Misrepresentation of Wolfdogs.

Dharkwolf · 08-01-2005, 22:46

Today I happened to come across something which I believe to be a misrepresentation of a wolfdog as a wolf, I was shopping with my wife (some of you might know her as Mirkawolf) when we came across a calendar labelled “wolves” as usual my wife stopped for a closer look, and noted that in her opinion the so called “wolves” were in fact wolfdogs.

You can check for yourself, the photographer responsible for this calendar has kindly put up a few of his shots:

http://www.fabioliverani.com/calen_02.htm
http://www.fabioliverani.com/calen_04.htm
http://www.fabioliverani.com/calendari.htm#lupocal

If you think they are not wolfdogs feel free to correct us

The misrepresentation of Wolfdogs raises some interesting issues which I do not know if they have been considered here in the past.

First there is a legal issue. This is particularly poignant in the UK where there is a question right now of discussions with DEFRA on the future of wolfdogs in the UK. DEFRA has already stated in a position paper than any animal which cannot be distinguished from a wild animal is to be considered as a wild animal. The misrepresentation of wolfdogs as wolves obviously reinforces DEFRAs case against the introduction of the wolfdogs there.

The problem goes much farther than that though. Naturally we love wolfdogs and we love the fact that they are closer to wolves than your average dog. But the representation of a wolfdog as a wolf, can be very counter productive. For one thing the public at large is generally misinformed about the nature of wolves. If people think that wolfdogs ARE wolves, they will react to them in strange ways. This goes from the mother who picks up her child and runs away from the “wolf” (This has actually happened to me while walking our dog on leash) to people misusing the breed, either by crossing it with wolfhybrids and wolves, and believing they can get away with it.

There are also a few situations when the representation of a wolfdog as a wolf might be justified and even useful. I have heard that wolfdogs have been used in some movies to play the parts of wolves, which is reasonable enough given that
1) Wild wolves do not cooperate well with cameras
2) The people using the wolfdogs are aware they are not using wolves, and anyone who actually does some research into the movie will know that those “wolves” were in fact wolfdogs

You can probably come up with more examples. Two things stand out in my mind,

On the one hand I believe that the representation of wolfdogs as wolves can lead to serious trouble. What do you think?

Secondly if you believe that the animals on the calendar are wolfdogs and not wolves, do you think something should be kindly said to the photographer responsible for this calendar? I think it would be very nice to have a wolfdog calendar on the wall but it is silly to have it be called a wolf calendar, not a wolfdog calendar.

08-01-2005, 22:46	#1
Dharkwolf Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Brussels Posts: 201	Misrepresentation of Wolfdogs. Today I happened to come across something which I believe to be a misrepresentation of a wolfdog as a wolf, I was shopping with my wife (some of you might know her as Mirkawolf) when we came across a calendar labelled “wolves” as usual my wife stopped for a closer look, and noted that in her opinion the so called “wolves” were in fact wolfdogs. You can check for yourself, the photographer responsible for this calendar has kindly put up a few of his shots: http://www.fabioliverani.com/calen_02.htm http://www.fabioliverani.com/calen_04.htm http://www.fabioliverani.com/calendari.htm#lupocal If you think they are not wolfdogs feel free to correct us The misrepresentation of Wolfdogs raises some interesting issues which I do not know if they have been considered here in the past. First there is a legal issue. This is particularly poignant in the UK where there is a question right now of discussions with DEFRA on the future of wolfdogs in the UK. DEFRA has already stated in a position paper than any animal which cannot be distinguished from a wild animal is to be considered as a wild animal. The misrepresentation of wolfdogs as wolves obviously reinforces DEFRAs case against the introduction of the wolfdogs there. The problem goes much farther than that though. Naturally we love wolfdogs and we love the fact that they are closer to wolves than your average dog. But the representation of a wolfdog as a wolf, can be very counter productive. For one thing the public at large is generally misinformed about the nature of wolves. If people think that wolfdogs ARE wolves, they will react to them in strange ways. This goes from the mother who picks up her child and runs away from the “wolf” (This has actually happened to me while walking our dog on leash) to people misusing the breed, either by crossing it with wolfhybrids and wolves, and believing they can get away with it. There are also a few situations when the representation of a wolfdog as a wolf might be justified and even useful. I have heard that wolfdogs have been used in some movies to play the parts of wolves, which is reasonable enough given that 1) Wild wolves do not cooperate well with cameras 2) The people using the wolfdogs are aware they are not using wolves, and anyone who actually does some research into the movie will know that those “wolves” were in fact wolfdogs You can probably come up with more examples. Two things stand out in my mind, On the one hand I believe that the representation of wolfdogs as wolves can lead to serious trouble. What do you think? Secondly if you believe that the animals on the calendar are wolfdogs and not wolves, do you think something should be kindly said to the photographer responsible for this calendar? I think it would be very nice to have a wolfdog calendar on the wall but it is silly to have it be called a wolf calendar, not a wolfdog calendar.