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but the investigators who developed these data did not feel that breed-specific control le-
gislation would be justified or effective.
In 160 human deaths, only one dog was involved; in forty-nine deaths two dogs were
involved; and in fifteen deaths, three dogs were involved. From four to fourteen dogs were
involved in an additional fourteen deaths.
To reduce the risk of infection, closing—particularly suturing—dog bites should be
delayed for hand and foot wounds; bites involving joints, ligaments, tendons, and bones;
bites that have not been treated for more than twelve hours; and bites in immunocomprom-
ised individuals. (Human and cat bites should never be closed, and some authorities think
no animal bites should be closed, particularly outside of a hospital or emergency room.)
Tetanusimmunizationshouldbeadministeredifaboostershothasnotbeenreceivedwithin
five years. The need for rabies postexposure therapy must be carefully considered.
TheCentersforDiseaseControlandPrevention(CDC)andotherpublichealthagencies
have established programs to reduce the frequency of dog bites. More details about those
programs, particularly about teaching children to avoid dog bites, are available at
Wolves
CurrentlythewolfpopulationofNorthAmerica isestimated tobe60,000to70,000,the
wolf population in Europe is estimated at 10,000 to 20,000, and the population in Russia
is 60,000. Wolves in North America are limited largely to Canada, although they do live in
northern Minnesota and have been reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park.
Jack London notwithstanding, healthy wolves that are not habituated to humans almost
never attack them. Wolves are one of the few animals that will desert their young when ap-
proached by humans.
UntilrecentlynoinstancesofhumansbeingkilledbywolvesinNorthAmericahadbeen
recorded. A 2002 study of wolf attacks in Alaska and Canada done by the Alaska Fish and
Game Department found no examples of people being killed by wild wolves going back
more than 100 years.
However, a twenty-two-year-old man may have been killed by a wolf pack in Saskat-
chewan in 2005, although that conclusion has been challenged. He unquestionably was
killed by an animal attack, but the animal could not be specified at autopsy. His body had
been scavenged, and wolf footprints were present around the body.
In studies of wolf attacks on humans, four conditions have been found. Many attacks
were made by rabid wolves; many attacks were made by wolves that had become habitu-
ated to humans; some attacks were provoked when humans cornered or trapped wolves or
entered their dens; and many attacks occurred in areas where humans had greatly altered
the environment.
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