On Friday, tourists witnessed an astonishing event in Yellowstone National Park when a German Shepherd rushed off the back of a car to chase a young wolf along the side of a road.
Dogs are permitted in the park on the condition that their owners keep “physical control” over them at all times, and this incident demonstrates the reasons behind that policy.
MacNeil Lyons of Yellowstone Insight detailed what happened on Instagram, explaining that the wolf was attempting to access an animal carcass across the roadway despite the vast number of people who were watching the wolf from the road.
“There was a carcass hidden to one side of the roadway and the wolf was trying to navigate a safe road crossing, through the people and traffic, to the food source,” Lyons told me.
“Many people had already exited their vehicles, and this cunning wolf began strolling off the road side, paralleling it, simply to get past them. The automobile carrying the dog was going carefully, assessing the situation. I’m not sure if the dog stepped on the back window button to open it, or if it was already open.”
Lyons later spoke with the dog’s owner, who stated that when he saw the wolf, he tried to roll up all of the windows in his new vehicle. However, at that moment, the dog poked its head out the passenger-side window behind the driver, triggering a safety mechanism that caused the window to roll back down.
“As the car passed the wolf, the dog leaped out from the car and ran full sprint towards the wolf,” according to Lyons. “Once the wolf saw the Shepherd, it began loping away which switched to a faster gait down the road.”
The wolf eventually came to a halt in front of the German Shepherd, who also came to a halt. They were in a standoff around 15 feet apart until the vehicle’s driver reversed so he could call and retrieve his dog.
She continued: “The yearling gray wolf seemed a bit shook up, but quickly kept on its mission to circumnavigate the people and eventually swim the Yellowstone River to obtain its breakfast.”
Yellowstone National Park’s spokesperson told FTW Outdoors that the incident is still under investigation.
