Alaska News

Answer the call of wild Alaska wolf hybrids, face criminal charges

Criminal charges have been filed in the strange, only-in-Alaska story of a Matanuska-Susitna Valley business that allegedly markets wolf hybrids. Two of three people named in a search warrant executed against Wolf Country USA in Palmer -- 25-year-old Renee M. Ciccarelli of Wasilla and 57-year-old Henry Calvin Hubbard of Anchorage -- have been charged with "possessing a wolf hybrid without a permit," according to the Alaska State Troopers. Ciccarelli will be arraigned July 28 in Palmer District Court; Hubbard's arraignment is set for July 22 in Anchorage, according to a press release. Wolf Country USA is described by the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman as a "25-year-old tourist attraction just outside of Palmer on the Glenn Highway." The business website offers gold panning, a "one-of-a-kind" gift shop and tame wolf tours, all "just a howl away from Anchorage." According to the website, several movie star wolves call Wolf Country USA home -- Kojak, Sabrina, Ballerina and Blade, to name a few. A link that offers puppies for sale had been taken offline as of Sunday.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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