Description
This article continues the debate between Dr. McCleery and James Curran regarding the ferocity of wolves or lack thereof. A comparison of the size, weight, and ferocity of the various subspecies of wolves (including lobo wolves, Canadian wolves, and Alaskan wolves) is provided. At the time of writing, Dr. McCleery owned 27 lobo wolves along with a few timber wolves and white arctic wolves. Partial text of the article is quoted below.
Source
Format
Publisher
Date
February 7, 1934
Page Numbers
4
Access
The Kane Republican is available on microfilm.
Copyright
This article is in-copyright. Copyright belongs to the Kane Republican. Partial text of the article is posted in this archive with permission as documented here.
Partial Text
Dr. McCleery calls the Canadian wolf "a degenerate species," and says the only reason he keeps a few of them in his pack is to show visually the marked difference in their size.
His male lobos average 110 pounds. If a male members[sic] of his pack has not reached a weight of 100 pounds at the age of one year it automatically becomes good timber for a rug; unless it is such a fine specimen that he decides to keep it for the value of its blood strain.
Sixty pounds is considered large for a Canadian wolf; and if there are really any wolves roaming the Adirondacks region this winter, as has been reported, they are Canadian timber wolves, Dr. McCleery maintains. Several years ago Dr. McCleery received a telephone call from an Erie newspaper which told him that a "150-pound wolf" had been reported in a nearby woods and wanted to know if any members of his pack had escaped. Later the beast was shot and was found to be a 40-pound Canadian timber wolf which had crossed on the ice of Lake Erie.
Dr. McCleery says the largest wolf he ever bred was "Neoptolemus," which weighed 140 pounds. The big animal, a lobo, was a son of "Achilles," one of the first of the physician's pack, and had a ferocious brother named Pyrrhus," which once killed two other male lobos in battle. His worst killer was Achilles III, a 120-pound animal. He slew four other lobos. The hide of "Neoptolemus" is still at the wolf park.
The only wolves which approach the size of Dr. McCleery's lobos are the timber wolves of Central Alaska, which are only a few pounds lighter, he declares. The wolves of north and south Alaska are much smaller and resemble the Canadians.
His male lobos average 110 pounds. If a male members[sic] of his pack has not reached a weight of 100 pounds at the age of one year it automatically becomes good timber for a rug; unless it is such a fine specimen that he decides to keep it for the value of its blood strain.
Sixty pounds is considered large for a Canadian wolf; and if there are really any wolves roaming the Adirondacks region this winter, as has been reported, they are Canadian timber wolves, Dr. McCleery maintains. Several years ago Dr. McCleery received a telephone call from an Erie newspaper which told him that a "150-pound wolf" had been reported in a nearby woods and wanted to know if any members of his pack had escaped. Later the beast was shot and was found to be a 40-pound Canadian timber wolf which had crossed on the ice of Lake Erie.
Dr. McCleery says the largest wolf he ever bred was "Neoptolemus," which weighed 140 pounds. The big animal, a lobo, was a son of "Achilles," one of the first of the physician's pack, and had a ferocious brother named Pyrrhus," which once killed two other male lobos in battle. His worst killer was Achilles III, a 120-pound animal. He slew four other lobos. The hide of "Neoptolemus" is still at the wolf park.
The only wolves which approach the size of Dr. McCleery's lobos are the timber wolves of Central Alaska, which are only a few pounds lighter, he declares. The wolves of north and south Alaska are much smaller and resemble the Canadians.