State Game Officials Believe Predator A Wolf-Hybrid

Fri., Nov. 1, 1996

By Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com

A predator spotted Sunday in Pend Oreille County is believed to be a wolf-hybrid, state game officials say.

Agents of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife drew that tentative conclusion Thursday after being taken to the area where the animal was spotted stalking a wounded deer.

A carcass believed to be that of the deer was found about 1/10 of a mile from where it was last seen.

“Based on the way the deer was killed, we believe the animal responsible is a wolf-hybrid,” said Madonna Luers, a department spokeswoman.

The predator, which wasn’t spotted Thursday, was last seen Tuesday in an area about five miles west of Diamond Lake, north of the community of Camden.

Wildlife officials are concerned the wolf-hybrid and others like it that are running loose may mate with full-blooded wolves, contaminating the gene pool.

Officials say the wolf-hybrid is potentially aggressive and probably more dangerous than a purebred wolf.

A Spokane man contacted state wildlife officials after seeing photographs of the animal in Wednesday’s editions of The Spokesman-Review.

He told game officials that he believes the animal is the same female wolf-hybrid - about 94 percent wolf - that he raised and sold about two years ago to a Pend Oreille County man.

That man is believed to have released the wolf-hybrid into the wild and moved from the area, game officials said.

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