Wolves are pretty cool beasts in the wild. Wolf Haven’s sanctuary near Tenino is testament to the enduring lure of this iconic animal.
But wolves are never tame, and efforts to restore them to historic habitats have required a lot of care and strategy best left up to wildlife experts.
That is partly what makes the April 3 mauling of a Thurston County toddler by a former Georgia man’s breeder wolf so infuriating.
It’s clearly illegal under Washington law to keep a wolf privately or to breed one.
Anyone who owns a wolf or near-wolf — who also has common sense — ought to be taking extreme care to ensure that no 3-year-old could ever wander into harm’s way. The same goes for parents who would let their children amble near such an animal, caged or otherwise. Both kinds of neglect were in play in the incident along Meridian Road Southeast.
The boy’s lower right arm was reported bitten off, and Thurston County’s Joint Animal Services is investigating. Authorities initially recommended that the case be referred to Child Protective Services, and the case remains under investigation with no referrals yet to county prosecutors.
A good case can be made for destroying an animal that has feasted on human flesh. But the female wolf was later relocated to a refuge in Oregon along with its Malamute mate and several wolf-dog hybrid pups born after the adult animals were seized by Animal Services.
The owner of the animals, Rick Miracle, has asserted that the wolf was not purebred, but that doesn’t put him in the right. The wolf’s makeup was verified by tests as 100 percent wolf, according to Animal Services.
The owner also has said the animal likes food and that the child may have been feeding it pizza. Miracle has had other pure wolves that were taken away and that now reside at Wolf Haven International.
It’s time soon for the other long arm of the law — in the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office — to take a closer look.
Miracle hasn’t been learning the lessons of life. Perhaps the law can serve as his teacher.
