Camper saves family of four from savage wolf attack

At half past midnight, Russ Fee woke up to screams coming from a campsite next to his in Canada's Banff National Park.

When he arrived at the scene of the commotion, Fee saw a wolf trying to drag someone from a destroyed tent.

"It was just so much larger than any dog I've ever seen," Fee told a local newspaper on Tuesday.

Inside the tent was a family of four from New Jersey - a mum and dad with two young boys. The father's arm was clamped in the creature's jaws as he tried to beat it off.

Fee then decided to charge the animal.

"I had a good run going at the time ... and it was just so quick and the screams were so intense, that I knew it was obviously a terrible situation, so I just kind of kept running at it and I just kicked it sort of in the back hip area.

"I felt like I had kind of punched someone that was way out of my weight class," he said.

"I immediately regretted kicking it, but as soon as it popped out of the tent, Matt came flying out. His whole half side was just covered in blood, but he was pretty amped up too, so we both just started screaming at it."

Fee says the animal backed off, but they had to throw rocks at it to keep it at bay.

Eventually, Fee and the American family escaped to Fee's campsite and joined his wife, taking shelter in their vehicle.

"We are forever grateful to Russ who came to our aid," Elisa Rispoli, whose husband, Matt, was injured in the attack, wrote on Facebook. Describing Fee as a "guardian angel", Elisa added that the man probably saved her husband's life.

"It was like something out of a horror movie," she wrote.

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