It is illegal to own a wolf hybrid in the state I live in.

However, in the state I used to live in, it was not. My neighbor had two of them. They lived in the back yard in a literal fortress. They never came out. It was positively depressing to hear them howling mournfully back there.

We used to get them in at the shelter there on a fairly regular basis. Without fail, every one had to be euthanized for behavioral issues. The director of the shelter described the problem quite well. A wolf is big, strong, powerful and wild. It has the definate prey drive of a predator, as is fitting. However, wolves are shy and afraid of humans. A dog is domesticated, friendly, tame, and generally smaller. Dogs are not shy, and not afraid of humans, as a rule. When the two are interbred, the animal that results seems to get the strength and prey drive of the wolf ... coupled with the lack of fear of humans of the dog. This is not a good combination, and it's always the animal that pays the ultimate price.

It always just infuriates me to hear people say, "Ooooh, I love wolves. They are so cool. I can relate to wolves, they are my favorite animal. I want to own one." What?? If you love, admire and respect a wild animal, what in the world would you want to take one from its natural environment, cage it, and try to make it into a domestic animal? We already have a domestic canine ... it's called a dog.