Florida couple face charges for possessing wolves

By Jill Taylor - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wildlife officials seized four young wolves from a south Martin County home and charged the couple with illegally importing and possessing wild animals after experts concluded the pups appear to be nearly pure wolf stock. John and Sharon Mock of Ranch Colony, near the Palm Beach County line, insist that the 10- to 20-week-old animals are pets and they will work to earn permits they need to be allowed to keep them.

In the meantime, the three males and one female — they are named Saxon, Romeo, Sandy and Angel — will stay at the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter, where executive director David Hitzig said they are coping, but timid. "These are not friendly, wagging-their-tails, I-want-to-come-over-and-lick-your-face animals," Hitzig said.

The law states they have to be regulated because they are wild and potentially dangerous to people and other animals. People who have them must build extremely secure pens with high fences and double gates. These four animals were living in a bathroom with regular size dog crates, officials said.

Investigator John Humphreys of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said state law distinguishes between wolf-dog hybrids, which often are bred and sold as pets, and wild wolves, which are at least 75 percent wolf. "They tend to be far more aggressive that domestic dogs," Humphreys said Wednesday. "They have a lot of wild tendencies.... They are more curious and more likely to attempt to escape."

A Jacksonville man who bought wolves from the same Texas breeder as the Mocks told Humphreys his wolf bit his hand and broke a bone and bit his face, leaving a gash that required more than 30 stitches.

But Mock, 49, and his wife, Sharon, 47, said they have raised wolf mixed breeds before and consider them to be pets. Sharon Mock said they have owned several and still hope to win permission to raise these four on their 6-acre property on Ranch Acres Circle off Mack Dairy Road. "We're just trying to reestablish our family," she said.

Possessing and importing wolves are misdemeanors, and the Mocks also are charged with improperly confining them. A bag of marijuana found in last week's search of the house prompted a felony drug possession charge against John Mock.

Humphreys said it will be up to the state to decide whether the couple can get a license to keep the animals, but he hopes the allegations that they broke the law to bring them here will be considered.

Neighbor Alan Palmer said Mock has owned wolf dogs before and they didn't cause any problems other than late-night howling. "That bothered us a little," he said. "He's got the property fenced pretty well.... I'm not really concerned."

Palm Beach Post