Reintroducing Wolves to Wyoming
An Historic Conservation Achievement
Wolves and People
A comparison of all large mammal attacks on human reveals that wolf attacks are among the rarest.
A person in wolf country has a greater chance of being hit by lightning, dying of a bee sting, or being killed in a vehicle collision with a deer than being injured by a wolf.
That being said, all wild animals have the potential to be dangerous to humans, especially those that come into contact with humans frequently and become "habituated", which means losing their natural fear of people. Habituation often occurs when an animal associates people with food, causing the animal to become aggressive towards humans (hence the saying, "A fed bear is a dead bear", since bears that become habituated to humans through feeding often become aggressive and have to be subsequently removed).
Like dogs, wolves are curious animals, readily investigating new things in their environment. Hence, the vast majority of wolf-human encounters are due to simple curiosity on the part of the wolf on the part of the wolf. Wolves are, however, very territorial and intolerant of the presence of other canids. Hikers with dogs have occasionally been followed, barked at, and growled at by resident wolves protecting their territory from a trespassing canine. Wolves have also been documented exhibiting these same behaviors when pups are present.
For guidelines about the best ways to handle encounters with wolves in the wild, consult Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks webpage on wolf encounters