I have a wildlife zoo

The zoo was open at night for the first time, and Fang Ye was, of course, strolling around the park.

Wandering from the tiger exhibit to the wolf exhibit, he could hear the howling of wolves from afar.

Upon seeing the visitors, he greeted them with a smile, "How is it, have you seen any wolves?"

"Hello, Director!"

"Good evening, Director!"

"We saw the wolves, they just ran over there, and now we don't know where they've gone!"

The visitors responded with various greetings. Soon, someone eagerly asked, "Director, the howling of the wolves sounds so terrifying. Say, do wolves eat people?"

"Yeah, their eyes are so eerie, like will-o'-the-wisps, it's really scary."

Fang Ye chuckled: "Are you all afraid of wolves? Why are you afraid of them?"

"Not afraid during the day, but scared at night!" one visitor honestly admitted.

A middle-aged man with a serious look said, "I heard from the elders that every year in the village, wolves would carry off children. Sometimes when a child was playing in the yard by themselves, they would vanish by the time the family came out.

Once, when a wolf was carrying a child into a ravine, the villagers spotted and stopped it. The family was still in pursuit, but the wolf, upon seeing so many people, dropped the child and ran away. Although the child was fortunate to survive, they were disfigured by the wolf's bites, and grew up with half of their face scarred. That's a true story from our area!"

"Wow!" the other visitors let out a series of low gasps.

"My elders also mentioned that in the 1940s and 1950s, the wolf plague in the northeast was extremely severe! Back then, wolves weren't afraid of people at all. They often roamed in packs on the outskirts of villages and even broke into them, attacking and injuring people, and stealing livestock frequently."

Another visitor pondered, "I remember seeing a piece of news before, about a female college student who went to Qinghai alone for a trip. She was missing for 20 days, and the police eventually found her remains in Hoh Xil, with only bones left. As homicide was ruled out, it must have been wolves or bears that ate her!"

The visitors listened with their hair standing on end, feeling terrified at the thought!

After listening to everyone, Fang Ye then spoke up, "This is quite a complex issue to discuss, but first, I can tell you all a simple conclusion, which is that there's no need to fear wolves because there haven't been many instances of wolves actively attacking humans worldwide in the past twenty years.

The few cases where wolves have attacked people have occurred when the wolves were eating livestock and people got into conflicts with the wolves in an attempt to protect their livestock, resulting in injuries."

A visitor couldn't help but ask, "What about the female college student who was bitten to death by a wolf?"

Fang Ye looked at the visitors here, all adults with no children, and decided it was appropriate to discuss more in-depth topics, so he patiently explained, "She was missing for 20 days, and during such a long period of time, she could have died from the cold or starvation. Although animals don't usually attack people, they do eat corpses.

As the body decomposes and the smell spreads, animals like wolves, bears, eagles, and cinereous vultures, which are scavengers, will naturally be attracted and will consume the body.

There is no evidence to suggest that she was attacked and killed by wild animals while she was alive, but when people hear about a body being reduced to bones and homicide being ruled out, do they immediately assume the killer was a wild animal, or even directly conclude that it was a wolf?"

Several tourists nodded silently, a contemplative look in their eyes as if to say that it indeed seemed to be the case, having placed the blame on wolves without much thought.

Fang Ye spread his hands, helplessly saying, "This is the stereotype and prejudice people have towards animals like wolves and tigers, picturing them as 'ferocious and brutal dangerous beasts' the moment they cross our minds.

Of course, these prejudices have their reasons, as there have been wolf and tiger disasters in history, so many cultural works, both domestic and foreign, portray these carnivores negatively, such as 'Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf' and 'friends come with good wine, but when jackals and wolves come, there are hunting guns available'—such negative impressions have been disseminated along with cultural works and are still deeply rooted in people's hearts today."

But today's environment is different. Tigers and wolves have been hunted so extensively that there are very few left, and the chances of encountering a wolf or tiger in the wild are even smaller than winning a lottery.

Moreover, when they encounter humans in the wild, they generally avoid people. You're afraid of them, but they're afraid of you too."

"So that's how it is."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

A muscular brother spoke earnestly, "Indeed, people's understanding of animals should keep advancing, not remain in the past. My initial impression of wolves wasn't very good, but after visiting the wolf exhibit a few times and seeing the educational display boards, I've come to understand their role in the ecosystem, and my perception changed."

"Brother is right, helping everyone eliminate prejudice and correctly understand animals, knowing how to treat them properly, is also the purpose of our zoo," Fang Ye said as he gave the brother a thumbs-up in praise.

Since the topic had come up, it was better to clarify some things, as merely saying that today's wolves won't attack people wouldn't completely alleviate everyone's concerns. It was also an opportunity to explain what to do if you really do encounter a wolf in the wild.

He continued the explanation: "As for why wolves might attack people, researchers have conducted studies and ultimately attributed the causes to four categories: rabies, defensive attacks, predatory attacks, and competitive aggression."

The tourists listened attentively!

Fang Ye eloquently explained, "It's easy to understand rabies; wolves become agitated, leave the pack, and bite everything that moves and doesn't move around them.

Rabid wolf attacks differ from predatory attacks. A rabid wolf will bite whoever it encounters with randomness and won't consume the victim. However, wolves are not the main hosts of rabies, and cases of them injuring people are rare.

As for defensive attacks, these are passive attacks triggered by wolves out of fear or anger when they feel threatened by humans, aiming to escape or drive the person away."

For instance, when a mother wolf is with her pups and someone approaches the den, she will attack the person to protect her cubs. And actually, this behavior is the same with other animals. I believe everyone has heard of birds attacking people to protect their nests, right?"

Instantly, a tourist chimed in with a personal story: "I've actually experienced this! Once while I was taking a walk, I encountered a baby bird on the ground. Thinking it might have fallen from the nest and might get caught by a stray cat, I planned to take it home to care for it. But then two birds swooped down and pecked at me; I figured it might be their child and promptly put it back down."

Fang Ye advised, "Yes, that was the right thing to do. If anyone encounters a fledgling out of its nest, definitely don't randomly take it home. Most people don't know how to care for a fledgling, and the survival rate at home is very low. Moreover, even if it survives, once grown, the bird will not know how to forage or avoid predators; releasing it back into the wild is a certain death sentence.

Perhaps the fledgling was just trying to fly and not succeeding, with the parent bird watching over it. In such cases, just walk away, or place it back on the branches of a bush. If you're uncertain what to do, contact an animal rescue center and let professionals take care of it."

Rescuing birds is another thing the public lacks understanding about. Once the bird exhibit is completed, there will be special displays to introduce this!

Getting back to the main point: "If you're unexpectedly attacked by a wolf, simply leaving the area is best.

Defensive attacks also include wolves attacking hunters in pursuit or animal trainers—this goes without saying. In such situations, wolves usually only attack swiftly once rather than persistently biting."