Shocking Alaska wolf attack where 'habituated' animal 'wasn't afraid of people'

Two people were bitten by a wolf in Alaska Monday while waiting in a traffic area.

The Alaska Department of Public Safety released a notice explaining the situation. Alaska Wildlife Troopers were called to the scene off Dalton Highway in the northern part of the state .

The two motorists were “stopped in a construction zone and out of their vehicle while waiting for the pilot car” when the incident occurred. The wolf bit them in their lower extremities and needed medical care.

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Alaska Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Lincoln Parrett told Alaska’s News Source the wolf walked along the line of vehicles, peering in to look at each driver, before the attack.

He said: “This wolf went and bit one person, and then he yelled at it, and ... caused it to run away. And then it went and bit a second person, a little bit worse, the second person.”

That’s when another motorist shot their gun at the animal, which caused it to run into the woods. Troopers do not believe it was hit.

Troopers believe the wolf is still alive in the wilderness. It did not show signs of rabies, meaning it was likely just used to being fed by humans.

Parrett said: “That wolf’s behavior definitely seems like it was habituated. You know, It wasn’t afraid of people.”

The Alaska Wildlife Troopers want to remind people that it is not only dangerous to feed wildlife but also a crime punishable by a fine. These motorists in particular were not feeding the animal.

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“We put together some outreach a few years ago that sort of used this analogy that if you go to your neighbor’s house and you knock on the door and they don’t come, you knock a little harder and louder, right?

“And they use that same analogy like that’s what happens with these wild animals. They just knock harder.”

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