The Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary
Navasota, Texas
It all began with a wolf named Mystery. Mystery was one of many animals that lived at the North American Wolf Association (NAWA) – a “sanctuary” in Conroe, Texas, where animals were kept in substandard conditions, malnourished, and denied essential vaccinations. Mystery escaped from NAWA in the summer of 2002, immediately upon arriving, and spent a week running free in the woods before being shot and captured in a leg trap. Amazingly, Mystery survived, but NAWA refused to take her back or pay for her medical needs… Luckily, a local veterinarian took Mystery in and nurtured her wounds, but didn’t know where to go from there…
Jean LeFevre, a woman with a lifelong, compassionate interest in both humanitarian and animal welfare issues became interested. She had lived in Europe, India, Tanzania, and now Texas, and had traveled to many other points of the globe in the course of a very eventful life. Jean learned about Mystery and went to meet her. She saw before her a sad, scared animal in need of a home, and decided that she would do whatever it took to save her. Jean was encouraged to apply for the necessary licenses to open a sanctuary, and the Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary was born, opening on the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, October 4, 2002. ( Photos of Mystery below)
NAWA was finally shut down in early 2003 after nearly half of the animals had died from distemper because they were never vaccinated. Its remaining canines needed new homes.
SFWS participated in the national rescue efforts and took on several more of the NAWA animals: Timbre, Duchess, Yukon, Wacipi, and Spirit. Currently, SFWS is home to five wolves, six wolfdogs, and one wild dog, an Alaskan Malamute (think of Buck in Call of the Wild).
Roughly 62 million years ago, there was a mammal that roamed the earth known as the Miacid. Their remains were initially found in North America and Europe and they are believed to have migrated into Asia later on. This animal is what has widely believed to be the origin of all known canines and felines. Yes, dogs and cats share a common ancestor, which is not surprising given how they have shared a lineage together throughout most eras of human history. Sometime within the 20 million years of advancement, the first wolf emerged through a mutation of the Miacids genetics. The first wolves were able to climb trees much as the felines but, through years of evolutionary change, felines branched off into what we know as the sable-toothed cat and then continued their evolutionary chain from there.
Wolves
People often think of wolves as scary, somewhat vicious creatures, while the truth is the exact opposite. Wolves only act defensively when absolutely necessary. In recognizing a wolf, the eyes tend to be a big give away. They are black-rimmed and slope up sharply. The eyes are often a light gold color. The face is flatter and the muzzle fine and long, with a thin bridge and the ears,
thickly furred inside, are small and rounded at the tips. The back is flat with the head carried low. Wolves tend to be very lightly built with narrow chests and long legs made for chasing prey. Most wolves weigh between 60 and 100lbs.
Wolfdog
Wolfdog is a term used to describe an animal that is part wolf and part domestic dog. Through thousands of years of domestication, a dog’s behavior, life cycle and physiology have become permanently altered from that of a wolf. Plus, wolves and dogs mature at different rates, which makes the physical and mental development of a hybrid animal unpredictable. The percentage of wolf genetically leads to unexpected hostile behaviors in some “pets.” Wolves and dogs are interfertile, meaning they can breed and produce viable offspring. In other words, wolves can interbreed with any type of dog, and their offspring are capable of producing offspring themselves. Wolves have survived by being part of a pack. In the wild, young wolves learn to fight other wolves as dominance is determined in individual pack. This pack instinct can transfer to the human family and be wildly unpredictable.
Wild Dog
There are dogs in various locations around the world who have become truly wild (ex. the dingo of Africa) These dogs used to be domesticated but at some point, they were either set free or escaped captivity. Mating led to increased populations and eventually, as their numbers increased, they began to form packs much as wolves do. But here in our area, once a dog has been labeled (correctly or not) a wolf or wolfdog, it will never again be seen as a dog.
Do These Animals Make a Good Pet?
People who own hybrids often find that their pet’s behavior makes it a challenge to care for. The diversity of genetic composition even within one litter of hybrid pups leads to a wide range of appearances and behavior patterns among all hybrids, thus making their behavior inconsistent and more difficult to predict. It is also important to understand that many of these wolf-like breeds are very challenging to manage. For one, these dogs are on the big size, you’ll need to pony up cash for larger-than-average dog crates and beds to match. Many of them have incredible exercise requirements, and they get bored (and therefore destructive) very easily. Even huskies and malamutes – two of the more suitable pet breeds detailed above – are a handful, and many owners are disappointed with their aloof demeanor. They can destroy a home and hurt or kill other pets and they can be maddeningly stubborn. understand their nature, but they can be difficult to train, and they are often maddeningly stubborn. Wolf and wolf-dog hybrid ownership by private citizens has long been a contentious issue in the United States. About 40 states in the United States ban the owning and breeding of wolf hybrids. “No person in Texas may possess, transport, receive or release a live wolf in this state.” Laws vary from area to area. In some states, hybrids are classified as wild owners are required to possess the same type of mits and caging as for a wolf. In other states, hybrids are regulated as dogs, needing only proper vaccinations and licenses.
Governed by their instincts, wolves, both in the wild and in captivity, exhibit behavior that is relatively consistent. Their behavioral characteristics have been studied and observed for many decades by researchers, and much has been published about their social dynamics, hunting behavior and territorial nature. Thanks to the researchers’ hard work, we are able to understand the wolf’s reactions to different situations based on their inherent instincts. However, just as with any wild animal, their behavior will always retain some unpredictability.
