Hunter Mistakes Siberian Husky for Grey Wolf Pup, Kills & Skins it Anyway.
Protect your pets, y’all.
Warning: This article features graphic imagery of man’s best friend in a really, really bad way. NSFW = Not Safe For Work. May require bleaching of the ocular nerves.
It is not a good time to have your dog off-leash in the US of A.
After that cop killed his neighbors dog with a pellet gun this summer, I thought I hoped I wouldn’t stumble across more pet-related violence for the rest of the year. But then dogs were set on fire in Boston and Memphis. Then two were shot by neighbors in Hawaii. The latest act however is less brazen than the others, but somehow more horrific and simultaneously more sad.
Found on Reddit, this post caused me to slam my phone down and audibly declare, “I’m done with the internet today!”
Wild Montucky Huskies
Titled “Woman mistakes a Husky pup for a wolf, kills it, skins it, posts it on FB. When told by hundreds of people she killed someone’s dog she argues with them,” a redditor shared a slightly redacted screenshot (jpg, NSFW!!) of what will be one of the most terrible things you’ve seen all year. Locked behind a NSFW confirmation click, the image is a redacted screenshot of a hunter’s Facebook page. Containing an image, the caption above it reads as follows:
So this morning I set out for a solo predator hunt for a fall black bear however I got the opportunity to take another predator wolf pup 2022 was a great feeling to text my man and say I just smoked a wolf pup. #firstwolf #onelesspredatorMT
Wolf Pup? Can we talk about this?
Firstly, this hunter seemed to be nearly bragging that they didn’t find what they were originally hunting for. Weird flex for sure. She also seems overly proud to have bagged herself a baby (as in helpless) predator. Another bizarre flex. Maybe it’s a TikTok thing; I’ll have to see if people are also bragging about catching the smallest fish. Seriously, I thought hunters wanted their prey to grow into full size monsters for clout and shit, so why be so proud to tell everyone “I just smoked a wolf pup?”
Admittedly, I don’t know shit about hunting wolves.
In looking on Montana’s government site (pdf), to hunt wolves, you need a seperate, $50 license for each animal hunted. Interestingly enough, trapping wolves only requires one $20 license but individuals must pass a wolf trapping education course. Additionally, wolves are less of a threat than dogs when it comes to protecting livestock. With that, I can summarise that hunting wolves in the state of Montucky isn’t needed,can be costly, and requires a bit of learned knowledge. It’s with some of that information in my brain that I find this hunting accident all the more frustrating. And I haven’t talked about the pictures yet.
Horror Porn
(Warning: NSFW) The first picture in a layout of five (jpg) is the classic hunter kneeling over dead prey while holding it’s lifeless head pose. The second insert is the hunter holding the dead animal by the scruff of the neck while looking down at it’s cute face. The third is the same as the first but she’s smiling at the camera.
The really unfortunate images are the last two.
Those are the images where our hunter is posed next to the tailgate of their truck, and the dog is skinned and splayed out, like a bear skin rug next to some fancy pant’s roaring fireplace. Despite the dead dog being shown in the other inserted images, it is the final two that really illustrate what this hunter did and aroused a lot of emotions.
After cycling through the images and rereading the caption in disbelief, I flipped from denial to anger before I really started to process that post in whole. And I didn’t enjoy some of the questions that came with those realizations. Such as:
Who is missing their dog right now?
Dogs Like to Run
Beyond the ridiculousness that is mistaking a 60lb Siberian Husky for a puppy of a 180lb animal is to understand that packs of wild Huskies don’t exist in Montana… So what is the possible excuse for this ugly hunting error? It’s angering and it seems a lot of folks on Reddit agree. But beyond the expectedly shocked remarks, a few folks seemed more concerned with trying to keep the peace. Before the moderators locked the thread, comments like these had popped up.
As far as I know, the only stray Huskies you’ll see are the ones out for a stroll as they’re notorious escape artists. In an interview with Gina DiNardo, VP of the American Kennel Club it is revealed that headstrong, independant Huskies are bred to “think on their own out in the tundra. If they have the opportunity, they are definitely prone to run off on their own.”
So, someone is missing their dog right now. And because of how shit goes viral on the internet, that someone is likely to find their missing companion via those horrific photos and my heart… Just can’t handle it. I think a lot of Reddit was also in their feels as some of the comments were understandably angerish but heading the wrong way.
Savvy moderators shut down the comments before the hunter in the photos was doxxed, swatted and the like. However, it may have been too little, too late as the hunter was apparently already receiving loads of fire flames on their original Facebook post. Don’t go hunting for it though; it’s been deleted and the user has updated their privacy settings. Additionally, the hunter’s boyfriend has taken to her defense as she has doubled down against the public, saying it is not a dog but indeed a wolf puppy.
Final Thoughts
To be honest, my thoughts haven’t stopped coming and I’ve been reading about this unfortunate circumstance for two days. The more I discover, the more questions I find:
What else have these hunters been hunting?
Does the hunter have other pet skins stashed somewhere?
Is the hunter licensed?
Is solo hunting an animal that hunts in packs of up to 12 a good idea?
Does she secretly hate dogs?
What is the dog’s owner going to do when they find out?
Regardless, it’s sad, terrible and frustratingly amazing that something like this happened. It’s also sad and terrible and frustratingly amazing that it’s just the latest in what seems to be a doggone bad year for man’s best friend. Methinks education could have prevented this but there’s also the question of common sense. If you’re witness to acts of animal cruelty, please report animal neglect and abuse to the authorities. You can learn more at the Humane Society. If you spot a people being a stupid, please direct them to your local library.
Tell your dog I said hi!
-Cheers
