Luckily for Walter Eikrem, it does not appear Norwegian wolves care for Creed.
The 13-year-old was walking home from the school bus stop in the town of Rakkestdad this week when he noticed something on the hillside near his family’s farmhouse, according to Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine.
At first he thought they were dogs, but he soon realized they were wolves - four of them - the magazine said, citing Norway’s TV2.
The boy, remembering that his mother had told him never to run from wolves, pulled the headphones out of his mobile phone and cranked up the volume on the tiny speakers.
He was listening to “Overcome” by Creed, an arguably Christian rock band, and apparently, the wolves were not fans.
(Initial reports indicated Walter shooed the wolves away with a Megadeth song, but the blog at Gibson guitars cleared up the confusion.)
“They just turned around and simply trotted away,” he told the TV station, according to Der Spiegel. “The worst thing you can do is run away because doing so just invites the wolves to chase you down ... but I was so afraid that I couldn't even run away if I'd wanted to.”
To be fair, Walter was yelling at the top of his lungs and wildly flailing his arms, so it’s tough to say exactly what made the wolves decide the boy might not be delicious.
His mother told the local paper that she was going to pick her son up from school because she knew there were wolves in the area, but she got carried away shopping, Der Spiegel reported.
“I have a completely guilty conscience,” she said. “The previous evening, we saw three wolves on the edge of the forest when we were putting our horses in their stall. The horses were panicky.”
Um, thanks, mum? … Well, OK, scratch that. Perhaps sarcasm is a little harsh for the woman who taught young Walter never to run from wolves.
Wolves, like dogs and other canines, will only attack most likely when they sense fear from their prey.
That's the dumbest thing I've read today.
You nailed that one Dennis. That comment might qualify for the "idiot of the year" remark.
Re: Dennis... wolves, like dogs, have a high prey drive and this behavior can be activated by an animal or person fleeing. Dogs with a high prey drive (higher than wolves in some cases due to selective breeding) are not recommended to be kept with small children for this very reason. A pretty good example of this is dogs and cats in the same household - often the dog will chase the cat if it runs, but ignore the cat if it walks.
They will also attack for other reasons– defense, hunger, etc, of course. But dogs and wolves indeed have a prey drive, and fleeing is one of the things that can activate it.
It's actually running more than secreting fear smells that does it. So be as afraid as you want, just don't run away.... (Wolves are much faster anyway)
Or perhaps when they are hungry?
MyKids you are correct.
It wasn't Creed
itwas Megadeath, whoever wrote this, don't know their music at all. and should go back to school &more thanlikely like the crap that out now like lady ga me, and justin "no talent" beijer
http://www.wkqq.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=104648&article=8073854
Every country should have a Sarah Palin armed with a rifle in a helicopter for just such an occassion, huh
If I was hunting someone and they pladed Creed, they would strike fear in me. KVLT!
Yes, and they will starve until they they do so.
Not so fast dummies, mykids has a good point! I remember in my past where I was approached by a guard dog (doberman) in the middle of the night on the street that had escaped from a auto repair shop. I made myself larger by raising the six pack of beer in my hands that I just bought from the store. He studied me then opted to head across the street where I believe he chose his freedom over training and risk.
I doubt the wolves would have hurt the boy. I own my 2nd wolf and although a great pet, he is very shy and timid. BTW, my 1st wolf 'saved' my grandson tottler when he got out of the yard one day, following him like he was one of his pups. Cody (the wolf) would normally roam the countryside when he got out of the yard for a few hours, but not hhis time. He stuck to my grandson like glue to make sure nothing bad happened.
You should be glad it was wolves instead of cayotes. I'm glad the boy is safe.
@Jon...Good news! yours has just won it today but too bad, you've tied with Dennis for the first prize. But don't worry it's a trip for two, so hope both of you will enjoy your trip to TIMBUKTO. BON VOYAGE!!!
@Frangile, J100409, Boondocks, TD and the rest of who shared positive and intellect thoughts and ideas. THANK YOU...for your help to make things clearer to those less fortunate individuals whose level of comprehension are far too low to distinguish the differrence between infomatic and idiotic. They have been mistaken name callings and uncivil comments as intelligent and valid arguments.
Rare but it does happen...tragiclly a young women out for a run, in Chignik Alaska was killed by hungry wolves last winter...The boy's mother was wise to teach him not to run...Thank God!
Frangible – actually, just to be completely anal about this subject, there is no such thing as a "prey drive". Turns out that the people who study animal behavior have defined a "drive" in a very specific way. Hunger, thirst, are among many of the drives that animals have. "Prey" is not one of those drives though. Just saying.
Creed is not a Christian band and Mykids is right. If you run , canines will usually chase you.Domestic dogs may just lick you when they catch you but wild wolves, well ...
