Watch: Man Finds Wolf in Trap… Then His Instincts Kick in

Imagine that while out hunting, you stumble on an admittedly adorable timber wolf whose paw has been caught in a trap. How might you react?

When a hunter and his team faced this exact scenario in Wisconsin two years ago, they chose to intervene on the wolf’s behalf by releasing his trap.

Because of the natures of wolves, who are wild animals whose behavior bears few similarities to that of domesticated canines, the hunter knew that doing so would not necessarily be safe.

Using a large wooden board, he first set up a makeshift rampart to protect himself in case the wolf chose to attack him.

Then, as his peers watched with their rifles aimed at the wolf, the hunter quickly knelt down and released the trap.

The overjoyed wolf then trotted away at lightening-fast speed.

Watch the whole encounter below:

Talk about a lucky situation for both the hunter and the wolf.

As noted by Honest To Paws, a wolf’s natural instinct is to “to fight against you out of fear,” which is why “(g)etting it to cooperate for the sake of its own life is a challenge that requires clever thinking.”

Some might wonder though why he even chose to assist in the first place. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, timber wolves (also known as gray wolves) are “currently on the Federal Endangered Species List” due to decreased population levels.

So not only would have leaving the wolf there been illegal, it would have also been cruel. To be clear, though, wolf hunting in general isn’t illegal — and for a very good reason.

Speaking about hunting in 2009, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin explained that if wolf populations were not kept in check by purposeful hunting, large problems would ensue not only for her human constituents but for her animal ones as well.

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“Alaskans depend on wildlife for food and cultural practices which can’t be sustained when predators (wolves) are allowed to decimate moose and caribou populations,” she said.

The point is that wolf hunting can help the long-term “conservation” of an ecosystem. In Wisconsin, however, things are different, which is why the courageous hunter in the video above chose a different recourse, despite the risks it posed to his own life.

H/T Head Cramp

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