MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — UPDATE (04/09/2022 at 5:20 p.m.): The wolf dog has been found and captured, the Muskegon County Sheriff's Office says.
Original Story (04/09/2022 at 12:34 p.m.): A wolf dog has escaped from Howling Timbers Animal Sanctuary, according to the Muskegon County Sheriff's Office.
Police posted on Facebook around noon Saturday warning residents that a wolf dog escaped its enclosure at the sanctuary. It was last seen in the 6800 block of Evanston Road.
Muskegon police are working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to locate the wolf dog. Authorities ask anyone who sees the wolf dog to contact 911. The animal should not be approached.
This follows a ruling in the Howling Timbers court case on Thursday. Judge Annette R. Smedley ordered the majority of the wolf dogs at Howling Timbers Sanctuary to be relocated to a different sanctuary. If they cannot be relocated, the judge says the wolf dogs will have to be euthanized.
Two of the dogs that have bitten people will not be rehomed and will have to be euthanized, according to the judge's ruling.
Smedley said the bites were never reported to the right agencies so therefore the owner, Brenda Pearson, was in violation.
Pearson's attorney is planning to appeal the judge's decision, which means the dogs will all remain in place until an appeals court makes a decision.
The Howling Timbers case first entered court in October 2021.
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