Wolf Hybrids. Part One: Do They Exist and How Dangerous Are They to Wildlife?

Recently, the media has once again been filled with reports of conflicts between wolves and people. They say that wolves attack domestic animals and pose a threat to humans! But it later turned out that these are not wolves at all, but wolf-dog hybrids — crosses between wolves and dogs.

And now the authorities of Russian regions are urgently introducing programs for the mass culling of hybrids. The only problem is that no one is able to determine whether it’s a hybrid or a real wolf in front of them, so they have begun to exterminate everyone in a row! This is literally the last cleanup of the wild nature from genuine gray wolves.

But that’s not all. As you know, programs are now actively being adopted to “clean up” regions of stray dogs. That is, instead of a humane way to solve the problem, which was created DUE TO THE DEFECTIVE WORK OF THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, we hear calls: KILL, KILL, KILL.

The first to be hit are the last genuine wolves, specifically true wild packs that are being exterminated. Next in line are homeless dogs. And between them are hybrids, which are also becoming very numerous!

Today I want to discuss precisely the topic of the spread of hybrids. The material will be large and detailed, so let’s break it into two full-fledged parts! I think this is very important.

In the second part, we will consider a way to solve the problem WITHOUT STUPID KILLINGS, which officials present to us as a “no alternative option.”

We need to IMMEDIATELY take measures both to protect real wild wolves, while their genome is not completely destroyed, and to protect stray dogs, which gather in packs — through human fault.

So. Wolf-dog hybrids.

The topic is not a simple one.

Unfortunately, this topic provokes a lot of controversy. Even scandals. Every time I tried to touch on the issue of hybridization (crossbreeding) of wolves with dogs in my articles and books in the past, it caused a lot of criticism from readers. And even, I would say, aggression! Therefore, let’s break down this topic, which is not only complicated but also emotionally “charged,” step by step, in detail. And focus on facts, not emotions.

And, yes, first of all, regarding statements that “Wolfdogs do not exist, you invented them!”

Personally, when I first received such complaints, they seemed somewhat strange to me, shall we say. But if someone is wondering whether wolfdogs exist or if they are a mythical creature:

First, look into the history of large dog breeds. There you will find numerous examples of using wild wolves when breeding dog breeds. Various breeders are still engaged in the crossbreeding of wolves with dogs and sell the resulting hybrids into private hands!

Secondly, read “White Fang”— Jack London’s novella published in 1906. The main character there is precisely a wolf-dog hybrid named White Fang. White Fang’s father was a wolf, and his mother, Kichi, was half-wolf, half-dog.

Something like that, to understand the difference: wolfdogs are real hybrids of wolves and dogs. And there’s no need to confuse them with mythical creatures like werewolf wolves! Well, I will provide fresh and strictly scientific data further in my material.

I devote all my energy to preserving the last corners of wild nature. There are few of these virgin, untouched-by-human Ancient forests! For us, in general, it’s even difficult to realize HOW few there are. For example, we plan to go for a walk with the kids in the forest. To feed squirrels and…

Stop! This is not a forest. I mean, not an Ancient forest. It’s not a natural biocenosis but an altered biocenosis. Subjected to anthropogenic (human) impact. And, since we plan to “go for a walk” there, it’s more of a “park” than a “forest.” And the squirrels we plan to feed are by no means wild animals, but a synanthropic (human-dependent) population. And these squirrels are VERY DIFFERENT from their wild counterparts. In behavior, appearance, body structure, and genetically.

Our human world deeply penetrates natural ecosystems, completely changing them. 90% of what we see is a mosaic of very conditional “forests,” interspersed with fully anthropogenic landscapes of settlements, industrial zones, and agricultural lands. And no more than 10% are genuine natural forests. When considering the problems of top predators in ecosystems, it’s important to understand this context.

Top predators are always one of the key species in a biological system. They themselves are extremely adapted to their native biocenosis, and at the same time, they shape and maintain the structure of that biocenosis. They are a system-forming, “key,” factor. Accordingly, if we are talking about preserving the boreal (northern) taiga, this implies preserving wolf packs. It’s just that the wolf is an extremely problematic top predator due to the possibility of free crossbreeding with dogs!

In the mosaic “fragments” left of natural ecosystems, we have three interpenetrating problems:

• The last wolf packs in a shrinking and insufficient habitat for them, under intense pressure from the hunting industry.

