Wolves as Pets
Wolves as Pets
Although ®wolves¯ are ancestors to all ®dogs¯, ®foxes¯ and ®coyotes¯, wolves are still wild animals, and no wild animal makes a good pet, especially when well-meaning people adopt a young wild being and treat it as though it were a cat or ®dog¯.
®Wolves¯ and wolf hybrids (the offspring of wolves bred with dogs) are dangerous as pets because they don't know whether to be a ®dog¯ or a ®wolf¯. Dogs have been domesticated for 15,000 years and wolves have been wild. Wolves cannot be disciplined the same way as a dog. A wolf owner must understand the wolf hierarchy and deal with the animal on its own terms.
®Wolves¯ and hybrids will respond poorly to being tied up or being kept in small enclosures with cement floors and no trees. The animals might become very fearful or very aggressive.
It must also be remembered that ®wolf pups¯ begin to become wary of strange individuals at the age of three months and that in the wild they probably fear all strangers after the age of five months. Thus, tame wolves cannot always be expected to behave toward everyone as they do toward those people who reared them.
In addition, these animals should never be allowed to play with small children. There have been many tragedies in that situation. In March 1990, in Anchorage, Alaska, a four-year-old girl was attacked by a hybrid while her parents were nearby. She was grasped by the head and shaken violently. Much of her scalp was ripped away and her face was bitten. Also in the spring of 1990, again in Alaska, a hybrid that was thought to love children attacked a four-year-old boy, broke his arm, and mauled his chest and face.
According to the Humane Society, seven children were killed between 1986 and 1992 by pets classified as hybrids.
Although ®wolves¯ are ancestors to all ®dogs¯, ®foxes¯ and ®coyotes¯, wolves are still wild animals, and no wild animal makes a good pet, especially when well-meaning people adopt a young wild being and treat it as though it were a cat or ®dog¯.
®Wolves¯ and wolf hybrids (the offspring of wolves bred with dogs) are dangerous as pets because they don't know whether to be a ®dog¯ or a ®wolf¯. Dogs have been domesticated for 15,000 years and wolves have been wild. Wolves cannot be disciplined the same way as a dog. A wolf owner must understand the wolf hierarchy and deal with the animal on its own terms.
®Wolves¯ and hybrids will respond poorly to being tied up or being kept in small enclosures with cement floors and no trees. The animals might become very fearful or very aggressive.
It must also be remembered that ®wolf pups¯ begin to become wary of strange individuals at the age of three months and that in the wild they probably fear all strangers after the age of five months. Thus, tame wolves cannot always be expected to behave toward everyone as they do toward those people who reared them.
In addition, these animals should never be allowed to play with small children. There have been many tragedies in that situation. In March 1990, in Anchorage, Alaska, a four-year-old girl was attacked by a hybrid while her parents were nearby. She was grasped by the head and shaken violently. Much of her scalp was ripped away and her face was bitten. Also in the spring of 1990, again in Alaska, a hybrid that was thought to love children attacked a four-year-old boy, broke his arm, and mauled his chest and face.
According to the Humane Society, seven children were killed between 1986 and 1992 by pets classified as hybrids.
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