Wolf, coyote dog hybrid...coming to a neighborhood near you (and me) (rabbits, wildlife)

[no kudzu]

New Species Evolves Right Before Our Eyes: Successful Mix of Wolves, Coyotes and Dogs | Alternet

[Normashirley]

I'll take them if they can kill those d**n Armadillos that are migrating up from Texas into Tennessee, without getting themselves sick or becoming a "passive" carrier.

Armadillos not only carry EPM, which is a neurological hazard to horses, they also carry leprosy which is a hazard to humans.

DH says he has seen more than one laying dead, on the main highway, on his way to work.

[senecat]

You will know when they are in your neighborhood because they tend to wipe out the wildlife and they don't stop there they kill the local pets and its not just cats they also kill dogs. People let their dogs out thinking they are safe in a fenced in yard only to find out they were wrong. The big dogs also get killed when there is a pack, it's pretty bad if you have them. What they usually do is kill everything and they leave, but they come back once the wildlife is built back up.

[NVplumber]

We don't have wolves here, but we do have coydogs. The hybrids are prone to "thrill killing". Much like pure feral dogs. These hybrids are larger, stronger, tend to pack up in numbers (over four animals) and they love to pick on sheep, but kill calves and foals too. They are quite intelligent as well, garnering that from the coyote side, and aren't much scared of people, from the dog side.

I've seen some scary mixes as well. There are a large number of free roaming dogs, most of them come from the reservation that borders us. All sorts of large , mongrel mixes, that when mixed with coyote are quite formidable. I've seen a couple that are almost cryptid in appearance. I had a coydog when I was in my 20s. He was a wicked critter. Not a pet, so much as a security animal. He would only answer to me for commands, be was blazing fast, regularly running down jack rabbits, and be was a gopher getter to. He would wait on a hole, and snatch them when they stuck their heads up.

Adding wolf to such already formidable mixes is just a scary concept.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Interesting. I just saw this story somewhere else this morning. Maybe we'll have to loosen up the definition of a species.

Having killed all of our dumb coyotes in the past 100 years, our rural South Plains coyotes are a severe enough pest. We certainly don't need a super-coyote.