The body of Candice Berner, 32, was found Monday off the road a mile outside the village of Chignik Bay on the Alaska Peninsula, which is about 474 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Authorities said the body had been dragged off the road to the village's lagoon and was surrounded by wolf tracks.
In an autopsy report Thursday, the Alaska State Medical Examiner listed "multiple injuries due to animal mauling" as the cause of death for Berner, a special education teacher originally from Slippery Rock, Pa., who began working in Alaska in August.
The autopsy could not say which animals, said Col. Audie Holloway, head of the Alaska State Troopers, but wolves are the chief suspect.
"There's no other carnivores in that area that are out and active," he said.
Wolves, bears, foxes and other wildlife have disturbed bodies in the Alaska wilderness, but Holloway said the autopsy ruled out other causes that may have killed Berner. Additional tests could tie the death to wolves, Holloway said.
"If we're able to actually prove which animal, it will be through some kind of DNA analysis or through some expert that can maybe testify or explain how they know that it's a wolf," he said.
Troopers have plenty of circumstantial evidence leading them to point the finger at wolves.
"There were wolf tracks all around the body, and drag marks associated with those wolf tracks," Holloway said.
Tracks indicated more than one wolf was involved.
"From the number of prints at the scene, we're thinking there probably were, possibly, two, three, maybe four," Holloway said.
Wolf attacks on humans are rare and there has not been a documented case of a wolf killing a human in Alaska. But concerns over the large predators persist.
In 2007, villagers in the western Eskimo village of Marshall posted sentries at night on the town periphery to keep wolves out after a pack of wolves attacked and killed six sled dogs. A wolf killed by villagers turned out to be rabid.
In Chignik Bay, a community of 105 residents, villagers were already were on alert because of wolves running boldly nearby, said Johnny Lind, president of the village council.
In comments Thursday before the autopsy results were announced, Lind said wolf involvement was apparent.
"It's obvious. Goodness. It's obvious," he said.
Since Tuesday, people were not traveling alone, school children were accompanied to school and armed patrols on snowmobiles were looking for wolves, he said.
"Everybody's kind of staying close to the village," he said.
Multiple calls left for the spokeswoman of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Jennifer Yuhas, were not returned Thursday.
Most adult male wolves in Alaska weigh 85 to 115 pounds but they occasionally reach 145 pounds, according to the Department of Fish and Game. Females average 5 to 10 pounds lighter than males and rarely weigh more than 110 pounds. Wolves reach adult size by about 1 year of age, and the largest wolves occur where prey is abundant year round.
Rick Luthi, the Lake and Peninsula School District's chief operating officer, said Berner during her short time in Alaska tried to take in as many experiences as she could. The district distributed a photo of her on a district outing catching crab.
"She wasn't going to miss anything about living in that area," he said.
Under 5 feet tall, Berner had boxed and lately had been training for long-distance running.
"She was a gymnast by early training and was in very good physical condition," Luthi said.
http://www.adn.com/2010/03/09/1175725/wolf-blamed-in-death-of-villager.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
“But violent encounters with people are more rare.
Last September, a rabid wolf attacked a hunter along the Kuskokwim River near Kalskag, biting the man in his leg before being shot to death. The hunter lived.
In April 2000, a radio-collared wolf repeatedly bit a 6-year-old boy playing in a grove of alders at a logging camp northwest of Yakutat. The boy was not seriously injured.
Then in July 2006, a wolf attacked a schoolteacher walking off the Dalton Highway, along the Arctic Circle. The woman suffered cuts and gashes to her legs but survived.
McNay, who now lives in Kansas, is the author of a 2002 study published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that examined 80 wolf-human encounters in North America, nearly half of which involved elements of aggression among healthy wolves.
The cases in which wolves are most aggressive are the cases involving wolves that have become habituated to people, he said.
"There's only been one other case of a fatal wolf attack by a healthy, wild wolf in North America, and that happened in 2005 in northern Saskatchewan," McNay said. "It is extremely rare. There have been other cases, of course, of wolves behaving aggressively toward people.
‘The frequency of these cases seems to have increased in the past decade or so.’”
Joe LaRocca
It is sometimes good to read more than one version of a story.
I still wonder why the woman was not warned if people were seeing many wolves around. I still think there may be more to this than we know.
I'm curious as to whether the victim's body was tested for signs of rabies. There is a bit of that south of the mountains I believe. If there is a rabid pack roaming a populated area, steps need to be taken to remove it.
People have been killed by all manner of animals - even their own pets. Our interactions with animals will always have an element of risk. But the animal most likely to harm us remains the homo sapiens.
Not smokein(smoking) anything. Not from the city, have lived in the woods most of my life (I'm over 40 and enjoying electricity and utilities to my dwelling for the first time), only time I've felt threatened by wildlife was when some sloppy squatter started littering up the woods around me and his food trash was attracting bears. How much 'joy killing' have you witnessed personally? I don't want stories that someone has told you just what you have seen yourself. I've never seen a 'joy killing' I have woken to scratches and pee staining on all 4 corners of my tent, seen their eyes in the night watching me from the trees and running off when they noticed they were spotted, forget the fear mentality and don't assume you know me these are intelligent animals that happen to be carnivorous predators just like us humans, they sense fear and just like us to them fear = unpredictability and thus becomes a threat. If the wolves and wildlife make you afraid stay out of the woods. By all means carry a gun in the woods for protection, but not out of fear.
If you are armed, you, not the animal decides who lives or dies. A smart person never leaves the decision up to the animal.
If this is used to promote the eradication of wolves and predators then by true logic all cars and guns,and, processed foods must immediately be removed from society for these things kill more people per day than are injured per decade by animal predation. Also by logic if people kill people then no jail just kill the killer/killers right. We should have the population down to zero in under a decade.
My .02
Moose are known to be responsible for many deaths in Alaska and we don't we start eradicating moose so people don't hit them on the roads or get stomped in the middle of town, do we. Y'all remember that young boy who got attacked by a moose on his way to school? Why no outcry for the eradication of that particular dangerous species?
Only a hypocrite would suggest that we need to eradicate wolves because they're "dangerous" when every day most of us live side by side with the most dangerous species of all- HUMANS!
Cougars killed runners in California. Bears have killed runners in Canada and mauled Alaskan runners. A runner in Eastern Canada was killed by a pack of coyotes. Animals (and human predators, for that matter) don't register our good intentions. They are too hungry, instinctive and opportunistic. We are not always at the top of the food chain. Something we all need to keep in mind.
Running is great. Running alone can be risky. Sad, but true.
“The wolves were just doing what wolves do best. Killing and eating anything with flesh. Fools want to populate the lower forty eight states with wolves. Pioneers killed them off for good reason... by someboby named ‘Stan’ on Vindy.com
The reason that our ancestors tried so hard to eradicate wolves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was precisely because wolves, when roaming in large packs, fear NOTHING! They will attack and kill human beings if they have the opportunity...
Maybe everyone that wants to pet a wolf and save a squirrel will learn that this could happen anywhere, anytime, in this state and a person just needs to be careful. I hope this gets fowarded to Feral in Conn. Eat your heart out.