SPOKANE — Officials are still trying to trap a wolf that has to be moved from northeast Washington to prevent it from becoming too friendly with dogs, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department said Monday.
“It can take some time to trap a wolf,” spokesman Craig Bartlett.
The wolf, known as Ruby Creek Wolf 47, may be wary because it was trapped in July 2013 and equipped with a radio collar. Tracking last summer showed the wolf hanging around homes near Ione and playing with pet dogs. It has not been aggressive to people or livestock, but there is potential for more serious problems.
To prevent the wolf from mating with dogs over the winter, the state Wolf Advisory Group decided in September to move it to the Wolf Haven sanctuary in Tenino.
The sanctuary has set aside an enclosure in an area away from public view, spokeswoman Kim Young told The Chronicle in a story published Friday.
It would be only the second time in Wolf Haven’s 32-year history that it has accepted a wolf from the wild.
“It’s pretty disheartening the Ruby Creek wolf has become habituated to dogs and being around people, that she now has to spend her life in captivity,” Young said.
“The challenge is that she has lived her entire life in the wild,” she said. “We do all that we can, but we are very aware that this is not the wild.”
Wolf Haven has 82 animals, including eight wolf-dog hybrids and two coyotes.
The sanctuary provides a home for displaced, captive-born wolves and also serves as a breeding facility for two types of highly endangered wolves — the Mexican wolf and the red wolf.
Wolf Haven monitors wolves by remote cameras to reduce stress to the animal by minimizing human presence.
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