Infant killed by family’s hybrid wolf-dog pet in Alabama

“Shelby County 911 received an emergency call reporting an animal attack involving an infant at a residence in the area of County Road 440 in Chelsea. Shelby County deputies, Chelsea firefighters, and Shelby County Animal Control Officers responded to the scene.

“The infant was transported to an area hospital by ambulance, with a law enforcement escort,” the Office said in a statement posted on social media.

The infant was declared dead at the hospitaldue to injuries suspected to have been caused by the animal.

“The animal is described as a wolf-hybrid and was reportedly kept as a pet by the family of the infant. The animal was euthanised at the scene by an area Vet, at the request of law enforcement,” the Office said, adding that a probe is underway to ascertain the circumstances that led to the death of the infant.

According to the International Wolf Center in Minnesota, a wolf-dog hybrid is the child of a domestic dog and a wolf that had been mating, reports the BBC.

In a similar incident in 2018, an eight-day-old baby died after being attacked by its family’s three-year-old wolf hybrid in Virginia.

According to the Center, only a few people are successful in keeping a wolf hybrid as a pet.

The higher the wolf percentage is in the animal, the less likely they can be kept as a house pet, the Center said that thousands of them are abandoned in the US every year because people purchase an animal they are not prepared to care for.

Federal law in the US classifies wolf hybrids as domestic animals, therefore making it legal to own one as a pet.