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Newspaper articles
About animals from this breeder
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/12/MNL212662.DTL
Exotic pets, suburbia an
uneasy combo
Hearing on canines that may be part wolf
A sled dog?
From a sleddog breeder?
Piggies and pythons and wolves, oh my!
Bay Area residents have owned everything from anteaters to zebras as exotic pets. The problem is, they're often tougher to tame than a jittery Jack Russell terrier.
Tomorrow, a Vallejo man will have a hearing in Solano County to try to win freedom for four animals that he insists are huskies, but which officials say are at least part wolf. The animals wound up at the pound after they escaped from their yard and attacked a neighbor, ripping her dress.
"The big problem is people don't know what to do," said Diana Guerrero, a former animal trainer for zoos and the entertainment industry who now writes about captive wildlife. "People get into so many problems with their animals because they don't understand their behavior."
In the case of the Solano County canines, animal control officials will try to get a judge to keep them away from a delivery truck driver who they say is not licensed or fit to care for them.
The animals' owner, Gregory Chapman, says they are mixed-breed huskies. On May 11, they dug under a fenced enclosure in his yard and cornered a neighbor in her backyard.
Officials say the animals' appearance and aggressive behavior are telltale signs that they are wolves, or part wolf. But so far, blood test results have been inconclusive.
"Everybody's entitled to their preferences. . . . Some people like big dogs, " said Chapman, who has been barred from seeing his pets. "Why do some people like Chihuahuas?"
Chapman, a Chronicle delivery truck driver on disability leave, says he bought the animals about two years ago as puppies from a sled-dog breeder in Alaska. He acknowledges that they may have a genetic trace of wolf, but no more than any other dog.
"When I play with them, sometimes they rip my shirt," Chapman said. "I bought them as an arctic breed of dog, and that's what I believe they are."
Ron Mayfield, manager of the Benicia-Vallejo Humane Society, said they are unpredictable and therefore dangerous in suburban captivity. "They're a time bomb waiting to go off," he said.
For myriad reasons, people find creature comfort in the furry, the feathered and even the scaly. But experts say many end up surrendering their pets to an animal shelter or setting them loose on a roadside.
"They don't really do the research they need to do before they get the animal," Guerrero said. "Part of the attraction is to something novel."
Llamas, ostriches and even zebras are raised in rural parts of Contra Costa and Marin counties, where they are considered livestock. But animal control officers see many other species of pets that local and state ordinances don't even account for.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/15/MNL1645037.DTL
Fate of canines to be decided Monday
A Solano County Superior Court judge will decide on Monday whether four suspected wolves owned by a Vallejo man should be returned to him or sent to a sanctuary in Texas.
Vallejo officials decided at a May 24 vicious dog hearing to confiscate the animals from their owner after they escaped from his backyard and ripped a neighbor's dress in a suspected attack.
The owner, Gregory Chapman, said his pets are mixed-breed huskies and appealed the city's decision. County animal control officers are still testing to determine whether the animals are even part wolf.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/19/MNW1714292.DTL
Vallejo canines going to wolf sanctuary
Four canines seized from a Vallejo man will be sent to a wolf sanctuary as part of an out-of-court settlement reached yesterday between the owner and the Benicia-Vallejo Humane Society.
Owner Glen Chapman agreed to drop his appeal of a ruling that the animals should be sent to a sanctuary. He has argued that the animals are mixed-breed huskies, but humane officials say they are wolves. The animals will be spayed and neutered before being sent to a sanctuary in Colorado, Texas or Modesto, said Ron Mayfield of the humane society.
Vallejo officials confiscated the animals last month after they escaped from Chapman's backyard and reportedly attacked a neighbor.
http://www.q58.com/sac/news/localnews/stories/news-localnews-83958820010625-080648.html
Pet Wolves Find New Home
Four Wolves Moved To Oregon Sanctuary
WILLIAMS, Ore., 7:09 a.m. PDT June 25, 2001 --
Four wolves, once in the custody of Solano County
Animal Control officers,
settled into their new home in
southern Oregon Monday.
The Vallejo Humane
Society took them
away from their
owner more than a
month ago after they
broke out of his back
yard and went after a
neighbor.
Now the wolves will spend the rest of
their lives here at the
Howling Acres Wolf Sanctuary in Williams, Ore.
The wolves appear to be in good health, but some say that
there may be lasting damage.
"You can't domesticate a
wild animal -- period. You just
can't. They aren't meant to be domesticated and should
remain wild," Howling Acres founder Sherrie LaBat said.
The wolves' owner, Gregory Chapman, could face charges
for transporting the wolves over state and national lines
because he purchased them in Alaska.
This is Howling Acres' website.
http://www.howlingacres.org/HOME/home.html
The Vellejo 4, as they become known, were sent here; thought by the sanctuary owners to be pure wolves. Do you think the rest of their animals are what they report them to be? There are some pictures of real wolves on the website. Compare them to the pics of their own animals. *
*Disclaimer* The above site is not recommended as a reliable educational website on either wolves or wolfdogs.