  
  

• Packs of feral dogs that invade forest areas from the outskirts of settlements and destroy the established ecosystems.

  
  
• And the emerging packs of wolf-dog hybrids, which are even more dangerous both for nature and for people.

Wolf-dog hybrids, or “wolfdogs,” appeared and are spreading solely due to anthropogenic factors. Scientists are absolutely unanimous in the opinion that wolf-dog hybridization is a consequence of human intervention. 100%! Under natural conditions, wolf packs are structured to avoid interspecies crossbreeding. Usually only the dominant pair reproduces. Young wolves breed and form new “families” only if they find free territory and a partner.

Every biological species is separated from other species by certain barriers. Sometimes they are immediately visible. For example, mountain ranges in the habitat of a species. But often they are not so obvious. The barrier between wolves and dogs is maintained by differences in lifestyle: wild wolves live deep in natural territories, while dogs are tied to humans. However, humans remove these barriers. Through the direct destruction of wolves or indirectly, by changing their habitat.

The most striking example: intensive wolf culling leads to the destruction of pack structures. Adults, dominant individuals are killed for trophies. The remaining young wolves, having lost experienced leaders, cannot hunt effectively. They become more aggressive, but at the same time disorganized. Pack hunting is a social skill. You need to learn it.

Moreover, when the population is reduced, a genetic compensation mechanism kicks in. Wolves begin to reproduce as intensively as possible. I studied the works of a good zoologist, Hernandez-Blanco, who discovered in his research that under strong human pressure, she-wolves give birth to many more pups. Moreover, the proportion of females in the litter increases sharply — up to 80%! Then the excess of young females faces a shortage of male wolves. And in search of a partner, wolf females mate with stray dogs — this is the only way to have offspring in the absence of wolves. Thus, hunting intensifies hybridization: by trying to control the wolf population, humans create conditions for the appearance of wolfdogs.

In other words, exterminating wolves, which is happening all over the country (and around the world), leads to the appearance and spread of hybrids. And now we see officials starting to shout about the problem of hybrids attacking domestic animals and entering into conflict with people!

Simply put: they exterminated wolves — created hybrids — went to exterminate them as well. According to the principle “as long as there’s something to kill, we’re not interested in anything else.”

It is specifically human activity (hunting, habitat destruction, etc.) that removes natural barriers and brings wild wolves and stray dogs together. It seems obvious to everyone, right? The next most important reason after the destruction of wolf packs is the presence of semi-wild dogs in wolf habitats. In rural areas of Russia and worldwide, many dogs roam unsupervised, gather in packs, and partly revert to a wild lifestyle.

In Altai, in Karelia, and in some other regions, the problem of established packs of wolfdogs has begun to be acknowledged. The situation is similar in Europe: in almost every country where wolves exist, hybrids have been discovered. In some countries, the proportion of “dog blood” is simply terrifyingly high. For example, I came across data showing that in the Italian region of Tuscany, according to estimates, up to 70% of the population are the descendants of wolves and dogs, those same wolfdogs. So, talking about preserving the wolf population there is already too late!

The anthropogenic environment literally pushes the once wild wolf toward crossbreeding. Instead of isolated populations in the wilderness, wolves now live near landfills, farms, and village outskirts, where there are always dogs.

Particularly interesting are the patterns of crossbreeding. Genetic and field studies show that mating between wolves and dogs is usually not random but follows a certain pattern, a behavioral stereotype. In most documented cases of hybrid litters, the mother is a she-wolf, and the father is a dog. Female wolves, left without a partner, can themselves start looking for a dog. On the other hand, the opposite scenario (a male wolf with a female dog) is recorded far less often. In Europe, for a long time, there was no direct evidence of such a scenario at all, until researchers described a case in Latvia. There, genetic analysis confirmed the mating of a male wolf with a female dog due to the presence of canine mitochondrial DNA in the hybrids. However, this is more of an exception that confirms the prevailing pattern of hybridization in most cases.

Thus, the main mechanism is that male dogs impregnate she-wolves, resulting in litters of wolf-dog pups right in the forest. These hybrids, raised by the she-wolf, grow in the pack “as wolves by upbringing” but carry dog genes. Moreover, such crossbreeds can later mate either with wolves (pouring dog genes back into the wolf population—so-called backcrossing) or with dogs. As a result, a chain of generations with different proportions of canine blood forms. If the process is set in motion, a kind of “cloud of hybrids” can emerge in the habitat. A genetically motley population gradually displacing the original species. This is shown, for example, by the already mentioned study in Tuscany, where the wolf population has already been replaced by wolfdogs.

