Wolf attacks are more likely to happen when preceded by a long period of habituation, during which wolves gradually lose their fear of humans. This was apparent in cases involving habituated North American wolves in Algonquin Provincial Park, Vargas Island Provincial Park and Ice Bay, as well as 19th-century cases involving escaped captive wolves in Sweden and Estonia.
Predatory attacks can occur at any time of the year, with a peak in the June–August period, when the chances of people entering forested areas (for livestock grazing or berry and mushroom picking) increase, though cases of non-rabid wolf attacks in winter have been recorded in Belarus, the Kirovsk and Irkutsk districts, in Karelia, and in Ukraine. Wolves with pups experience greater food stresses during this period.
A worldwide 2002 study by the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research showed that 90% of victims of predatory attacks were people under the age of 18, especially under the age of 10. In the rare cases where adults were killed, the victims were almost always women. This is consistent with wolf hunting strategies, wherein the weakest and most vulnerable categories of prey are targeted. Aside from their physical weakness, children were historically more vulnerable to wolves as they were more likely to enter forests unattended to pick berries and mushrooms, as well as tend and watch over cattle and sheep on pastures. While these practices have largely died out in Europe, they are still the case in India, where numerous attacks have been recorded in recent decades. Further reason for the vulnerability of children is the fact that some may mistake wolves for dogs and thus approach them.
Experts may distinguish between captive and wild wolf attacks, the former referring to attacks by wolves who, while still of course wild animals, are kept in captivity, perhaps as pets, in zoos, or similar situations.

In France, historical records compiled by rural historian Jean-Marc Moriceau indicate that during the period 1362–1918, nearly 10,000 people were killed by wolves, of whom 6,500 were killed by non-rabid wolves. However, the zoologist Karl-Hans Taake found evidence to believe that many of the alleged French wolf attacks occurring during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV were actually carried out by big carnivores of other species which had escaped from captivity and that the population at the time couldn't tell the difference. Numerous attacks occurred in Germany during the 17th century after the Thirty Years' War, though the majority probably involved rabid wolves. Although Italy has no records of wolf attacks after WWII and the eradication of rabies in the 1960s, historians examining church and administrative records from northern Italy's central Po Valley region (which includes a part of modern-day Switzerland) found 440 cases of wolves attacking people between the 15th and 19th centuries. The 19th-century records show that between 1801 and 1825, there were 112 attacks, 77 of which resulted in death. Of these cases, only five were attributed to rabid animals. In Latvia, records of rabid wolf attacks go back two centuries. At least 72 people were bitten between 1992 and 2000. Similarly, in Lithuania, attacks by rabid wolves have continued to the present day, with 22 people having been bitten between 1989 and 2001. Around 82 people were bitten by rabid wolves in Estonia during the 18th to 19th centuries, with a further 136 people being killed in the same period by non-rabid wolves, though it is likely that the animals involved in the latter cases were a combination of wolf-dog hybrids and escaped captive wolves especially when you consider the high level of hybridization of the Eurasian wolf population.
As with North American scientists later on (see below), several Russian zoologists after the October Revolution cast doubt on the veracity of records involving wolf-caused deaths. Prominent among them was zoologist Petr Aleksandrovich Manteifel, who initially regarded all cases as either fiction or the work of rabid animals. His writings were widely accepted among Russian zoological circles, though he subsequently changed his stance when he was given the task of heading a special commission after World War II investigating wolf attacks throughout the Soviet Union, which had increased during the war years. A report was presented in November 1947 describing numerous attacks, including ones perpetrated by apparently healthy animals, and gave recommendations on how to better defend against them. The Soviet authorities prevented the document from reaching both the public and those who would otherwise be assigned to deal with the problem. All mention of wolf attacks was subsequently censored. For the years 2018 to 2020 the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources put the number of people attacked by wolves at 712 cases.

Read more on Wikipedia

• Bahraich wolf attacks (India)
• Beast of Gévaudan (France)
• Kenton Carnegie wolf attack (Canada)
• Kirov wolf attacks (Russia)
• Patricia Wyman wolf attack (Canada)
• Wolf of Ansbach (Germany)
• Wolf of Gysinge (Sweden)
• Wolf of Soissons (France)
• Wolves of Turku (Finland)