© Carlos Delgado/Wikimedia CommonsAn illustrative photo of a gray wolf.
Five people were lightly wounded on Saturday when a wolf suspected of carrying rabies attacked three groups of hikers in separate incidents in northern Israel.
The five who were bitten by the canine were given rabies shots, as were another two people as a precautionary measure, according to Ynet.
The she-wolf first attacked a group of hikers in the Golan Heights. Although bystanders were eventually successful in chasing the wolf away with rocks, three individuals were bitten, including a father and his nine-year-old son.
The victims were transferred to the nearby Ziv Medical Center and were listed in good condition.
"The father is suffering from cuts and scratches on his hands and arms," said Majid Abu Janev, a nurse who treated the victims.
Three more people later arrived at the medical center; a man suffering from scratches and a fractured ankle he sustained while trying to escape the wolf and a woman suffering from a bite and deep scratches. The woman's husband was also given a rabies vaccine after coming into contact with her open wounds.
"We thoroughly washed, disinfected and bandaged the wounds and administered rabies vaccines," Janev said.
Comment: What marks out this particular odd migration is the extreme distance involved from its normal range. Other extraordinary movements by birds so far this spring are listed below:
Non-migratory citril finch from mountains of mainland Europe found near beach in Holkham,UK
Another completely lost bird: Slate-throated redstart, resident of humid highland forests, turns up on South Padre Island, Texas
Bizarre bird migration: Little Bustard makes rare visit to Finnish Lapland
Globe-trotting bird ends up in Sutton, New Hampshire
Rare bird from the Americas turns up in Somerset, UK
Great blue heron from North America turns up on the Isles of Scilly, UK
Eurasian shorebird (wader) turns up far inland near Winslow, Indiana
Sea duck that is native to Northern Europe turns up off California coast
A similar pattern of extravagantly lost birds was noticeable during the latter part of last year:
Another completely lost avian species: Couch's Kingbird flies from southern Texas to New York
Warbler that should be wintering in western Mexico turns up in Louisiana
Bean goose from Eurasia takes a wrong turn and winds up on the Oregon Coast
Four lost flamingos fly NORTH for the winter and turn up in Siberia
Wrong place, wrong time: European robin turns up thousands of miles away in China
Rare bird from Mongolia turns up in Wakefield, UK
Wrong time, wrong place: Rare bird found in Barrie, Canada