Woman kills neighbor's wolves after they attack dog

Associated Press

HANOVER, Ohio - A woman fatally shot two of her neighbor's wolves and a sheriff's deputy killed a third after the animals escaped their pen and attacked one of the woman's three dogs.

Kathy Bryan went into her backyard Sunday morning to check her barking dogs and saw her beagle, Roo, being attacked by a wolf. Bryan fired a warning shot and the wolf dropped the dog, but the three wolves then circled the woman. She killed two with shotgun blasts, and a sheriff's deputy tracked down the third.

"I felt bad shooting them," Bryan said. "I cried and then I cried. It wasn't their fault. They shouldn't have been there."

The wolves were owned by a neighbor, Robert Pitt, who has kept exotic pets in the past and currently has permits to keep a bobcat, coyote and raccoon on his property in Hanover, about 50 miles east of Columbus. The state does not require a permit to own wolves.

Pitt declined comment, but police reports show he agreed with the need to kill his wolves.

Bryan said she was unaware her neighbor was keeping wolves and that she had complained about his animals in the past.

The beagle suffered bite marks to his neck and back.

Akron Beacon Journal