Why was it necessary to kill the wolf after ? To check for transmittable diseases ?
It's estimated the pair killed 28-31 humans during a 9-month span in 1898. Several theories suggest that the lions became accustomed to humans by first eating the remains of the deceased before moving on to full out attacks on the living.
Amazingly, recent research compared the Δ13C and Nitrogen-15 isotopic signature of the lions with other references and mostly confirmed the above estimate for the number of humans consumed.
If it were to happen with humans, you could expect it to happen with other species. Does a lion who taste (say) another lion get similarly hooked on lion flesh? If not, what would be special about human flesh?
Some suggest that animals hunting humans would likely do so because they’re older/injured animals who have a harder time catching their natural prey.
Predators often select the weak within their natural prey, such as the young or the old. So it does happen with other species.
> Does a lion who taste (say) another lion get similarly hooked on lion flesh?
Lions won't select other lions as prey because lions are notoriously dangerous game. Unarmed humans are very easy targets, however. That's the "hook".
If Lions who attack humans always get killed, only the ones that don't survives and reproduces.
If it's about opportunity (makes sense, catching a human does seem easier than an antelope) rather than anything intrinsic to human flesh, then why would killing them so that they don't reproduce matter? "Opportunity" does not get transmitted genetically.
And how would a lion taste another lion? Killing cubs? It happens, but the lioness is putting a strong fight, it is easier to eat humans.
From Wikipedia (article: Lion):
"When one or more new males oust the previous males associated with a pride, the victors often kill any existing young cubs, perhaps because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die. Females often fiercely defend their cubs from a usurping male but are rarely successful unless a group of three or four mothers within a pride join forces against the male."
What you say is true however: lions won't select other adult lions as their prey, for obvious reasons.
Wolves could learn that humans are food, but can learn also that humans are help, and they are grateful for life in this case. The dog and the wolf is the same animal, and is one of the animals that we humans understand best psychologically. When people repeat that a wolf that attacked an human once will became a serial killer, forget that attacks can be triggered for many reasons and that dogs can learn from its mistakes also. There was not kill in this case, so if the wolf learned something is that humans team and are not easy to kill, not the opposite.
It was an elder and disperate animal, probably without a supporting pack and with months, maybe a couple years of life at best. Maybe would had deserved a second opportunity. Could had been a good candidate for a wolf sanctuary and end this days in captivity perfectly.
1. Humans are dangerous prey (eventually). The attack means the wolf was desperate enough to risk its life on a big gamble in order to eat. It was probably hoping to grab one of the kids and get away with him before one of the parents killed it. Even though the attack was unsuccessful, a desperate animal will do otherwise stupid things to survive. Even if it didn't attack another human, it would certainly go deep into human territory and try for livestock.
2. A humane cull of an unfit, packless individual is better than leaving it to die from a starvation spiral.
3. A necropsy would provide useful data on the health of the local pack.