How big a problem are wolfdogs for the natural biocenoses of our forests, and what should be done about it? Let’s try to answer these questions by examining the problem in more detail further on.

The prevalence of wolf-dog hybrids is clearly extremely large but very poorly studied. Unfortunately. And as a result, we do not fully understand the impact of wolf-dog hybridization on the ecosystem, nor do we see the risks for the population of genuine wild wolves.

Meanwhile, a rapid genetic degeneration is underway! The crossbreeding of true wolves (Canis lupus) with domestic dogs leads to an influx into the wolf population of genes that carry traits selected by humans in the process of domestication and which are completely unsuitable for wildlife. Over thousands of years of selection, domestic dogs have acquired traits that reduce survival in nature:

- earlier sexual maturity;

- two heat cycles per year;

- delayed formation of behavioral patterns;

- various deviations in appearance (color, body structure, etc.);

- increased trustfulness and a low level of aggression.

In the long run, introgression (the infiltration of domestic genes) at a sufficient frequency leads to the “genomic disappearance” of the wild wolf we know. That is, an imperceptible at first but actual dissolution of the species among the various hybrids. Examples of this are known among related species: hybridization already threatens the existence of the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) and the red wolf (Canis rufus). And now this danger has also arisen for the gray wolf. It is losing its genetic uniqueness, and if the gene pool continues to be contaminated, it will lose the hereditary traits developed by evolution and may disappear altogether as a distinct species.

WE RISK LOSING THE GENOTYPE OF THE TRUE RUSSIAN WOLF FOREVER!

The behavioral changes in wolfdogs are particularly dangerous. Wolf-dog hybrids combine traits that make them more dangerous and unpredictable than wild wolves. Hybrids often display behavior undesirable to humans. A lack of innate fear of humans is noted in wolfdogs. Unlike wild wolves, which avoid people and do not attack without extreme necessity, hybrids can boldly enter populated areas and attack people without provocation. For example, a recent case in the Kurgan region involved a “wolf pack” that likely was actually made up of wolfdogs which attacked a village. A woman was killed. All witnesses say that the animal behaved “inadequately”—it did not fear humans, and it even lunged at a car. Experts stated that such “fearlessness” and unusual aggression toward people is characteristic precisely of wolfdogs—the killed animal was not found to have rabies, so it was not the disease causing these strange behavioral reactions.

And what does this lead to? Right—to people’s hatred of genuine wild wolves and calls to deal harshly with them! As a result, even more mass hunts for the last packs of TRULY WILD WOLVES are launched, leading to their total extermination, which in turn leads to an even greater spread of hybrids and aggravation of the problem.

Hybrids also break “the rules of the wolf pack”—they hunt not only for food but also due to a killing instinct. A recent case was noted in the Altai Territory, where a pack of wolfdogs killed 9 roe deer but ate only one. I looked into the situation, since they also started massive wolf hunts afterwards, but it turned out the conflict occurred precisely because of a wolf-dog hybrid. Real wolves had nothing to do with it at all!

Such a tendency toward excessive killing of prey harms wildlife: animals die for no reason. In addition to ungulates, wolfdogs exterminate the young of hares, badgers, birds, and they ravage nests, eating eggs. In other words, wolfdogs exhibit behavior more akin to jackals than to true wolves. And these “jackal-like habits” make wolfdog packs dangerous to humans and catastrophically destructive to natural ecosystems.

The emergence and rapid spread of wolfdog packs provoke significant ecosystem shifts. The spread of hybrids creates competition for resources with real wolves and other predators. Wolfdogs often form packs or groups that successfully hunt the same prey as wolves. In some regions of Europe, hybrids have already partially displaced or replaced purebred wolves from their niches and ranges. Biologists fear that the growth of wolfdog populations may “push” wolves out of the ecosystem altogether, replacing them with new hybrid offspring. According to existing observational data, hybrids also attack livestock more often than ordinary wolves. This provokes retaliatory measures from humans against all predators indiscriminately.

Another additional risk is the spread of diseases. Wolfdogs, forming dense, aggressive packs, serve as carriers of rabies and other diseases. This threatens both humans and wild animals. In this case, it is hybrids that become a kind of bridge, linking populated areas with sections of the wild.

