Loose wolf-dog killed family pet, says B.C. couple who wants animal caught

A couple in Coombs, B.C., say their pet was killed by a wolf-dog that has been wandering southeastern Vancouver Island, evading the traps set for it. 

Residents in the area are being asked to keep an eye out for the large canine and the couple is asking for more to be done to capture the animal.

Greg Salmon says he and his wife Carolynn Marchildon were walking at the Coombs Country Campground Saturday morning when a wolf-dog snatched their French bulldog named Ocean.

"I got about three-quarters of the way through, and this wolf comes out of nowhere, grabbed Ocean, broke my finger, broke the leash, [and] ripped it right out of my hand," Salmon told CHEK News.

Salmon said he chased after the animal, which had Ocean in its teeth. 

"I started running and yelling and making as much noise as I possibly could and that thing wouldn't stop," an emotional Salmon said. "And I ran till I couldn't run anymore."

They later found blood-soaked leaves, he said.

Wolf-dog evades traps, dubbed WD-40

Gary Shade, co-founder of Find Lost and Escaped Dogs Vancouver Island, told The Canadian Press earlier this month that it's believed the approximately 68-kilogram dog was abandoned at the end of September and may have been at least partially domesticated before becoming too much for its owner.

Marchildon says she hopes to see wolf-dog breeding banned and serious consequences, including possible jail time, for people who abandon the animals. 

"This person has intentionally released a serial killer out into the wild," she said.

Shade says the animal was first spotted by a local woman who has her own pack of wolf-dogs but she was unable to catch it and her trap was damaged when it accidentally trapped a bear cub instead.

Georgina De Caigny, who runs Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary in Rocky View County, Alta., says humans have failed the wolf-dog, which is now resorting to desperate measures to stay alive.

"The biggest thing that we see all the time is people get into wolf-dog ownership with completely unrealistic expectations of what owning an animal like this is actually like," she told CBC News. "That is what ends up resulting in a lot of these animals either being abandoned or ending up in shelters or being euthanized, that kind of thing."

De Caigny says there needs to be more education around the fact wolf-dogs should not be purchased as pets, and that they are often too wild to behave as a domestic pet.

The dog has been dubbed WD-40 by rescuers, as it has approached the trap multiple times but always manages to slip away despite the smells of beef, tripe and other enticing foods used as bait.

A spokesperson for the B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) said the wolf-dog is not within its jurisdiction because it does not meet the definition of wildlife.

"From what we understand, he was dumped out of a vehicle," Shade said of the animal. "Now as soon as conservation heard that, they said, 'Oh, we're not touching it,' even though he's probably 90 per cent wolf."

The Regional District of Nanaimo says it hasn't received a formal report of a dog being killed by a wolf-dog in Coombs, which is within its district boundaries. Coastal Animal Control Services, the region's animal control contractor, has set up a trap in an undisclosed location to try to capture the animal. 

The district says anyone who spots a wolf-dog should contact Coastal Animal Control Services, noting that the district does not have jurisdiction on provincial Crown land or within municipalities.

Shade says he hopes the BCCOS will tranquilize the animal, adding that there is a shelter in Alberta willing to take it in. 

Marchildon told CHEK News she is frustrated by the lack of action. 

"This thing falls in the middle of nobody's responsibility, and it just gets to run wild like a serial killer, killing everything it can see," she said.