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War Disrupted Ecosystems
- World War I displaced wolves and altered local ecology, driving them toward battlefields where corpses drew scavengers.
- Those ecological effects created new, lethal interactions between soldiers and wildlife on the Eastern Front.
Starvation Changed Wolf Behavior
- Starving wolves often shifted from scavenging corpses to attacking living soldiers as natural prey became scarce.
- Such behavioral shifts mirror other large predators that turn to humans when weakened or unable to hunt normal prey.
Reports Of Battlefield Wolf Attacks
- Contemporary reports described packs of wolves attacking wounded soldiers and prompting temporary cooperation between Germans and Russians.
- One reprinted dispatch said hostilities were suspended while both sides killed about fifty wolves together.