Wolves Again
A reader reminded of something that I knew, but didn't remember to add into my recent post about wolves: mountain lions in California appear to have become aggressive since hunting of the cute and cuddly little creatures was banned by initiative in 1996. This list of mountain lion attacks on people in California from the late 19th century to the present (assuming that it is correct and complete) strongly suggests mountain lions are like wolves: best managed by keeping them afraid of us.
Another reader reminded me that Willa Cather's My Antonia (1918), while set in the United States, has a subplot involving Ukrainian immigrants with a dark and horrific history behind them in the old country--a wedding party set upon by a large wolf pack, in which one of the groom, to save himself, lets them take his bride. Now, it is fiction, but as a general rule, when an author is writing what is intended as realistic fiction, he usually uses materials that are either realistic, or that his readers will consider realistic. That doesn't make it common, or even possible--but the burden of proof is generally on those who want to argue that such a tale was outlandish or absurd.
UPDATE: I read that excerpt a little too quickly. One of the groomsmen, to avoid being eaten himself, pushes the bride and groom out of the sledge to their deaths.
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