Catlin Landriault was riding a horse and leading another through the trails near the Alberni Highway in Coombs Tuesday when suddenly, the second horse was spooked.
“I was leading Kheyote behind me, and he just kind of scooted up behind me, kind of a bit of a spook,” Landriault said.
“I looked behind me, and the wolf-dog was literally just standing on the trail about five feet away.”
She says even from the top of the horse, the wolf-dog looked big, standing taller than most dogs.
The wolf-dog, nicknamed WD-40, is a hybrid wolf and dog and is believed to have been abandoned by someone in the area two to three months ago.
There have been several sightings and attacks on pets, including a fatal one at the end of November when a small, leashed dog was snatched from its owners on a trail near the Coombs Country Campground.
It was killed before its owners could save it.
“Yeah, I’m really apprehensive. I won’t be riding out here by myself anymore,” Landriault told CHEK News.
But at the same time, she says she feels torn about the dog, sympathetic even, as it seemed to pose no threat to her or her horses.
“I’m torn,” she said. “I know it killed a dog, and I know the owner and feel terrible, but just seeing him yesterday made me realize that it’s not his fault.”
Others are worried about the wolf-dog as well. And even against the advice of officials, Willo Jacobs, who has seen it before, went to the area with dog food Wednesday to try to feed it.
“Yeah, we were walking down that trail, and he came out from nowhere right behind us crying and whimpering, and you can just see he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body,” Jacobs said. “He is just hungry and lonely, and I just felt so bad for him I thought I’d come back today and see if I could see him.”
She did not see the wolf-dog but said she wanted to feed it so it wouldn’t go after someone else’s pet due to hunger.
Previous attempts to try to trap it for possible relocation have failed.
Coastal Animal Control is now the lead organization dealing with the animal. CHEK News’ request for comment was not responded to before our deadline.
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Dean Stoltz
