Wolf pack attacks six people in China

[La Striata]

WARNING: Graphic imagery in link.

Horrific wolf attack in Chinese village leaves six people disfigured and one missing an ear after pack of five ‘starving mad’ beasts surrounded small farming community

These shocking images show the horrifying injuries suffered by villagers in China when a pack of starving wolves attacked.

Up to five of the animals surrounded the small farming community before viciously mauling the six people living there, leaving two seriously injured in a previously unheard of attack.

One of the victims had their ear torn off by the wolves, who had been driven mad by hunger, while others suffered bites and scratches to the face, neck and chest.

After the six people fled the midnight attack in north-western China's Xinjiang region, the wolves killed several farm animals.

The victims were taken to hospital in the nearby city of Urumqi where most required stitches on their hands and face.

It was previously unheard of for humans to be attacked by packs wolves, as they usually steer clear of contact with people.

However, the animals were driven mad by hunger caused by the worst drought in decades in the region, with average rainfall down by a third, affecting nearly a million hectares of crops.

Many of the animals that the wolves might have otherwise fed on have died from lack of food, leading them to turn on the men and women in the village.

Hundreds of thousands of farm animals have also been left without water and the economic damage is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of pounds.

The drought has brought near-disaster to the Ili River valley that has seen no rainfall in what is the worst drought in 60 years.

The wolf population of China is rapidly decreasing, but there are still approximately 10,000 grey wolves in Xinjiang province, where the attack happened.

Lone wolves have attacked individuals in China before, but an attack on this scale is extremely rare.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... jured.html

[TheImmortalWolf]

the poor wolves were starving.

[alethe]

The poor humans were MAULED.

[Nordue]

• I wonder if the wolves were rabid because they chose a difficult target for their prey, and then went after easier prey: the farm animals. But maybe that was because they couldn't kill any of the humans.
  
  The article doesn't give a lot of information, so we'll never know for certain.

[La Striata]

• I wonder if the wolves were rabid because they chose a difficult target for their prey, and then went after easier prey: the farm animals. But maybe that was because they couldn't kill any of the humans.
  
  The article doesn't give a lot of information, so we'll never know for certain.

Rabid wolves don't work in packs.

[Nordue]

• Hmm, good point. I didn't consider that at the time La Striata.

[TheImmortalWolf]

The poor humans were MAULED.

if a wolf mauls and eats an elk you don't get upset
the humans were simply prey and the wolves predaters

[alethe]

I hate to break it to you, but those humans are members of your own species.

[TheImmortalWolf]

I hate to break it to you, but those humans are members of your own species.

first of all you don't know that for a fact and even if it were it wouldn't matter because the humans were still the prey

[Chumpkins_]

Sorry to break it to you, but you're a human too. What if it was your family that got mauled by the wolves? Would you be so defensive about the wolves then?

[Hobs]

The poor humans were MAULED.

if a wolf mauls and eats an elk you don't get upset
the humans were simply prey and the wolves predaters

The thing is though, humans are not normally prey animals for wolves. It's pretty rare for a wolf (let alone a pack) to attack people completely unprovoked like this.

[Ffeion]

Oh, that is horrible. Those poor people and their families must be distraught. It is strange that they just went and attacked them like that. Honestly I find it even more strange that people were attacked as well as the farm animals when the nearby farm animals, most likely also weak from dehydration, would have made for an easy enough target and overall a better source of food.
Maybe the farmers, in an attempt to protect their animals, provoked the pack? Either way it is tragic.

No one to really blame though.

[alethe]

I hate to break it to you, but those humans are members of your own species.

first of all you don't know that for a fact and even if it were it wouldn't matter because the humans were still the prey

Sorry to break it to you, but you're a human too. What if it was your family that got mauled by the wolves? Would you be so defensive about the wolves then?

This exactly. You are human, cut the childish act. People were severely hurt, people with families and loved ones. People of your own species. I'm sorry, but it makes you pretty heartless to say that the wolves were in the "right." Wolves aren't saints.

[TheImmortalWolf]

I hate to break it to you, but those humans are members of your own species.

first of all you don't know that for a fact and even if it were it wouldn't matter because the humans were still the prey

Sorry to break it to you, but you're a human too. What if it was your family that got mauled by the wolves? Would you be so defensive about the wolves then?

This exactly. You are human, cut the childish act. People were severely hurt, people with families and loved ones. People of your own species. I'm sorry, but it makes you pretty heartless to say that the wolves were in the "right." Wolves aren't saints.

you still don't know that.and even if I was why does it matter?the wolfs were predaters and the humans were prey it is no different from wolfs hunting elk.and I never said wolves are saints I also never said wolves were in the right neither is in the right it was simply a play of predater and prey you would do the same if you were a wolf

The poor humans were MAULED.

if a wolf mauls and eats an elk you don't get upset
the humans were simply prey and the wolves predaters

The thing is though, humans are not normally prey animals for wolves. It's pretty rare for a wolf (let alone a pack) to attack people completely unprovoked like this.

the wolfs were starving and decided to go after the humans for a change

[alethe]

It is very different. For starters, elk aren't members of your species. Second, elk are normal prey for wolves. (By the way its wolves, not wolfs.) Third, the humans were also defending themselves. I think you'd feel bad if a wolf died in this incident, but you seem to feel nothing when a human (which you are) gets hurt from a wolf. Even if they are playing "predator and prey," it does not excuse the fact that innocent people were hurt.