Over the last few weeks, there’s been a story circulating on social media about a man from Colorado who identified as a wolf and wanted to live with wolves in Wyoming. The story claimed he dressed up in a wolf costume and crawled out to where wolves were living, but was then mauled by the pack and was recovering in a Wyoming hospital.
The whole story was a gag made up by the Casper Planet, a joke news site. The Planet lists its address as “Satire Street.”
I have to say, it’s somewhat disturbing to see how many people not only bought into the story, but seemed to rejoice about the purported harm this man came to. I get that wolves are a contentious subject here in Wyoming, where they were reintroduced against the wishes of the people who are trying to eke out a living here. And I know many of us don’t understand why some people feel that they are something other than what their bodies appear to be. But wolves are wolves and people are people, no matter how they got here or what they think they are.
Had this been a true story, it would have been the first reported incident of a wolf or a group of wolves attacking a human in Wyoming. There may be some cases in Minnesota or Wisconsin, but if there are, there are very few and they remain very rare. If somebody had really dressed up in a wolf costume and gone into an area inhabited by wolves, most likely the wolves would have simply run away.
That’s not to say there aren’t people out there who believe themselves to be wolves – or other critters – trapped in human bodies. I don’t understand that myself, but I wouldn’t celebrate if they got eaten by wild animals. As long as they’re not preying on someone’s livestock, they’re not harming anyone.
As for the story, it shows you need to pay attention so you don’t get snookered.
