Two people were injured Monday when they were bitten by a wolf while stopped for construction on the Dalton Highway, according to Alaska State Troopers.

According to an online report, police learned of the attack near Coldfoot, at mile 37 of the highway, shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Monday.

“The investigation revealed that a wolf had bitten the two drivers in the lower extremities when they stopped in a construction site and got out of their vehicle while waiting for the escort car,” police said. “The wolf fled into the forest after another driver shot at it and was presumably not hit.”

Police spokesman Austin McDaniel said the attack occurred as the two motorists – both from Alaska – were standing outside their RV and examining it. Several other commercial vehicles had been stopped in the area at the time.

The Dalton stretches more than 400 miles north, connecting Livengood in the interior with Deadhorse and the state’s oil fields at Prudhoe Bay. The remote highway, featured on the television show “Ice Road Truckers,” is the main overland connection to the North Slope.

McDaniel said the black wolf exhibited behavior that suggested it had been fed by motorists before Tuesday’s incident – including not being afraid of people.

“The wolf would stop in front of vehicles and act as if it was expecting food or some other offering from the vehicle before moving on to the next vehicle,” McDaniel said.

The people bitten by the wolf traveled further south and received medical treatment in Fairbanks, McDaniel said. Police officials could not say whether they had contracted rabies or other infections as a result of the wolf bites.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers were consulting with biologists from the state Department of Fish and Game on Tuesday to decide whether to search for the wolf involved in the attack, McDaniel said. Requests to the Fairbanks Department of Fish and Game for comment were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.

Wolf attacks on humans are rare in Alaska, but Chignik Lake teacher Candice Berner was killed by wolves in 2010 as she jogged near the Alaska Peninsula village. Homer public radio station KBBI reported that fish and game biologists killed eight wolves after the attack, one of which was positively identified as one of the wolves that attacked Berner. Her death came a year after Bethel public radio station KYUK reported that a moose hunter survived an attack by a rabid wolf on the Kuskokwim River.

Last June, Fairbanks public radio station KUAC reported that a Coldfoot game warden shot and killed a male wolf that had been attacking semi-truck tires on the Dalton. An autopsy showed signs of malnutrition but no evidence that the wolf in that incident was rabid.

Due to the wolf’s behavior during the attack on Monday, police asked the public not to feed the wild animals.

“Although these individuals did not feed the wolf, it was observed exhibiting behavior that suggested it had been fed by other motorists,” police said in the report. “Feeding wild animals is not only dangerous, but also illegal and is punishable by a fine.”

Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. You can reach him at[email protected].Read more about ChrisHere.