“This beautiful photo of a wolf jumping over a fence elicited the usual rabble of “fake!” claims when it won a prestigious wildlife photography competition. The photographer denies the claims, but he’s just been stripped of the award.
Unusually, nobody doubts that it’s a real wolf (as opposed to some sort of photo manipulation)—the controversy is that the wolf pictured may in fact be a tame wolf by the name of Ossian. The evidence: It’s an exceedingly rare species, hardly ever seen in the wild; a wild wolf would be more likely to squeeze through the fence than leap over it; and, um, it looks like Ossian (I guess there are people out there who can tell wolves apart; I can barely tell that it’s not my neighbor’s dog). Jesus termed it “the ultimate FAKE internet whining.”
The judges for the Natural History Museum have decided after awarding this photo the top prize that the wolf pictured is in fact a tame specimen, which breaks the rules of the competition.”
So there are tame specimens! I assume quite rarely. My neighbor in Alaska had an 89% wolf hybrid. She looked like a wolf and sang like a wolf. The first time I met her she put her head down and stared at me, with her front legs slightly apart. Wolf! My friend was a wildlife expert and knew how to set up ‘Velma’s’ habitat, how to feed her and how to handle her. My friend established herself as the alpha. I ended up loving that animal. Very intelligent and sociable, sense of humor. Still a wolf; better not let your guard down.