Danger lurks in north woods, neighbors say

April 13, 2008 - 1:15AM

By R. SCOTT RAPPOLD

THE GAZETTE

Something is stalking the hills and neighborhoods on the northwest side of Colorado Springs - something that is part man's best friend, part fearsome predator.

It's a pack of wolf-dog hybrids, untamed and dangerous, according to some northwest Colorado Springs residents. And several of the residents are frustrated by authorities' lack of action.

Although animal control officials are not aware of wolf-dog hybrids in the area, and residents don't have pictures as proof, they insist they aren't just crying wolf.

"Everyone needs to become aware they are dangerous," said Walt Baker, who lives in the area and is spreading the word about the animals. "They have no fear of man, yet they have the killer instincts of a wolf."

Exactly where they came from is a matter of conjecture. Residents believe they were let loose during the 2002 Hayman fire by a property owner who had nowhere to keep them.

Hybrids, which were popular pets in the 1990s, have a mixed ancestry of wolf and dog, usually Alaskan malamute, husky or German shepherd.

The hybrids bred and migrated east, so the story goes, appearing for the past two years in the spring and summer in neighborhoods south of the Air Force Academy, around the Woodmen Road and Centennial Boulevard area, residents say. It's a wooded, hilly area next to Pike National Forest, where deer and coyotes roam like stray cats.

Dawn Olson, who lives on Starstone Court, says she was walking on Dutchrock Road two years ago when one came bounding out of the bushes.

"It looked completely like a wolf. It didn't look like a dog at all, and a lot larger than a coyote," Olson recalled. "I froze when she jumped out of the bush, and luckily she froze, too."

The animal backed away from Olson, she said, and she from it, and another one came out of the bushes. Both ran off.

"It was scary and I felt really fortunate they weren't feeling aggressive at the moment, because I hear they have been," Olson said.
They were bigger and more muscular than coyotes, with bigger muzzles, she said.

Roger Lemmon, who lives on Sierra Pine Drive, has only seen them from a distance, but he is sure they aren't coyotes.

"I know what a wolf is, I know what a coyote is, and I can distinguish between the two, and these two were wolves," Lemmon said.

Baker said he has seen them twice, once near his house, when one bared its teeth at him, and once while camping near Rampart Range Road.

Just how many there are is difficult to tell, because officially, they don't exist.

Baker called the Colorado Division of Wildlife, only to be told they don't handle hybrids.

"We would forward the calls to the Humane Society (of the Pikes Peak Region), as the Division of Wildlife does not have any jurisdiction over wolf-dog hybrids," said DOW spokesman Michael Seraphin. "We deal with 100 percent wolves - if we had any in Colorado," Seraphin said.