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Wolf who bit child moved to sanctuary

Former owner says 3-year-old was trying to feed caged animal

By Amelia Dickson, The Olympian
Published: June 18, 2017, 9:44pm

Olympia — A female wolf that bit off part of a 3-year-old Thurston County boy’s arm in April has been relocated to an out-of-state wildlife sanctuary, along with her pups and her Alaskan malamute mate.

The puppies were born in Thurston County Animal Services’ custody after the adult animals were seized following the attack, said Animal Services Director Ric Torgerson.

“Typically, in a lot of these situations, they end up euthanized,” Torgerson said. “It’s hard to find homes for them. They were lucky in this case.”

Torgerson said tests confirm that the female is 100 percent wolf, and the male is a malamute. That makes the puppies a wolf-dog hybrid.

“In this state, wolf hybrids are considered to be dogs, but they behave differently than dogs in many situations,” Torgerson said.

It’s not legal in Washington to privately own or breed wolves.

But the animals’ former owner, Rick Miracle, said the female, named Cheyenne, isn’t a full-blooded wolf and that Cheyenne isn’t mean, she’s just extremely food-motivated.

“She’s not aggressive in a mean way,” Miracle said. “She just liked food.”

He believes that the boy was trying to feed Cheyenne a piece of pizza when he was attacked.

The malamute is named Ed, he said.

A Thurston County Sheriff’s Office report says deputies responded to Miracle’s home at about 3:15 p.m. April 3. Multiple people had called 911 and reported an animal bite.

The boy was flown to Harborview Medical Center and survived his injuries. Information about the boy is limited because he is a minor. However, the Sheriff’s Office report requested that Child Protective Services be contacted.

“Entering the property, I could see that there was a large wooden cage with metal wiring just outside of the main entrance of the property, inside the fenced area,” wrote Deputy Evan Cofer in his report. “Inside the cage were two wolf/malamute breed dogs. At the entrance to the cage was a large amount of blood where one of the two animals has bitten (the child’s) lower right arm off. There was a blood trail from the cage leading into the house.”

Miracle told deputies that he warned both the child and his mother to stay away from the animals’ cage, according to court documents.

Ed and Cheyenne, who was pregnant at the time of the attack, spent all of their time in a large enclosure on Miracle’s property.

“It’s not that I think my dogs are dangerous,” Miracle said. “It’s that they’re animals. An animal is unpredictable no matter what.”

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