The Red Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood

Origins

The Red Wolf line is set with a branching from a common ancestor of the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus), the eastern North Americn wolves, and the Coyote (Canis latrans). One branch remained in North America. The other branch migrated to Eurasia and there gave rise to the Gray Wolf.

Once part of the same continuum of wolves, land-clearing and direct exploitation by people following European colonization resulted in a large gap between the few remaining Red Wolves in the southeastern United States and the larger population in central Ontario and southern Quebec.

Red Wolves are shy and wary creatures - a possible explanation for their 'rare' reputation. They prefer to hunt alone, or in small family groups; pack sizes are smaller than those of their gray cousins, consisting often of one adult pair and their offspring. Red wolves also are known to breed with coyotes, and their special features are being lost.

Wolf attacks

Europe

In Scotland, during the reign of James VI, wolves were considered such a threat to travellers that special houses called "spittals" were erected on the highways for protection. The people of the Scottish Highlands used to bury their dead on offshore islands to avoid having the bodies eaten by wolves.

During the First World War, starving wolves had amassed in great numbers in Kovno and began attacking Imperial Russian and Imperial German fighting forces, causing the two fighting armies to form a temporary truce to fight off the animals.

Attack patterns

A recent study on historical wolf attacks occurring in the 18th-19th centuries indicated that victims were almost entirely children under the age of 12, with 85% of the attacks occurring when an adult was not present.

In the few cases when an adult was killed, it was almost always a woman. In nearly all cases, only a single victim was injured in each attack, although the victim was with 2–3 other people in a few cases.

Close contact with humans likely caused them to lose their fear of man. In contrast, to attacks by rabid wolves, purely predatory attacks are carried out by a lone wolf or by a pack. While a rabid wolf will bite it's vitim and run, a predatory attack is persisted. While a rabid wolf never eats its victim, if the victim is killed in a predatory attack, the corpse may be consumed on the spot or removed to be consumed elsewhere.

North America

Woodland Indians were usually the most at risk, as they would often encounter wolves suddenly and at close quarters. An old Nunamiut hunter once said in an interview with author Barry Lopez that wolves used to attack his people, until the introduction of firearms, at which point the attacks ceased

In Modern Times

As humans begin to encroach on wolf habitat more contacts are being noted. Often the contact is because the person is walking their pet dog and the wolf pack considers the dog a prey item, inciting an attack

Precautionary Measures

"Firecrackers should be used at irregular intervals to scare off the predating wolf".

Little Red Riding Hood is a famous fairy tale about a young girl's encounter with a wolf.

Other cultures' names for Little Red Riding Hood

Afrikaans: Rooikappie, meaning Little Red Cap
Albanian: Kesulkuqja, meaning 'Red Cap'
Arabic: ليلى و الذئب, meaning 'Layla and the Wolf'
Basque: Txano Gorritxo
Bulgarian: Червената шапчица (Chervenata shapchitsa), meaning 'The Red Hat'
Catalan: La Caputxeta Vermella
Czech: Červená karkulka
Chinese: 小紅帽, meaning 'Little Red Hat'
Croatian and Bosnian: Crvenkapica, meaning 'Little Red Hat'
Danish: Den lille Rødhætte, meaning 'the Little Redhood'
Dutch: Roodkapje, meaning 'Little Red Hat'
Estonian: Punamütsike, meaning 'Little Red Hat'
Finnish: Punahilkka, meaning 'Red Hood'
French: Le Petit Chaperon rouge, meaning 'the Little Red Hood'
Galician: Carapuchiña Vermella
Georgian: წითელქუდა (tsitel quda), meaning 'Little Red Hat'
German: Rotkäppchen, meaning 'Little Red Cap'
Greek: Κοκκινοσκουφίτσα (Kokkinoskoufitsa), meaning 'Little Red Cap'
Hebrew: כיפה אדומה (Kippah Addumah), meaning 'Red Cap'
Hungarian: Piroska, meaning 'Little Red' also a proper feminine first name
Icelandic: Rauðhetta, meaning 'Red Hood'
Indonesian: Gadis Berkerudung Merah, meaning 'Red Hooded Girl'
Italian: Cappuccetto Rosso, meaning 'Little Red Hood'
Japanese: 赤頭巾 (Akazukin), meaning 'Red Hood'
Korean: 빨간 모자 (Ppalgan moja), meaning 'Red Hat'
Latin: Lacernella Rubra, meaning 'Little Red Hood'
Latvian: Sarkangalvīte, meaning 'Little Red Head'
Lithuanian: Raudonkepuraitė, meaning 'Little Red Cap'
Norwegian: Rødhette, meaning 'Red Hood'
Persian: شنل قرمزی, meaning 'Red-caped'
Polish: Czerwony kapturek
Portuguese: Capuchinho Vermelho, meaning 'Little Red Hood'.
Portuguese (Brazilian): Chapeuzinho Vermelho, meaning 'Little Red Hat'.
Romanian: Scufiţa Roşie meaning 'Little Red Cap'
Russian: Красная шапочка (Krasnaya shapochka), meaning 'Little Red Hat'
Serbian and Macedonian: Црвенкапа (Crvenkapa), meaning 'Red Hat'
Slovak: Červená čiapočka
Slovenian: Rdeča kapica, meaning 'Red (little) Cap'
Spanish: Caperucita Roja, meaning 'Little Red Hood'
Swedish: Rödluvan, meaning '(The) Red Hood'
Thai: หนูน้อยหมวกแดง, meaning 'little girl with red cap'
Turkish: Kırmızı Başlıklı Kız, meaning 'girl with red cap'
Vietnamese: Cô bé quàng khăn đỏ
Welsh: Hugan Fach Goch



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Wolf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_wolf_attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Riding_Hood

I now promise to put this behind me, and never mention this again.