Graubünden: Wolf Hybrid Shot
A wolf-dog hybrid has been shot in Graubünden. Genetic analysis confirmed the cross between a wolf and a domestic dog.
For the first time in Switzerland, a wolf hybrid has been shot.
Genetic analyses have confirmed that the animal was the offspring of a wolf-dog pairing.
Investigations by the Laboratoire de biologie de la conservation in Lausanne and the Senckenberg Centre for Wildlife Genetics in Gelnhausen, Germany, revealed that the animal was of the second backcross generation, according to the Graubünden Office for Hunting and Fisheries.
Before it was shot, the animal had attracted attention due to its unusually pale colouring and had presumably migrated to the canton of Graubünden via northern Italy and Ticino. The wolf component in the hybrid's genetic makeup originates from the Italian Alpine population. However, the exact origin of the animal is not known.
At the end of December 2021, the canton of Graubünden was informed of evidence of a beige-coloured wolf-dog hybrid near Domodossola (IT). After individual sightings of the presumed hybrid were recorded during January — first near Domodossola and later in Ticino — signs emerged in March that the animal was present in the Chur Rhine Valley.
The Office for Hunting and Fisheries had stated at the time that, for the sake of species protection, it was important that hybrid animals be shot so that they cannot reproduce. Otherwise, this could lead to long-term negative consequences for the wolf population. Under federal hunting legislation, presumed hybrids in well-founded cases of suspicion must be shot by the cantonal enforcement authorities.
The animal shot in March is the first offspring of a dog-wolf pairing to be confirmed in Switzerland. There is no evidence of the presence of further hybrids in the canton, according to the current statement.
In Valais, a presumed wolf hybrid had been shot at the end of January. Due to the strikingly dark coat colour and the size of the animal, experts had suspected that it might be a cross from a wolf-dog pairing. However, genetic analyses showed that the animal was a pure wolf and not a hybrid.
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