A pack of wolf-dog hybrids terrorizing a California neighborhood has killed a pet dog.
The pack has been running rampant around Shingletown for months, near the Battle Creek Subdivision, local outlet KRCRTV reported.
Five dogs, including some that are wolf-dog hybrids, killed a dog named Chief in a driveway on March 25.
Chief’s owner Sharina Clark told KRCRTV that she started looking into the incident after burying her beloved pet.
It appears that the dogs involved in the attack are not actually wild and belong to a neighbor, but they are untrained and vicious.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt and this is a community of elderly people,” Clark told the news outlet. “We’re the youngest family here, and my daughter, the very next day [the pack] came back, and my daughter was outside 10 minutes before the pack came back.”
Other residents are now concerned for their pets’ safety.
One resident says the dogs are seen roaming the area on a daily basis, and that their owner doesn’t seem to care about it.
The Shasta County Sheriff department is working to catch the dogs but it is taking time.
So far, they have seized one of the animals after its owner gave it up to officers, KRCRTV reported.
“This is an issue that is being actively worked on. There are things being done and we will continue to do so and hopefully resolve this issue sooner rather than later,” Public Information Officer for the sheriff’s office Tim Mapes told the local outlet.
Wolf-dog hybrids, also called wolfdogs, are the result of domestic dogs being bred with a gray wolf. Although closely related, gray wolves and domestic dogs have notable differences. Gray wolves are wild and tend not to be friendly with humans. These hybrids can be trained like normal domestic dogs but a higher percentage of them are likely to be dangerous and aggressive to humans and other animals.
The sheriff’s office is continuing to look into options for dealing with the hybrids and the rest of the pack but says there’s a limit to how fast they can act while following the law.
“Anytime you kind of seem like your hands are tied by the letter of the law it can be frustrating,” Mapes told KRCRTV. “But again as a law enforcement agency we have to do things by the book and we have to do things within the confines of the law, so that we do it right.”
This article by Robyn White was first published by Newsweek on 10 April 2024. Lead Image: A stock photo shows a close-up of a wolfdog. A pack of dogs, including some wolfdogs, is terrorizing a California neighborhood. THYMEN VAN SCHAIK/GETTY.
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