Documented Needlecoat Wolf Attacks

Land of Gods

Attacks by Needlecoat Wolves are most common in the Land of Gods, where populations of the animals are at their highest and populations of people at their lowest. It is thought that the vast majority of attacks within the region are the result of normal predation- Needlecoat wolves have no fear of people, and those living within the region oftentimes deal with incredibly harsh weather such as blizzards and whiteouts. Travel between shrines and temples during such inclement weather is thought to be the driving force between such attacks as other prey is low, and the limited visibility and movement during storms makes people far more valuable prey.

Anchorage

18,241

18,241 is the first documented attack of a needlecoat in Alaska proven to be true. The region is well known for its relative isolation, with dangerous wildlife not limited to Needlecoat wolves. Other wolves, bear, lynx, and the rare Short-Tailed Cat having all been documented in the area. On occasion, murders have been pinned on the wildlife as well as missing persons, which are higher than the average in the city's range, likely due to the extreme isolation and near total uninhabitation of the surrounding region. Despite little proof and the majority cases being thought to have been animals being blamed for the acts of citizens, an order had been given in 18,235 to cull large carnivores from the area. 16 bears, 46 wolves, and 5 needlecoats were killed and presented to the Anchorage Fish and Wildlife commission between the years of 18,236 and 18,242, with the actual number of kills thought to be much higher than what was reported.
It is widely believed that the cull is the primary factor behind the Anchorage attacks and what may have driven the needlecoats to begin preying upon people. Increased expeditions into the wilderness beyond the city may have left individuals from hunting parties vulnerable during bad weather, both concealing the predators and limiting escape. On a hunt in Kindal, a man was dragged away by a large male and killed, with his body being recovered two days later having been mostly consumed and buried in the snow. The needlecoat was shot, but not killed. Three weeks later a similar incident occurred wherein another hunter was mauled, but managed to shoot the animal and scare it away, claiming it was of of the Rimewalkers, though the animal's prints were confirmed as needlecoat and the wounded animal found, shot, and examined. It was determined that the pack had been severely malnourished, likely due to repeated storms that year as well as the culling of other carnivores that made up a portion of their diets. The cull order was appealed, and no further attacks were documented until 18,326.

18,326

In an isolated incident, a supply caravan to Anchorage became trapped on the road due to an avalanche that blocked the pass between two mountains for 16 days. Due to this, the caravan made camp alongside the road until the pass could be cleared from the Anchorage side of the passing, and this is believed to be the primary cause of the attacks. As workers were camping in the road for extended periods, the smell of food, waste, and blockage of the passing used by the needlecoats almost certainly attracted their attention and made the group vulnerable. Records of the pack's movements also show that the pack living in the area at the time primarily hunted on the other side of the passing, and may have themselves been blocked from their usual hunting grounds.
Two men were injured and one killed three days into the trip when four individual needlecoats entered the camp. A centauri name Yuri Malak was dragged by the animals 26 feet into the taiga, killed, and consumed by the animals before they were chased away. The fifth night the animals returned and killed another man who had attempted to guard the body, prompting the team to abandon Yuri's remains. From this point, members of the caravan crew were not permitted to venture off alone and began to sleep in shifts with armed members on top of their supply vehicles. There had been another attack on day 7 resulting in injuries, but no deaths until the 12th day. Due to dwindling supplies, a crewman attempted to climb the avalanche debris to try and get a vantage point on where Anchorage road clearing crews were, and fell, breaking his leg. The man was carried off later that night and consumed by the animals.
The attacks were determined to be natural in origin due to the avalanche, the trapped crew provoking the animals, and a lack of prey for the pack. Despite this, the pack were labelled man-eaters, and eliminated following the clearing of the avalanche path. The incident has been adapted into several books, movies, and documentaries, most often under the title Eighteen-Three-Twenty-six.

Montana

As Montana's borders overlap with the Land of Gods, attacks listed are only for those not within the Land of Gods itself. Montana has higher than usual needlecoat wolf populations due to their push into southern territories, but a much higher population density, leading to more incidents with the wolves than many other areas.

17,291 Attacks

Numerous needlecoat wolf attacks were documented and reported from 17,284 to 17,292, with the majority occurring in 17,291. Unlike many other cases of needlecoat attacks and killings, these cases in northern Montana were confirmed as maneaters- needlecoat wolves that not only preyed upon people, but that people made up the majority of their diets. It is suspected that the pack in this region of Montana were likely escaped captive specimens, as they had even less fear of people than the species ordinarily does, and were not spooked by loud noises, lights, or hunting dogs. Reportedly, 154 people were killed by this pack alone, the majority of them being children and the elderly. It is strongly suspected that the majority of missing persons in the area were likely due to the wolves, even if bodies were never recovered.
The majority of attacks happened in Whitefish, with some incidents also occurring in Flathead that were attributed to the pack. The Flathead Pack as they came to be called was made up of 8 individuals- an alpha male and female and their pups. The adults of the group were noted to be extremely lithe, likely due to malnutrition, which likely caused their maneating. In 17,290 the male was shot four times by a police officer, wounding him, and very likely further impacted the pack's hunting ability. Trails in the snow showed that the pack did attempt to hunt deer, bison, and pronghorn, but rarely if ever managed to catch them- instead, most wild animals consumed by the Flathead pack were scavenged from grey wolves, bears, or cougars. Following the death of two children who had been shoveling snow in the winter of 17,290, a hunt was ordered and two yearlings of the pack were killed and dissected, being found to have had the remains of at least three more individuals in their stomachs as well as that of a domestic dog. Another member of the pack was killed not in a hunt, but by a collision with a vehicle. In spring, the pack was tracked to their den where the female had a litter of pups that were destroyed, and the adults of the group killed. The female was found to have badly damaged teeth that may have been at one point filed, likely as an attempt to keep the animal in captivity. Some sources also attributed the tooth marks to have been the work of a wire snare, but no conclusive result was ever reached.

20,018

In 20,017, reports began to come from eastern Montana of an incredibly large lone needlecoat wolf that had begun to attack cattle and goats in Larslan. The animal was determined to be a dispersal- a young needlecoat that had left its family pack in search of a mate. The needlecoat, nicknamed Lars, had likely begun feeding on livestock due to inexperience hunting solo as well as not being able to take on large prey. A farmer had shot Lars in the shoulder and was found four days later badly wounded, having been attacked when coming home late at night after exiting her vehicle. Despite orders from the Pack of Ferventi, attempts were made to kill or trap Lars over a period of four months. All of these attempts failed in killing the animal, though did succeed in wounding him several times.
Following the failed attempts to kill Lars, the Montanan Mountains Pack was called in for assistance, as Lars had grown extremely aggressive to humanoids and begun stalking vehicles on roads at night. Lars was finally killed on Teros 17th by the pack, and the town of Larslan was fined by the pack for illegally hunting a needlecoat wolf.

Rocky Mountains

19,481

The body of a hiker was recovered off of a trail on Crestone Peak that had been badly mangled and partially consumed. A recovery crew determined the corpse to be 48 year old Uthala Brettige, a park ranger, who had been missing for 12 days. The body had been partially buried as a kill cache and was determined that a needlecoat wolf had attacked the harpy, likely killing her from behind, as her weapon had not been fired and was still on her person at time of death. The needlecoat that killed her was never found.