Operation P.A.W. | MOVED! Please lock! c:

[.yuanfen]

So pretty much, 'habituation' comes from 'habit'- they don't want wolves to form a habit of stealing food from cars, picking up dead animals off the road, coming into populated places, etc. at the risk that they might attack a human.

[Xelly]

Ahh yes. I know about that.
Well, it's quite an interesting topic that. :3 I think that one of the reasons a wolf would come into a populated place is if a human found a wolf and began feeding it and such. It would probably follow it as if to get some more food. And then the wolf would be too dependent on the human and will always be waiting for more.
Does that sentence make sense? xD I wasn't too sure.

[Nushkly]

That makes sense to me :3
In my opinion, another reason would be the populations moving near to their habitats.

[Xelly]

Yeah, that's another reason.
Also, it could be just mere curiousity. xD I wolf could just be curious and wonders into the place, although wolves don't really like humans so it's quite rare for that kind of thing to happen.

[wolves+horses]

OMG, I'm so sorry I haven't been on in so long! I've been having a busy week, and I won't be able to go on at all over the weekend, so... I'm sorry for missing so much!

[Liru Kaulitz]

It's okay. :3

[sidereus]

Not so much curiosity as people feeding and making wolves dangerously lose their natural avoidance of humans.


Reinforced by food, wolves may quickly learn that humans are a much easier source of food rather than using much of their energy to hunt, and even then there's a risk that a hoof might crush their spine or even skull. And even if wolves get a wound or two, they might not even make a kill and have wasted their efforts.


If a human feeds an animal [in this case (grey) wolves], the animal will learn "oh hey that thing's got food" and will start to rely on humans for more food.
To many people, this is "d'aww it looks just like Molly/Rex/etc.! I think he's hungry! here, want a bite of hotdog?"

This is not your household dog begging for food at the dinner table.

It was a wild animal, but now it will most likely come into towns/villages/etc. and if some unlucky person doesn't give it some food, they become the food, and guess what? Once the wolf has attacked/killed a person(s), it must now be euthanized/relocated.

So when people think "I'm such a good person, I fed a starving wolfie today!" (I seriously hope no one thinks this in real life)
they are actually harming the animal in a way that, if it attacks a person(s), it will most likely have to be euthanized/relocated.

[Kazza.]

Wolves don't come into our city often, but I have heard about it a few times (mainly with the farms on the outskirts since there's like 10 within a mile and a half of the city XD). The most I've heard of a wolf coming back and attacking the animals at the farm was twice, but after that the wolf got shot, since it was a grey wolf. You don't have to feed a wolf to have it come and attack where people live. I may be taking it all wrong, but you make it sound like the only way a wolf would attack in a place where people live is by feeding it...

[Xelly]

I agree Blue, it's mainly because of people thinking they're heros if they feed the wolves... Etc etc and all that you've said already. :3
I was just about to say ~KK, that it could also be the wolves being attracted to nearby farms which have sheep that they could easily hunt down, but then again. The farmer would probably shoot it like you've said, so yeah.

[Kazza.]

I was just about to say ~KK, that it could also be the wolves being attracted to nearby farms which have sheep that they could easily hunt down, but then again. The farmer would probably shoot it like you've said, so yeah.

Opps! I haven't heard of many attacks or wolves being IN town though, mainly just on the outskirts.