Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrfusion | Hacker News Reader

But then we’d have to live around wolves. I like the idea that I don’t live near large apex predators.

(I know they mostly leave humans alone but it’s still unsettling.)

If it’s not wolves, it’ll be something else, at least for a lot of areas in the western U. S. Just the other day I saw a bobcat while I was out running. The dog and I would see coyotes on our morning run, so a bobcat isn’t surprising. There allegedly are cougars around here, but I’ve never seen one. You won’t either, until it’s too late. :-) And then there’s the bears. They’re not grizzlies, though, so not a huge deal. They do occasionally wander through the elementary school yard behind our house, though (as does the bobcat).

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention the Alaskan frontier town that I call home: Redmond, WA. It’s not Australia, but there are a few things around here that will give thought to killing you and eating you, even in town.

We need to put our emotions aside while managing our wildlife populations. Wolves are not a serious threat to humans and even so, the wilderness is a scary place even without wolves, take appropriate precautions.

You currently live somewhere that doesn’t have any large apex predators?

I live in England, and the scariest thing you'll find in the countryside is a badger. Our badgers aren't even scary. Well - besides other humans and their dogs.

Intermittently, pairs of mushrooms, and sometimes a snake.

You don't have wild pigs in the UK?

There are some semi-wild horses, down in the southwest (Dartmoor, Exmoor, The New Forest).

Cows are more dangerous than badgers.

Well, humans.

And I like the idea of having a lower chance of dying in a road accident. Or isn't that the idea of what we are discussing here, putting actual numbers to (ir)rational fears?

"they mostly leave humans alone" there is an adult human and there is a child human.

Are wolf attacks on children a common issue? I don't think I've ever heard of that happening.

Isn't that the point? You don't hear about it because there aren't any wolves, and where there are wolves, you change your behavior ( let kids out on their own much less).

Wolf attacks on people are pretty much proportional to the amount of other food they have available and how many people they come into contact with, just like any other predator.

> You don't hear about it because there aren't any wolves

That's a big assumption.

> here there are wolves, you change your behavior ( let kids out on their own much less).

Kids are already let out so much less than they used to be, so that might not be necessary.

> Wolf attacks on people are pretty much proportional to the amount of other food they have available and how many people they come into contact with, just like any other predator.

The constant you multiply the proportion by matters a lot.

Coyotes are known to attack children and pets. When I lived in the High Desert I didn't hesitate to go out alone after dark but my children weren't allowed to do so. IIRC, there had been two or three attacks on children in the previous five years (edit: in the area I was living).

If children are allowed near dogs then I think children can live in a city where wolves are tens of miles away in the forest and actively avoid anything that sounds of people.

In Nordic countries the opposition comes from rural areas where more wolves means more yard visits by wolves. People are used to keeping dogs outside and allowing kids to go to school unsupervised (say, by bike or just waiting alone outside for a school taxi).

I think that's the price of living close to the nature, but it may be a hard pill to swallow after several generations growing up in rural areas barren of wolves.

Children small enough to be at threat from most of our apex predators shouldn't be alone in the wilderness in the first place. The only apex predator that considers humans prey is the polar bear. The others normally only attack defensively--don't put them in a situation where they feel the need to defend themselves and the threat is minimal. (I would make an exception for going into the area of an apex predator in late winter--there might be a desperate animal that would go for something wrong.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com