To John;
"It wasn't Creed
itwas Megadeath, whoever wrote this, don't know their music at all. and should go back to school &more thanlikely like the crap that out now like lady ga me, and justin "no talent" beijer
http://www.wkqq.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=104648&article=8073854"
You do realize that the article you posted says that it WAS Creed, right? Want some advice? Place foot in mouth and swallow. Idiot.
Attack from these type of predators are triggered by flight and the smell of adrenaline released by their prey. For a lion or wolf that has never seen a human being and is unaware of his/her potential threat will likely step back if you don't run and mentally strong enough to not trigger your fear response.....likely that this boy released some adrenaline in the air but his distance and direction of wind could have been also a factor, it is not 100% but following this rule can greatly improve your chances. There is one video on Youtube showing a man crawling towards a group of wild lions, no guns...just at demo of these facts..one of the lion approaches then he easily scares it away..by raising his hands..with good timing...
Ha! I like the tone of this article, more please!
really? I thought it was idiotic... and making a story out of absolutely nothing.
uh mykids, the boy said he was too afraid to run if he wanted too, sounds like they failed to act on his sense of fear...
The mom was right, if you run they will chase you.
Yep. Anytime something runs from a predator, it's sending a message that says "I am prey". The fear factor is marginal in light of such an easy-to-read signal. Act like prey, you get treated like prey. The boy wasn't acting like prey. His actions were probably something the wolves had never seen before and it likely confused them so they went off to find something to hunt that they understood.
Yeah, like earphones would be loud enough. I call BS.
It said he pulled the ear phones out of the phone.
article says he "pulled the headphones out of his mobile phone and cranked up the volume on the tiny speakers". I call BS on you!
The article said that he removed the earphones and he turned up the volume of the phone's small speakers.
"pulled the headphones out of his mobile phone and cranked up the volume"
Gosh you dont read well
What's your problem with reading comprehension dude?
how many times can you all say the same damn thing.
@mattman..until a twit would learn a thing other than just laughing out loud.
Good thing it wasn't Lady Gaga..... the poor lad would be wolf crap by now.
Because wolves everywhere like lady Gaga
I JUST LOVE LADY GAGS, ID LEAVE EM BE.
Beee..cause she wears dresses made of meat?
It's common knowledge that wolves dont like christian rock
Its common knowledge that NO ONE likes Christian rock
Ironically, however, wolves do appear to enjoy Chris Rock.
Yes, and they like Christian Slater.
It's also common knowledge that Creed are NOT a Christian Rock band.
therefore.......Christian Slater does not like Christian rock
And Chris Rock likes Creed.........I think the equation is complete now
@JT..Sorry I forgot to mention that they (wolves and other canines) use their mostly their sense of hearing and sight in identifying fear.
@lol..learn more about Wolves and other Canines and that you may learn that the tiny speakers of that earphones might be loud enough for them.
Im torn on how the wolves handled this. I would run from Creed too, but would want to teach a lesson to the kid who was listening.
So, does that mean you'd teach that lesson by eating meat?
...or by eating him?? ;D
hahahaha thank you jon that was perfect
Well, who wouldn't run from the sound of Creed? But I think it's far to say that the wolves running away had a lot more to do with the kid shouting and waving his arms than with the sound coming from his tiny headphones.
@mykids: True, they use their sense of hearing and sight. Unfortunately, they also use their sense of smell. One sniff of you, SB, or Veganistic would kill them. Peugh!!
@Cesar...Yeah that's the reason why they're staying away from us. And for additional for additional info, they use smell to locate and identify the food/prey. They also use it to know the the taste of foods before they eat them. And your butt smells delicious so don't move and stay seated in front of that old computer or they will snitch a half kilo of meat out of your useless and obese butt.
Even wolves hate Creed.
Jesus hates them the most.
uh..mom knew there were wolves in the area, was going to pick up her son from school, but got carried away with SHOPPING!!! Geesh, what a loving and caring mom.
oh, but she and her husband DID remember to care for their horses by putting the poor panicked animals in their stall.....
Good to know the mom has her priorities straight, lol. Wolves and dogs have highly sensitive ears, much more than humans, so the music must have sounded extra screechy to their ears. Smart kid.
Wolves don't like dirty vegans. They're too sickly to run or fight back and probably really taste like tofu. Their teeth would slice through them like a hot knife through a block of organic cream cheese.
Yesterday the story was that he used megadeth. Now today it's creed?
If he played Megadeth, the wolves would have stopped to headbang with him.
Um, it says he pulled the headphones OUT of his mobile phone and used its speakers. My iPhone can get pretty loud, actually. Anyway, he wasn't using the headphones. He was using the built-in speakers on the phone.
Creed strikes again!!