Dog and Wolfdog Rescue: Death Labels

Bella Zoi (Beautiful Life) showed up in the town of Schoolarie at about six-months-old. A lot of people wanted the beautiful pup, but she was timid and fast as a gazelle . People would bait her with food and traps, but she was too smart.

Unfortunately, as all intact females eventually do, Bella got pregnant. Animal control was finally able to catch her right before she delivered. She gave birth in the shelter and weaned her pups, but there was a problem.

Locals thought she was part wolf because of her feral body-language and size, so the shelter deemed Bella unadoptable... because wolf-dogs are illegal in New York State.

Bella would have been put down because of the wolfdog label. Her fears and anxieties didn't help either.

Luckily, someone knew to call Howling Woods Farm a rescue for wolf-dogs and they took Bella, simply because she was a  wolfdog labeled dog whose life was on the line.

What I'd like people to take from this post is that content or lack of doesn't matter. Labeled DOGs share the same fate as wolfdogs in shelters.

Many people who surrender their wolfy looking northern breeds will make the additional comment "he/she is part wolf" thinking it will make their surrendered animal exotic and more desirable for adoption. When instead they've marked their pet for death.