victim of the story.