Again, it’s worth noting that genuine wild wolves are actually the SANITARIANS of the wild and prevent the spread of dangerous diseases. Whereas dogs and their crossbred hybrids do not have natural adaptations to diseases and can spread them both in the wild and within populated areas.

Thus, the hybridization of wolves and dogs carries a multifaceted threat: from the gradual genetic dilution of the species to direct dangers for ecosystems and humans.

Wolves are the apex of the food chain and a vital element of ecosystems. But their effectiveness and survival depend on adaptations honed by evolution. When domestic genes enter the genome, there is a loss of the specialized adaptations necessary for life in the wild. If such introgressions are frequent, then within a few generations, a small wolf population may completely lose its “wolf” traits and can no longer survive without human support. Essentially, the wild wolf will disappear, giving way to a hybrid that is less suited to the harsh environment. Scientists call this genetic degradation or dilution of the species. Small and isolated wolf populations are especially vulnerable—just a few hybrid litters may mean the irreversible loss of genetic integrity. For example, if a population has only a couple dozen individuals, and even 2–3 hybrids appear and begin to reproduce, then the proportion of dog genes quickly increases and simply “floods” the original gene pool. And in that case, talk of preserving the species no longer makes sense. The main thing is that this disappearance will not be immediately noticeable—wolves will seem to remain, visually. But on the genetic level, the species will be lost.

The spread of hybrids threatens ecological replacement: a new predator appears in nature, occupying the wolf’s niche but with different characteristics. A wolfdog looks like a wolf, but it isn’t one! It is more unpredictable, potentially more likely to conflict with humans, and kills more prey than necessary. When wolves are replaced by such hybrids, ecosystems experience imbalance and change dramatically.

This is how it happens in a concrete example:

The regulation of ungulate populations—one of the wolf’s most important ecosystem roles—gets disrupted. Either there will be too many hybrids, and they will kill an excessively large number of victims. Or, conversely, due to reduced fitness, hybrids will not be able to effectively hunt strong, healthy animals, and the ecosystem will face overpopulation of herbivores. That is, the predator-wolf function will either become hypertrophied or weakened, in any case disturbing the established balance. Furthermore, hybrids, being partly descended from domestic dogs, will tend to stay near human settlements, feeding on waste and occupying ecological niches not in natural environments but in emerging technogenic landscapes.

Then a systemic “vicious cycle” effect is triggered. The main danger of hybridization is that it is self-accelerating. The more hybrids are born, the higher the chance that a wild wolf will mate not with a pure dog but with a hybrid wolfdog female, further increasing the proportion of domestic genes. Over time, a situation may arise, like in some areas of Italy, where “they’re basically all hybrids there”—that is, there are no pure wolves left. This is a documented example in Italy! In Abruzzo National Park in the 1990s, there were small wolf packs. By the 2000s, several hybrid individuals were identified there, and despite the measures taken, there are now no longer genetically pure wolves in those areas—they all carry a share of “dog blood.” In other words, the wolf as a genetically unique unit has disappeared locally.

Here’s another real example: the red wolf in the United States practically disappeared as a species precisely through hybridization with the coyote. Now only hybrid offspring live in the wild, and purebred individuals remain only in captivity. The same can happen to the gray wolf locally if the situation is left to take its course. Moreover, hybrids can displace other animals. For instance, an increase in wolfdog packs may negatively affect the population of lynxes, wolverines, or foxes—competitors for food or those that can become prey for larger packs.

Summing up: hybrids cause the extinction of animals in two ways—genetically (by dissolving the species) and ecologically (by disrupting food chains). Both imperceptibly but irreversibly destroy wolves themselves and the species connected with them.

So what needs to be done?

The first and most important thing the government should do is STOP ANY MASS KILLINGS. Of dogs, of wolves, and of the altered intermediate hybrid. Then begin a SINGLE STATE PROGRAM to protect both stray dogs and genuine wild wolves.

I will talk more about this in the second part of the material: specifically, what needs to be done to restore balance and stop further ecosystem degradation and the extinction of genuine wild wolves.

In the meantime, help us achieve change! We demand that the Government of the Russian Federation launch a federal program to protect genuine wild wolves. We are sending collective claims to key government figures through our public initiative.

Take Part

The participation of every person is important! Be sure to sign the initiative so that officials can see that we are many and we demand a solution to the problem.

© PAVEL PASHKOV