It could be the first wolf attack on a human in many years in the United States. Wolves have been reported to kill a jogger near Chignik Lake. Chignik Lake is a small town with 105 residents. The small town is 500 miles south and west of Anchorage in Alaska.
A school teacher, Candice Berner was reported jogging on a road that has not been in service for years when the attack happened.
Her body was found by snowmobilers who tracked the incident by a blood trail in the snow. Autopsy shows the small framed woman was chased by animals and was dragged to the location of the body that was partially eaten.
The victim had damage to her throat area that is common with wolf and big cat attacks. They attack this area to kill their prey quickly.
Many residents have seen wolves close to the town of Chignik Lake. A spokeswoman for the state troopers stated that wolves were getting to close and scaring residents in the area.
The last person who died from a wolf attack was in Canada in 2005. It is a rare occurrence but one should be aware of the possibility. Wild animals cannot be trusted even if they generally are scared of humans.
Discussion of the attack in Saskatchewan in 2005 contained the claim by a wildlife biologist that it was quite unusual for wolves to drag a carcass away from the site of the kill. I wonder if that is true, and if the fact that this poor woman’s body was dragged suggests that the initial kill might have been by another kind of animal, with the wolves feeding later. Does anyone have personal knowledge about whether wolves move their kill? Of course, that might be something that a pack could learn to do even if it has not been observed before.