Wolfdogs should not be kept as pets, warn experts
Updated on: 25 August,2024 08:31 AM IST | Mumbai
Anand Singh | smdmail@mid-day.com
With the confirmation of the presence of wolfdogs on the outskirts of Pune, scientists and behaviourists warn that they should not be kept as pets
Wolfdogs should not be kept as pets, warn experts
The behavioural aspects of these hybrid wolfdogs are still under observation, but early findings suggest that they exhibit behaviours typical of wolves, having been born into wolf packs. Pic/The Grasslands Trust
In 2014, sightings of what looked like hybrids between stray dogs and wolves in Saswad, on the outskirts of Pune, caught the attention of conservationists and canine enthusiasts. However, there was no scientific confirmation of the new fledgling species.
Since then, it has been a long journey for The Grasslands Trust, a charitable trust working towards the conservation of Indian canidae and their habitats to prove the natural hybridisation. They secured permission to collect the species’ fur and stool sample and run genetic tests at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru—it took a decade for them to prove that hybridisation between dogs (canis familiaris) and wolves (canis lupis) is real.
the Indian grey wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), the apex predator in the grasslands of Maharashtra, is affected the most by this. The grasslands of Saswad, Morgaon, and Jejuri belt in Maharashtra, are one of its last breeding bastions.
