Abuse From the Eyes of a Wolf Hybrid

Bandit

I want to talk about some very sad cases of a misunderstood animals who ended up at Wolf Run. Bandit, a wolf-hybrid who is now a permanent resident at Wolf Run, once loved people. He was not owned by anyone in particular, but acted as a kind-of mascot at a local golf course. The regular visitors knew Bandit and loved him. Bandit had no hesitation approaching people until, one day, a man who had never seen Bandit before began beating him violently with a golf club, fearing he was being attacked by a wolf when Bandit had only been trying to greet the golfer. Thankfully, before the man could beat Bandit to death, someone stopped the violence and explained to the visitor that Bandit was not a threat. Bandit was in bad shape. The man who had stopped the confrontation drove Bandit in his own car to a nearby animal hospital, where Bandit was treated for a shattered back hip. Bandit now walks with a permanent limp and trusts no human, not even the Wolf Run volunteers who have been taking care of him for quite some time now. Not once can any volunteer recall actually touching Bandit since he has arrived at the reserve.

Nibbles (left) and Meeshka (right)

Another terrifying case is that of Nibbles. Thankfully, as is pictured in my last post, Nibbles fears no one and is one of the most loving and playful wolf hybrids at Wolf Run, but he almost lost his life in the most unfortunate of circumstances. Nibbles was bred by a man who later gave Nibbles to his grandmother when Nibbles was just a puppy, but Nibbles is a cross breed of one of the largest domestic dog breeds and one of the largest wolf breeds. Therefore, he grew up to be a massive animal. The older woman grew to fear Nibbles and his immense size and would stab Nibbles with knives when he neared her. As shown in the photo to the left, Nibbles can seem pretty scary if you have never seen him be the sweet animal he is. Finally, after having enough of fearing her own pet, she tied Nibbles to a tree, called Wolf Run, and threatened to shoot him if Wolf Run would not take him. Of course, Wolf Run was there within the hour and Nibbles has been a happy resident of The Wolf Run Wildlife Reserve ever since.

These close calls vividly depict the need for an informed public with concern to exotic animals, wolf hybrids specifically. Maybe if people were more informed of wolf hybrid characteristics and resources like Wolf Run, these situations may have not gotten so out of hand.