When a wolf reaches sexual maturity (anywhere from 1 to 4 years of age), their role in the pack often changes from that of a pup to an adult expected to contribute to the pack. Status becomes much more important, and the animal may begin testing its packmates to achieve a higher-ranking position in the pack. Testing or challenging of packmates can be transferred onto a human “leader” when a wolf is kept in captivity, causing the animal to be perceived as stubborn, bold or even aggressive.
Domestic dogs tend to mature much earlier (6 to 8 months of age) and have significantly fewer hormonal changes, but the challenging behavior still exists, although it is typically less intense in most breeds compared to wolves. Hybrids can exhibit any combination of wolf or dog maturation rates and behavioral changes.
Additionally, the territorial instinct of wolves to protect their food source by establishing a home range through defecation and urination may be transferred to the owner’s home. A couch or corner of the room may take the place of a tree or rock. Dogs, on the other hand, through domestication, have lost that instinct to urinate or defecate anywhere they feel is their territory and are easily trained to eliminate in a designated area.
Hybrids, being a mix of these two distinct behavior patterns, may have any degree of territorial or testing behavior-from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Whether or not hybrids make good pets is perhaps the biggest contention. Some people have outstanding success with hybrids as pets so to make a blanket statement is difficult. The reality is that there is an animal with a genetic stew that includes contributions from a line of dogs that has been domesticated over the centuries compiled with a contribution of an animal that has not.
Wolves are social by nature and demand a great amount of attention and interaction from their pack. This expectation translates onto the owner when a wolf is kept in captivity. Often, potential hybrid owners overlook the important task of understanding the nature of the wild wolf and the domestic dog and become overwhelmed when their “pet” begins to show behavioral traits that are unexpected and unmanageable.
One organization educating the public about the issues of wolf and hybrid ownership is Wolf Park. Wolf Park explains that while many individuals do make an effort to become educated about the potential outcome of owning a wolf or hybrid, others unfortunately do not. This results in the animals being kept in an environment where their social and behavioral needs are not met. In these situations, the animals frequently spend their days in small cages or tied to chains, with very poor quality of life.
When any animal, wild or domestic, is kept in conditions inadequate to their mental and physical needs, there is a safety risk for humans. This risk is almost always preventable through proper preparation before the animal is purchased and continued through responsible care for the animal over the duration of its life.
Every year, thousands of pet wolves or hybrids are abandoned, rescued or euthanized because people purchase an animal they were not prepared to care for. A few facilities exist around the country that take in unwanted canines, but their resources are usually very limited. Education about the behavior, health and containment of wolves and hybrids and about laws pertinent to their ownership before people buy may prevent hardships for both human and animal.
MYTHS REGARDING WOLF HYBRIDS
MYTH: A wolf hybrid will make a better guard dog.
FACT: Due to the shy nature of wolves, hybrids usually make poor protection dogs. Aggressive tendencies, if any, in the hybrid may be fear induced and as such, can be unpredictable and hard to control.
MYTH: A wolf hybrid will live longer than a dog.
FACT: The life span of a wolf in captivity is 12-14 years – the same as a large domestic dog.
MYTH: Hybrids are healthier than dogs and are less prone to disease.
FACT: Wolves and dogs are prone to the same infectious diseases. There may be some question as to the efficacy of standard dog vaccines in wolves and some hybrids.
MYTH: Huskies and malamutes are part wolf.
FACT: Huskies and malamutes are breeds of dogs, like any other.
Many breeders who deal in wolf hybrids promote the ‘wolf content’ of the pups and even set their prices according to the ‘amount of wolf blood’ in the litter. This is not based on sound biology or genetics.
When one breeds a dog with a wolf, the offspring will inherit a set of genes from each parent, and are indeed 50/50 – that is, one-half dog and one-half wolf. However, when these animals are backcrossed with other wolves, dogs, or hybrids there is no way to calculate or manipulate which genes are passed to any individual offspring. Often breeders believe, for example, that a 50 x 50 hybrid backcrossed with a 100% wolf would yield an offspring that is 75% wolf. However, that would only be an AVERAGE amount of wolf in a large number of backcrosses. Any INDIVIDUAL animal might inherit all of the dog genes from the hybrid and be 50 x 50 – both physically and behaviorally. Or conversely, any individual could be predominantly wolf, or any variation or combination in between. The ideal wolf hybrid would be one that looks like a wolf and behaves like a dog, but unfortunately, many times one ends up with an animal that looks like a dog and has the perceived “obstinate” nature of a wolf.
LEGAL ASPECTS OF WOLF HYBRID OWNERSHIP
Additional Resources
Between Wolf and Dog by Jessica Addams and Andrew Miller
Prendergast, Dorothy. The Wolf Hybrid. Gallup, NM: Rudelhaus Enterprise, 1989. 141 pp.
The Wolf Dunn, an online resource for information on wolf/dog hybrids.
The SFWS is located in Navasota, TX. Make a visit or schedule a tour. An appointment to tour is required. Phone: 936-597-wolf (9653) or send an email to info@wolvesofsaintfrancis.org The sanctuary is currently closed as they are allowing the pack to become familiar with their new home. They hold a scheduled Open House annually; you might even win a chance to play tug-of-war with a wolf. (probably with Romulus)
–Karen McKibben Morris