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Wolf shot after
chasing kids in Nikiski garden
Biologists theorize animal actually a hybrid
By WILL MORROW
On July 12, John Perkovich was working in a garden belonging to Billy Spires
on
Perkovich, who lives in the Murwood neighborhood off
"He'll have 17 to 20
rows, 50 yards long," Perkovich said. "Then
he's the happiest guy in Nikiski, because he can give all his neighbors
vegetables."
Perkovich said he tries to get up to
Perkovich's oldest daughter, Kim, 13, was
working further up the row while his youngest children, Travis, 7, and Alea, 9, were by his side in the waist-high weeds.
"All of the sudden,
my daughter stood up and started screaming, 'Daddy, daddy, daddy!'" Perkovich said. "There was a wolf, standing at the
edge of the row. Our eyes met -- it startled me. Normally, when you're out
hunting, if you're lucky enough to spot a wolf, they're usually a mile away and
going the other way."
This wolf didn't go the
other way. Instead, it stayed in the long grass with just its head visible,
intently watching the family in the garden.
Perkovich said he instinctively picked up a
gardening fork, thinking that if worse came to worse, he could fight off the
wolf with it, and the thought crossed his mind that he'd feel a whole lot
better with a gun in his hand.
He sent Kim up to the
house with instructions for
Perkovich grabbed the gun from
The wolf caught scent of
the children, though. Alea flung a weed at the wolf,
startling it for a moment. Alea and Travis then ran
toward their father, with the wolf right behind.
"He was nothing but
a blur coming across that garden after them," Perkovich
said.
Perkovich had to wait a moment for his
children to clear his line of fire, and his first shot sent the wolf retreating
back toward the woods. His second shot dropped the animal.
Perkovich wasn't sure what to make of the
encounter. He couldn't think of anything in
"He doesn't have any
animals, just a garden," Perkovich said.
"Here at my place, we raise chicken and turkeys, and we sometimes have a
problem with stray dogs. ... Just the idea that one was five feet away from you
-- I imagine we looked pretty small crouched over in the weeds, but when I
stood up, it still didn't scare him off."
Measurements taken on the
carcass indicated that the animal was small for a wolf by
Perkovich and Ager
theorized that this was a young wolf that had left the pack but didn't know how
to hunt on its own and just got hungry.
Biologists at Fish and
Game had a different theory -- the wolf actually was a hybrid wolf, a cross
between a wild wolf and a domestic dog, and illegal to possess without a
special permit in the state of
"That's what our
speculation is," said Fish and Game wildlife technician Larry Lewis.
"I looked at it, and had (retired area management biologist) Ted Spraker come in. We both figured it looked a little bit
funky."
Lewis said Fish and
Game's hypothesis was based on the animal's feet.
"It had small,
dainty little feet which is not typical of a wolf, and
there was an off-coloration to the guard hair," Lewis said.
Lewis said that problem
encounters with hybrids have been on the rise both on the
"We get a lot of
calls. There's people who own these animals and just
put them out for the day," Lewis said.
Lewis cited a series of
encounters in the past year, from a 130-pound hybrid taken by a trapper near
Anchor Point to another hit by a car and one found dead in a ditch in the same
area.
Lewis said another
alleged hybrid was spotted stalking children on an elementary school
playground.
"Some teen-agers
saved the day in that episode," Lewis said. "By the time I got there,
the animal was already gone."
Lewis said it was
subsequently destroyed by the owner.
While one reason for the
state's ban on hybrid wolves is public safety, the other has to do with
protection of wild wolves.
"We're putting these
laws and regulations in for a purpose," said Fish and Game area management
biologist Jeff Selinger. "It has to do with
public safety and the safety of the natural stock. It's important to protect
the integrity of our natural stock. It's possible to get domestic animals to
spread disease into wild stock. ... If it gets loose and interbreeds, then who
knows what you have out there. It's kind of like the concerns you have with
fish farming."
The suspected hybrid shot
by Perkovich tested negative for rabies, and there
has never been a case of rabies on the
"But if we did, this
is how it would spread," Hundertmark said.
Lewis emphasized that
Fish and Game is not looking to take away people's pets, and new regulations
went into effect this year allowing people to keep hybrids, provided they meet
a series of requirements.
If a person owned a
hybrid wolf as a pet before Jan. 23, and, by this month: had a microchip
implanted and registered with a national registry; received approval from Fish
and Game; had the animal properly spayed or neutered; had current and accurate
licensing; had vaccinations, including rabies, up to date; and has made all of
those records available to the proper animal control authorities, a hybrid can
be kept as a pet.
"The department
doesn't keep a database. We don't know who owns these things -- that's kept by
the microchip manufacturer," Lewis said. "Our intent is to stop the
import, export and sale of these animals. What the department would like to see
is responsible pet ownership. Even if it's not a hybrid, you need to maintain
control of your dog."
Under the new
regulations, the hybrid cannot be transferred to any person other than an
immediate family member of the original owner, and if the hybrid has bit a
person, it must be surrendered to authorities immediately for any action
determined to be appropriate.