Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece
Wolf (Canis lupus) populations have recovered and expanded across many parts of the world thanks to conservation efforts, including improved legal status and restoration of their prey. Concurrently, public concerns regarding the risk of wolf attacks on humans and livestock are increasing as wolves o...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.81915 https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/81915/ |
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ftpensoft:10.3897/natureconservation.50.81915 2023-05-15T15:51:17+02:00 Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece Iliopoulos,Yorgos Astaras,Christos Chatzimichael,Eirini 2022 text/html https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.81915 https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/81915/ en eng Pensoft Publishers info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1314-3301 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1314-6947 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Nature Conservation 50: 115-143 animal attacks on humans forensic analysis large carnivores livestock guarding dogs multidisciplinary approach wolf Research Article 2022 ftpensoft https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.81915 2022-10-24T23:56:59Z Wolf (Canis lupus) populations have recovered and expanded across many parts of the world thanks to conservation efforts, including improved legal status and restoration of their prey. Concurrently, public concerns regarding the risk of wolf attacks on humans and livestock are increasing as wolves occupy human-dominated landscapes. We examined a unique case in Europe allegedly involving wolves in the death of a female British tourist, aged 64, in northern Greece in September 2017. This incident received extensive international media attention and yet many fundamental details of the case area are lacking, including whether local livestock guarding dogs played a role. To assist in resolving the case, we conducted an extensive literature review which documented 13 criteria linked to the risk of either a wolf and/or a dog attacking a human. We also conducted a camera trap survey (October to December 2017) soon after the fatal attack to calculate the activity overlap among humans, dogs and wolves. Sufficient data were available for assessing 11 of the 13 criteria. For the remaining two, the required data were either not analysed (i.e. canid DNA collected from the attack site), not appropriately collected (i.e. DNA from the mouths of suspected dogs) or were collected, but misinterpreted (i.e. the post-consumption patterns of the victim’s corpse). Via this combination of evidence, we conclude that this case involved a fatal dog attack. This assertion is supported by evidence such as the: a) high dog-human activity overlap at the attack site which peaked during the attack time as opposed to near zero wolf-human activity overlap at the same time, b) presence of a large pack of unsupervised dogs, c) high ratio of male dogs in the dog pack, d) close vicinity of the attack site to dog owner’s property and e) previous documented aggression of these dogs towards humans. The consumption patterns, time scale and location of the victim’s remains indicate a posthumous consumption of the corpse possibly by the same dogs and/or by ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Pensoft Publishers Nature Conservation 50 115 143 |
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Pensoft Publishers |
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language |
English |
topic |
animal attacks on humans forensic analysis large carnivores livestock guarding dogs multidisciplinary approach wolf |
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animal attacks on humans forensic analysis large carnivores livestock guarding dogs multidisciplinary approach wolf Iliopoulos,Yorgos Astaras,Christos Chatzimichael,Eirini Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece |
topic_facet |
animal attacks on humans forensic analysis large carnivores livestock guarding dogs multidisciplinary approach wolf |
description |
Wolf (Canis lupus) populations have recovered and expanded across many parts of the world thanks to conservation efforts, including improved legal status and restoration of their prey. Concurrently, public concerns regarding the risk of wolf attacks on humans and livestock are increasing as wolves occupy human-dominated landscapes. We examined a unique case in Europe allegedly involving wolves in the death of a female British tourist, aged 64, in northern Greece in September 2017. This incident received extensive international media attention and yet many fundamental details of the case area are lacking, including whether local livestock guarding dogs played a role. To assist in resolving the case, we conducted an extensive literature review which documented 13 criteria linked to the risk of either a wolf and/or a dog attacking a human. We also conducted a camera trap survey (October to December 2017) soon after the fatal attack to calculate the activity overlap among humans, dogs and wolves. Sufficient data were available for assessing 11 of the 13 criteria. For the remaining two, the required data were either not analysed (i.e. canid DNA collected from the attack site), not appropriately collected (i.e. DNA from the mouths of suspected dogs) or were collected, but misinterpreted (i.e. the post-consumption patterns of the victim’s corpse). Via this combination of evidence, we conclude that this case involved a fatal dog attack. This assertion is supported by evidence such as the: a) high dog-human activity overlap at the attack site which peaked during the attack time as opposed to near zero wolf-human activity overlap at the same time, b) presence of a large pack of unsupervised dogs, c) high ratio of male dogs in the dog pack, d) close vicinity of the attack site to dog owner’s property and e) previous documented aggression of these dogs towards humans. The consumption patterns, time scale and location of the victim’s remains indicate a posthumous consumption of the corpse possibly by the same dogs and/or by ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Iliopoulos,Yorgos Astaras,Christos Chatzimichael,Eirini |
author_facet |
Iliopoulos,Yorgos Astaras,Christos Chatzimichael,Eirini |
author_sort |
Iliopoulos,Yorgos |
title |
Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece |
title_short |
Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece |
title_full |
Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece |
title_fullStr |
Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a British tourist in northern Greece |
title_sort |
dogs, not wolves, most likely to have caused the death of a british tourist in northern greece |
publisher |
Pensoft Publishers |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.81915 https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/81915/ |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Nature Conservation 50: 115-143 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1314-3301 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1314-6947 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.81915 |
container_title |
Nature Conservation |
container_volume |
50 |
container_start_page |
115 |
op_container_end_page |
143 |
_version_ |
1766386436182900736 |