Wolf-dog hybrid still loose in Sacramento. Residents say it’s a neighborhood breeder’s fault
One canine from the roaming pack of wolf dogs that had South Natomas on alert for more than a week was put down and two others were taken to a rescue, according to Sacramento animal control officers who said they are still searching for a wolf hybrid believed to be the last of the pack.
The outsized wolf-dog hybrids spotted on the loose in South Natomas and Discovery Park have been blamed for attacks on at least two pets in recent weeks, city officials said. The dogs had an owner and were living in the area but had escaped the property, Ryan Hinderman, a spokesman for the city of Sacramento’s Front Street Animal Shelter, said last week.
“What happens to the dogs will depend on our officers’ investigations to determine which dogs were responsible for attacking the other animals in the community,” Hinderman said.
A Front Street official now says one of the dogs remains at large.
“We have been unable to locate one outstanding dog. Two of the dogs were transferred to a rescue organization via the shelter, and one was euthanized by a local veterinarian,” Phillip Zimmerman, manager of the shelter, said in an email Monday to concerned residents on the dogs’ status.
The residents — in an email to Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, Councilmember Karina Talamantes and city animal control officials — said they and their neighbors are afraid to walk in their neighborhood.
They said the dogs and others owned by a nearby breeder have endangered residents there for years, escaping multiple times either by breaking through or digging underneath the breeder’s fence.
“His dogs have been a menace in the area since, at least, 2019. They have injured adults and killed pets. They have been reported to Animal Control on several occasions,” the email, copied to The Bee and other news organizations, read.
“We also fear for the toddlers and infants in arms in the neighborhood as these animals do not hesitate to threaten people with small animals or packages in hand,” the message continued. “They have a strong prey instinct which is dangerous for small animals and small children.”
Photos furnished by residents to The Bee show the large dogs on Jan. 14 and Jan. 16 huddled in backyards and roaming neighborhood streets. Other photos of the dogs date back to 2019.
Possessing a first-generation wolf hybrid is illegal in California, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Possessing second-generation wolf dogs, defined in California as the offspring of a domestic dog and a half-wolf, half-dog hybrid — with no more than 25% wolf — is legal.
The genetic makeup of the dogs, even within the same litter, “leads to a wide range of behavior patterns among all hybrids thus making their behavior inconsistent and more difficult to predict,” according to the Minnesota-based International Wolf Center. The genetic breakdown of the Natomas dogs now is not known.
Nearly a dozen calls to the city’s 311 service in recent days alerted officials to the sightings. Natomas residents were afraid that the hybrid breed may turn their sights onto larger prey.
“We’ve heard from residents who are understandably fearful, as these are large animals,” Talamantes said via email last week, adding “we need all hands on deck,” to capture the dogs.
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