Euthanize wolf hybrids

I believe Judge Douglas Clapp’s Nov. 3 decision to euthanize only one of the four wolf hybrids that attacked and killed Royce Rollins’ pet dog on Oct. 30 is a serious mistake. Under 22 MRSA 1313-A, the entire pack should have been euthanized. Because the judge’s decision stated that only one wolf-hybrid be euthanized, Rollins and his mother now have to undergo rabies vaccinations since they both handled Rollins’ injured pet.

Simply a dog fight? Animals running in a pack, be they wolves, wolf hybrids, coyotes or domesticated dogs, act together, not singly, when stalking prey. It would be absurd to suggest that three of these four wolf hybrids sat down calmly and watched the Alpha female kill one dog and try to kill another. As for the decision being based on the fact that only one of the wolf hybrids appeared to be injured, one has to ask the question, “How much damage can a 35 pound dog inflict on four wolf hybrids who each must weight almost three times what she weighed?”

Rollins is my neighbor and on Oct. 30, the morning of the attack, his fenced-in yard looked like a war zone, stained with the blood of his two pets. Rollins has stated that these wolf hybrids attacked his dogs once before, in 1998, which required that he incur the expense of fencing in his entire yard. The fact that this pack of wolf hybrids actually dug and chewed their way through this fence proves their determination to lay waste to Rollins’ two dogs. Prior to the attack on Rollins’ dog in 1998, my husband and I observed these wolf hybrids running loose quite often. My husband and I reported them running at large to game wardens, to the animal control officer and to the town of Exeter, whenever we saw them, but to no avail.

The lack of control of these wolf hybrids by their owners has been amply demonstrated. Their size, voracity and instinct to attack as a pack creates a real and present threat to public safety. Has not the time come to destroy the entire pack? Or do we just wait for another tragedy to happen? Pamela Strout Exeter