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Who
needs guard dogs when you have wolves, right? That’s probably what Kazakh
villagers in the Almaty region thought when they decided to replace their dogs
with the fierce forest-living beasts. According to local news reports, taming
wolves is now the latest trend and a sort of hobby among rural Kazakhs.
“You can buy
a wolf cub for just $500, they say, and hunters are determined that if treated
well, the wild animal can be tamed,” the KTK television channel reported.
Nurseit Zhylkyshybay, a farmer from the south-eastern Almaty region, told
reporters that he purchased a wolf cub from hunters three years ago, and the
animal is now perfectly trained
Kurtka, Nurseit’s pet wolf, lives in the family’s
yard and takes long walks through the village with his master. Nurseit
insisted. “I rarely put him on a chain and do take him for regular walks around
the village. Our family and neighbors aren’t scared of him at all. If the wolf
is well fed and cared for, he won’t attack you, although he does eat a lot more
than a dog.”
But wolf expert Almas Zhaparov said that the animals
are ‘far too dangerous’ to keep at home. “A wolf is like a ticking bomb, it can
go off at any moment,” he warned. “If nothing is done, the fashion could spread
to the wealthy Kazakhs, who might try to keep wolves in the grounds of their
houses, with possibly deadly results.” Social media users also expressed
anxiety over the trend, accusing the government for failing to limit the
practice.
Nevertheless, the wolves don’t seem to be posing an
immediate threat. If visuals from news reports are anything to go by, the
beasts look pretty happy with their new lifestyle, and appear quite fond of
their new masters, not unlike dogs.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of
domesticated wolves former Soviet Union countries. A few months ago, we wrote
about a Belarusian family that has managed to train a pack of wild wolves and
are now raising them as pets.
