WANTED: Known as 'La Bête' but kills under three aliases. Reddish brown with dark ridged stripe down the back. Resembles wolf/hyena but big as a donkey. Long gaping jaw, 6 claws, pointy upright ears and supple furry tail - mobile like a cat's and can knock you over. Cry: more like horse neighing than wolf howling. Last seen by people mostly now dead.

Wolf, werewolf, hyena, baboon or mesonychid: In many respects the beast of Gévaudan was like other creatures in the annals of cryptozoology - but for one: historical records indicate that, over a 4 year span, it (or 'they') killed around 100 people - eating most of them. [more inside]
posted by rongorongo on Apr 5, 2011 - 42 comments

Shaun Ellis is a wolf behavior expert who raises abandoned wolf cubs and teaches them, by example, the basics of being a wolf. Here he is teaching wolf cubs how to howl. He's also been experimenting with using recordings of howling to protect farms and livestock from wolves. Awwwooooo!
posted by homunculus on Sep 17, 2008 - 36 comments

Enemy of the State. Wolves in Alaska are gunned down from the air for cash bounties, their orphaned pups often discovered by agency biologists in the field and killed. Alaskans soon vote on proposition 2 to stop the controversial slaughter that serves the interests of large game hunters.
posted by Brian B. on Aug 29, 2008 - 30 comments

The Long Reach of the Wolf
Wolves were returned to Yellowstone in 1995 after a 70 year absence (they were destroyed as menaces during the 20's). There are now 16 active packs in the park, and they have triggered a cascade of unanticipated changes in the park's ecosystem.
posted by Irontom on Jun 7, 2004 - 24 comments