Close Adventures Of The Wolf Kind
By: Dave Zeug
A gray wolf captured on the author’s game camera.
Jenny Biolo, who lives in far northwest Wisconsin, is likely the only woman in the country, maybe in North America, who had to courage to take on a wolf with a stick. “He wasn’t expecting a 33-year old blonde with a stick when came after my daughter’s goat,” said Biolo. “There was no way I was going to let him get her goat. I guess my motherly instincts just kicked in.”
Biolo was looking out her window on an October morning when she saw the domestic animals around her rural residence agitated. “Besides the goat, my geese and ducks were all running toward the house, then I saw the wolf with his eye on the goat. We let the goats run around outside since they keep the weeds down,” said Biolo.
The author snapped this photo of a gray wolf while deer hunting.
“I ran outside and grabbed a stick about the size of a broomstick when I saw the wolf was coming right up to the house where the goat was behind me. He was keyed in on the goat and tried to go around me to get at it, so I hit I hit him on the head with the stick. He looked like he was mad, because he growled and snarled at me, but I guess that’s not unusual if you get whacked in the head. I did wonder what I was doing once. After the first hit he backed off, then he went around me to get after the goat again, so I hit him a few more times. I think I hit him 4 times total, he kept trying to get the goat and there was no way I was going to let him get my daughter’s goat, she feeds them every day. He finally backed off when a friend arrived and got a gun from the house and shot in the air a couple times to make sure it stayed away,” said Biolo. “With all that activity my horses in the coral got excited and got loose, but I was able to catch them without too much trouble. The dogs were going wild in the kennel, but they didn’t get out like the horses did.”
Biolo said she hasn’t had problems with the other wolves she often sees, but they weren’t as bold as this wolf. “Wolves have a place, but I don’t like it when they get this brazen, although this one was fixated on the goat, he didn’t show any aggression directly at me,” said Biolo.
Gray wolf populations have rebounded recently in many states.
After the incident, Biolo contacted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources who relayed the information on the encounter to the Dept. of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services who investigates wildlife damage or threatening incidents. Since the wolf wasn’t aggressive toward Biolo, the decision was made by the WDNR to not remove the wolf, but she was asked to notify them if it comes back again.
Recently the gray wolf was removed from the endangered species list in the Upper Great Lakes states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan and the agencies will be given management authority.
