Wolf killed after attempting to drag boy, 6, into woods

YAKUTAT, Alaska - In perhaps the first recorded case in North America, a wolf attacked a 6-year-old boy at a logging camp and tried to drag the child into the woods before it was chased away by adults.

The wolf returned about 10 minutes later and was shot dead, authorities said. Game officials said such attacks are rare, and the wolf's head was being flown to Fairbanks to be tested for rabies.

"I'm not aware of a recorded incident of this happening in Alaska, and probably in the United States or North America," said Mike McDonald, an officer with the state Fish and Game Department.

State troopers said the boy, John Stingline, was bitten once in his back and twice on the buttocks. The bite to the back was the most severe injury and required stitches, authorities said.

Witnesses said the boy was playing in a clump of small trees at the logging camp in Icy Bay, about 300 miles east of Anchorage, when the wolf emerged from the woods about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The wolf was "aware of the other people around him, but his whole intention was trying to take off with the little boy," camper Teresa Thompson said. "He had literally picked the little boy off the ground."

A camp carpenter threw rocks at the wolf and a dog chased it away, Thompson said. She said her husband spotted the animal about 10 minutes later and shot it.