Luling’s Ray Labat may have done a double-take as he reviewed trail cam pictures from his deer lease in Washington Parish, noting what he believed to be a wolf passing within range of his camera. “That was my first reaction, but then I also knew there aren’t wolves down here,” Labat explained. “It was a little confusing. It looked bigger than the coyotes I’ve seen on my lease. It’s the only picture I have of him.”
Perplexed and curious, Labat shared the photo, taken on Jan. 13, with a number of friends, but there was no true consensus reached.
“They just seem to think it’s a huge coyote, but my personal opinion (was) it inner-bred with a wild dog somewhere,” Labat said. “But you would think if that was the case you’d have a bunch of pictures of the offspring in that area. That’s the only picture I have of him. But hell, you don’t see many coyotes. They’re out there and you hear them hollering, but they’re so slick you don’t ever get to see them.”
Dr. Jim Lacour, the state wildlife veterinarian for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, had the opportunity to examine the photograph. He surmised it had coyote blood because of its size and bushy tail, but said he couldn’t be certain without examining the animal’s skull.
It appeared Labat might not get an answer to lend 100 percent clarity to the animal’s true identity. That was until he received a Facebook message from a woman claiming it as her pet and that it it was, in fact, a wolf, matching Labat’s original instinct.
“She said, ‘that’s my dog,’” Labat said.
The wolf, named Thor, was lost alongside his sister Widow, said owner Erin Lofton. Lofton was alerted to Thor’s emergence when she saw the picture and a story posted online on LouisianaSportsman.com. Lofton, who lived in Kentwood when the wolves escaped from their cage. Lofton has since moved to Kansas.
“The father was a full-blooded timber wolf, and the mom was like 75 percent wolf with German Shepherd,” Lofton said. “Widow is a lover. She’s very dog-like, but she’s still very guarded and not trusting of anyone other than the family that she’s come to know —me, my husband and my kids.
“Thor was always more so. He was very guarded, and he was very protective of his sister. It took him longer to adjust. He was always the more wild out of the two.”
Both wolf-hybrids, plus the family’s bloodhound, escaped from their fenced backyard near Kentwood about a year ago, she said. The bloodhound and Widow returned, but Thor hasn’t been seen since.
“As soon as I saw the picture, my heart dropped. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness,’” Lofton said. “I was excited that he was still alive because I was scared after he went missing that somebody would have shot him at first glance, because he’s huge. He’s a lot bigger than his sister — he’s massive. So I just figured that he would already be shot by now, honestly, because he’s very intimidating.”
That still leaves the mystery of where the mighty Thor is today.
Labat said that he’s found no other appearances of it through roughly 1,500 photos taken over a month’s time, and that nobody else near the land had reported seeing it, either.
“36 miles (from Kentwood) is a pretty good trail,” Labat said. “I didn’t think they tracked that far … I do know this, people don’t realize it, but those animals are pretty darned sharp. They’ll try to avoid you at all costs.”
He also knows one other truth about the unnamed wolf.
“I wouldn’t want to see him out at night,” Labat said. “I tell you what, if he’d have walked out there when I was in the stand, I’d have busted his butt because he would have been right on top of me.”
-Information for this story was provided by Patrick Bonin.
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