The mauling of a Seminole child by a wolfdog revives a debate over the wisdom of creating these hybrids.
By LEANORA MINAI
Published August 7, 2004
[Times photo: Keri Wiginton]
Max, front, and Tina, wolf-dog hybrids, live at Melissa Kondratick's 10-acre farm in Brooksville.
[Times photo: Keri Wiginton]
Melissa Kondratick checks the fur of her wolf, Titus, on Thursday. She said the wolves are loving, curious and naturally afraid of people.
[Times photo: Keri Wiginton]
Melissa Kondratick throws raw chicken to wolf-dog hybrids Friday. She keeps wolfdogs as well as wolves on her 10 acres.
[Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service photo]
A Mexican wolf.
MAKING HYBRIDS A wolf-dog hybrid is the offspring of a breeding between a wolf and a dog. It is possible because wolves and dogs are closely related genetically.
Wolves generally weigh between 80 and 100 pounds. They have slim torsos with narrow chests, long legs and large feet. Their large heads have larger teeth and more powerful jaws than dogs’. A wolf-dog hybrid will likely be thinner and leggier than a dog.
Wolves are not naturally aggressive. Wolf-dog hybrids with a higher percentage of wolf tend to show the decreased aggressiveness of the wolf. Aggressive hybrids usually come from breeding with aggressive dog breeds, such as Rottweilers or pit bullterriers.
Most attacks by hybrids have been on small children, many when the animal’s predatory instincts were triggered, causing the animal to regard the child as prey.
Wolves do not train well and cannot be housebroken the way dogs can. A hybrid could fall anywhere between the two extremes.
To own a hybrid that is 75 percent or more wolf requires a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Sources: U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal Welfare Information Center; International Wolf Center; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
BROOKSVILLE - Melissa Kondratick dug into the Wal-Mart grocery sack, pulled out raw chicken legs and tossed them to her babies.
Pet wolves and wolfdogs - all 12 of them.
Their long, spindly legs scrambled backward as the meat sailed through the air. The chicken smacked into the dirt, then disappeared into their long, pointy snouts, bones and all.
"Think about it," said Kondratick, 41. "In the wild, they eat a whole deer - fur and bones."
That's just it, Tampa Bay area animal control officials say. Wolfdogs belong in the wild.
This week's mauling of 2-week-old Susanna Pound in Seminole has reignited debate over the dangers of breeding wolves with dogs.
"They're very affectionate. They're very emotional," said Tampa resident Theresa Hense, 34, who has owned three wolfdogs. "They get their feelings hurt very easy."
But the unpredictable nature of wolfdogs has resulted in at least eight attacks in the Tampa Bay area over the past decade. Nationwide, at least 14 people were killed between 1979 and 1998, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some reports put the toll higher.
"People need to stop breeding these animals," said Dr. Kenny Mitchell, director of Pinellas County Animal Services. "You have to go back to blame the people. We've spent thousands of years getting the wolf out of the dog and now we go backward."
Mix wolf with dog, wolfdog with wolf or wolfdog with wolfdog, and there's no telling how much wolf blood runs through the companion. Will the offspring have the predatory instincts of a wolf, or the playful disposition of a dog?
"You can't tell what you're getting," said Dr. Soraya Juarbe-Diaz, a veterinarian behaviorist in Tampa. "They can look on the outside like a dog and behave completely like a wolf."
What's a wolfdog?
Eddie Negron, a wolfdog breeder in Brooksville, was offering "white timber wolf" puppies for $350 to $450.
"Beautiful parents!" said a newspaper ad this week.
The four puppies were 30 percent wolf and the rest German shepherd, Negron said.
"They sold out," he said.
In Florida, unlike 13 other states, anyone can keep a wolfdog.
If the animal is 75 percent or more wolf, owners need a wolfdog permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Owners also must live on 21/2 acres and erect a fence for the animal, among with other safety measures.
"I won't sell to a person who has an apartment and no backyard," said Negron, 60. "I had this guy who was in a small mobile home. I said, "You're out of your mind. I'm not going to sell you any dogs.' "
The number of wolfdogs in Florida is unknown, though 179 wolfdog permits currently are issued to zoos, breeders and owners.
Part of the problem is the lack of a scientific test to determine what percent of an animal is wolf, animal control officials say.
"It poses some amazing enforcement difficulties," said Denise Hilton, manager for Pasco County Animal Services.
Wolf makeup basically is determined by lupine characteristics: Straight tail, coarse hair, long legs and snout, big paws and timid but predatory personality.
Lt. Steve DeLacure, investigator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, examined 66-pound Spirit, the dog that bit 2-week-old Susanna Pound on Monday.
DeLacure noted the long legs and snout, as well as a skittish temperament.
"It had a very, very small percentage," DeLacure said. About 5 percent to 20 percent wolf, he estimated.
Animal control officials said Spirit and its owner, Diane Pound, recently moved to Seminole from Michigan, where wolfdogs were declared illegal in 2000.
In Michigan, Spirit was registered as a German shepherd with no bite history, said Mitchell, director of Pinellas County Animal Services.
Spirit was euthanized Wednesday after its owner agreed to surrender the animal, Mitchell said. Spirit's owner could not be reached for comment.
"I don't think it was a wolfdog," said Kondratick, the Brooksville resident with a dozen wolves and wolfdogs.
"The tail was curled," she said. "That's a dog trait, not a wolf trait. And lots of dogs have skinny legs."
Susanna, who was bitten on the head and dragged out of bed as she slept, is being treated for critical injuries at All Children's Hospital.
Juarbe-Diaz, the veterinarian behaviorist, said Spirit may have mistaken Susanna for wounded prey. Or the baby could have been mistaken for a toy.
"Think of the squeaky noises they make," she said.
Safe or not?
Stray wolfdogs in Citrus County recently caused such a stir that officials passed the most stringent regulation in the Tampa Bay area.
As of Aug. 1, breeding or selling wolfdogs is prohibited in Citrus County.
"We will allow them, but we do not allow them to be sold or bred," said XanRawls, director of Citrus County Animal Services. "You can't predict what is going to stimulate them to an attack."
Owners pay $500 to register a wolfdog and can take it off their property only to see a veterinarian.
While regulations in other Tampa Bay area counties are not nearly as strict, Pasco tried something similar to Citrus in 1993.
Scores of people, many from other areas, filled County Commission chambers during passionate debate over wolfdogs. Animal control officials wanted them banned. The Florida Lupine Association, a Brooksville organization of wolfdog owners, opposed the measure.
The proposed ban fizzled.
"It was frustrating," said Hilton, the Pasco animal services manager.
Most animal control officials oppose wolfdogs as pets. Among other problems, they say, rabies vaccines have not been proved effective in wolfdogs.
Wolfdog supporters dismiss such claims.
"Dogs and wolves are the same species," said Kondratick, the Brooksville resident and secretary of the Florida Lupine Association. "It's like saying a shot that works in a horse isn't going to work in a pony or donkey."
She and other wolfdog owners say people are biased against wolfdogs because they don't understand them or know how to raise them.
Many experts, noting that wolves tend to be wary of people, say aggression in wolfdogs generally comes from breeding with aggressive dogs.
Kondratick's wolves and wolfdogs roam in separate enclosures on 10 acres. She keeps her three pure wolves separated from the wolfdogs. And she doesn't allow children alone with any of them.
Her monthly food bill is $300, and that does not include the raw chicken snacks that run $40 a shot.
"They need a lot of time and you have to know what you're doing," she said. "They're not pets for the average person."
Times researchers Kitty Bennett and Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
