RDOŚ in Bialystok spoke after the matter of alleged bitten by the wolves gained publicity in the media. The headers were written about the “wolf attack” and even the “next” alleged penetration of man by these animals.
The incident occurred at the beginning of April. According to the man, a resident of the Janów commune, two wolves were to attack him when he was on a walk with a dog near the house. He returned home with a bitten leg, but wounds – reported his wife, “he watched himself.
No evidence of a wolf attack
Three days later, the man's wife informed the commune head that the husband was to be attacked by Wolves. The case was reported to the services, and sometimes the media described it. In articles – based mainly on the relationship of a man's wife – wrote about “attack of two wolves”.
However, the description of the incident raised the doubts of experts. First of all, the wolves are shy and usually run away when they feel or see a man. Very examples of human attack usually occur in the case of wolves, which, for example, were born or were kept in captivity, which makes them not afraid of people and behave unusual, or when the animal is a mixture of wolf and a dog. Secondly, it would be more likely that they will attack a dog, not a man.
The Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Bialystok looked at the matter. In the communiqué, she stated that:
On the basis of the assessment of involved institutions and specialists and collected materials, we find that there is no evidence confirming that a wolf has been attacking man.
The head of RDOŚ and the regional nature conservator talked to the reporter of the man, and also watched his injuries. Pictures and reports were given to experts on the behavior of the wolf who claim that they do not indicate the attack of this animal.
The case is also investigated by the police, which will investigate the possible bodily damage and its results will inform the public.
Are wolves a threat?
Although thanks to the protection of the species the number of wolves in Poland increased, human attacks are extremely rare, and from at least World War II there was no case of killing a man by a wolf.
Several wolf attacks occurred in 2018. Then – as he said in an interview with “Gazeta Wyborcza“Dr. Maciej Szewczyk from the Department of Ecology and Zoology of the Faculty of Biology of the University of Gdańsk – two wolves were responsible for several attacks, which in his opinion behaved unusually. They could be sick; it was also possible that they were kept in captivity by man.
As the attention of prof. Michał Żmihorski, director of the Institute of Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża, while there were only a few attacks in the recent history of Poland, there are tens of thousands of trampling through dogs every year. It happens that relationships about aggressive wolves or even attacks of these animals In fact, they concern wild dogs.