A Texas man visiting Yellowstone National Park said he was “scared, but not super afraid” when a young wolf trailed him for about 10 minutes and even continued to hang around after he blasted it twice with bear spray.
“He didn’t threaten me at any time. But still, it’s a wild animal and a predator,” Ignazio Zanin of Houston, Texas, told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview Tuesday.
Wolf Was ‘Just On That Guy’
The encounter happened Sunday in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, which is known for wolf activity.
Another park visitor, Deric Smith of Fenton, Missouri, took video of the incident through a spotting scope and said it was tense.
“The wolf followed that guy for 10 to 12 minutes. He was just on that guy,” Smith told Cowboy State Daily.
In the video, a black wolf with a tracking collar is seen trotting up the a bench on the Lamar River Trail behind Zanin.
"So this person," a voice on the video says, "is being chased by a wolf."
Zanin kept walking but turned several times to look at the wolf as it trotted closer in the sagebrush, "practically coming within touching distance," Zanin told Cowboy State Daily.
Zanin at first appeared oblivious.
"Oh my god," a voice on the video says.
"Dude!" a second voice is heard saying. "He's right with him! It's like it's his dog! Dude, he's got to be scared."
At that point, the wolf moved to Zanin's right side. Zanin calmly turned, hit the wolf with bear spray, and kept walking without breaking stride.
Meanwhile, the wolf backtracked about 20 feet behind him.
"That's insane," a voice on the video finally says.
Another voice chimed in: "I think the spray worked."
Before that, Smith had taken video of the wolf walking up to a group of at least three people.
‘Just Too Used to People’
Zanin said he was interviewed by park rangers after the incident. They told him it was likely one of several adolescent wolves in the area, which, like curious "teenagers," have been pushing boundaries with tourists.
He added that to his knowledge no action is planned against the wolf.
Zanin, who came to the U.S. from Chile, was on the first day of his first visit to Yellowstone when he decided to go for a hike in the Lamar Valley.
“He (the wolf) just started following me for no reason,” he said. “Apparently, according to what the rangers told me, they (Lamar Valley wolves) are just too used to people.
“He was a good distance away at first but started to get closer."
Zanin said the wolf didn’t growl, snarl, or show any other signs of an imminent attack.
However, the experience was nerve-wracking.
“It was a wolf. A predator. I didn’t know for certain if it was safe or not,” he said.
At two points during the encounter, Zanin said he shot short bursts of bear spray at the wolf, which backed off but wasn’t completely deterred.
Smith said as he watched the encounter unfold, he was impressed by how Zanin stayed “completely calm and cool.”
Zanin said he doesn’t know much about Yellowstone’s wildlife, but he knew enough to not show any outward signs of fear or try to run away.
“I just kept walking,” he said. “I knew that panic was not going to help you in any way. I just stayed calm.”
With the wolf nearby, Zanin said he didn’t want to take the risk of pushing back the way he’d come so he kept going forward, making a long loop back to the highway.
He said rangers told him that according to what they could determine about the wolf’s movements it left the area to rejoin other wolves.
A response from the Park Service's public relations office was still pending as of publication time.
‘I Just Wanted This Thing To Leave Me Alone’
Smith said he had some unexpected free time before departing Yellowstone on Sunday, so he decided to head out to the Lamar Valley and see if he could spot some wolves.
He said watching the Zanin encounter with the wolf was more than he bargained for.
When he first spotted the wolf, “I thought, some idiot has let their dog off the leash,” because all he could make in the distance was a large canine that was showing no fear toward the people around it.
Once he figured out the animal was a wolf, he was transfixed watching its interactions with Zanin and other hikers.
He said he met and spoke with Zanin after the hiker made it back to the road.
Despite his outward calm, Zanin admitted to being unnerved.
“He said, ‘I just wanted this thing to leave me alone,’” Smith said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
