A man from northern Manitoba is disputing a woman's account of a wolf attack earlier this month at the side of a highway.

Clayton Ross, who was stopped on the side of Highway 6, near Grand Rapids, said he watched the woman get out of her car and offer the animal food.

Dawn Hepp shows the wounds on her neck. (Courtesy Dawn Hepp)

"Something like a bag of chips or something, I don't know. The wolf was slowly walking up to her, and she wouldn't even do anything," he said, adding the animal was scrawny and appeared to be dazed.

Ross said the wolf did suddenly attack the woman, and he saw her put her arms up to block the attack.

He spoke with her after to make sure she was OK. Ross said she was very calm and told him she was fine, then got into her car and left.

Dawn Hepp told CBC News earlier this week that she pulled over to the side of the highway to help another driver on March 8. When she walked over to the car, the wolf lunged at her in an unprovoked attack, she said.

"His face and his jaws were around my neck … so it was his fur I can feel on my face," she said at the time.

"He dug a little deeper with that tooth and by the larynx, whether he couldn't get a good enough grip or what, he let go."

At that moment, Hepp said she got into her car and pulled up next to the people in the other vehicle she had stopped to help.

She said she checked to see if they were OK, and then said she was driving herself to the hospital.

Hepp said she remained calm and was treated at a hospital in Ashern for puncture wounds and rabies.

Ross said the attack was definitely not unprovoked. He said Hepp made an effort to walk over to the animal and offer it the food.

Ken Rebizant, with Manitoba Conservation, had also raised some doubts about Hepp's version of events.

"It is very rare," he said. "I have been with wildlife branch for 25 years and this is the first case that I have heard of, of this kind, in Manitoba."

CBC contacted Hepp on Friday, but she declined to comment.