The wolf attack on Saturday around 4 a.m. by a
solitary and deformed wolf caused 16-year-old Noah Graham to end up with 17
staples in his head to close up a 4-inch laceration. Noah Graham was also
treated for puncture wounds on the right and left sides of his face and is
receiving a regimen of rabies shots.
Around 4 a.m. on Saturday, 16-year-old Noah Graham from Solway in Minnesota was sleeping outside his tent near the shore at the West Winnie
Campground on Lake Winnibigoshish in north central Minnesota when the wolf attack occurred. Noah's father, Scott Graham, says that the attack was quiet and sudden.
"The wolf just came up behind Noah, he didn't hear anything, and it just grabbed him by the back of the head and wouldn't let go. He had to physically pry the jaws of the wolf open...to get it off of him. And once he got it off of him and he was up, the wolf stood there growling at him. And he had to shout at it and kick at it to get it to go away.”
An examination of the wolf
during a necropsy at the University of Minnesota showed that “the wolf's bottom
and top jaws did not align properly and it was missing at least one canine
tooth.” Officials believe that the wolf’s deformity might have contributed to
him being solitary and making such an unusual wolf attack since it was the
first official attack by a wolf recorded in Minnesota.
