Wolf-like critter spotted in Wausau
By Jake Rigdon
and Amber Paluch
For the Daily Tribune
WAUSAU – Maybe he was there to protest the war. Maybe he was trying to find a good parking space. Or maybe he just wanted to check out Burger King’s new enormous omelet sandwich.
Whatever the reason, a wolf – or something similar – was roaming downtown Wausau on Monday morning.
At least it looked like a wolf, according to witnesses. Police and Department of Natural Resources officials don’t know for sure, because the four-legged critter was never caught.
Calls started coming in to the police station around noon. The first accounts had him by the Domino Bar (maybe he was thirsty) a half-mile east of downtown. Then reports started coming in that he was by the downtown Pedestrian Mall (maybe he was going for a stroll before it opens up to traffic). From there, he was spotted near the downtown Burger King.
“That’s news to me,” said manager Luke Meurett.
Luckily, no employee or customer was on a smoke break at the time.
Then, like Keyser Soze in “The Usual Suspects,” the wolf just seemed to vanish as reports of his whereabouts ceased.
Jim Campbell of Rib Mountain was parking his car outside of the Grand Theater just before noon when the animal ran past his vehicle, about 10 feet away from him. It was the wolf’s distinctive lope that made it easy to identify, said Campbell, a hunter safety instructor for the past 12 years.
Wildlife identification is part of an instructor’s curriculum. Campbell has owned his share of German shepherds, and even the biggest coyotes run only about 35 pounds, he said. So he says the animal – which he estimates weighed about 100 pounds – was definitely a wolf.
But why in downtown Wausau?
“That’s a real good question,” Campbell said. “What he’s doing in downtown – literally in the middle of town – is anybody’s guess. … He was obviously lost.”
Campbell, 57, a retired Marine Corps officer and a sales rep for MSI Systems Integrators out of Nebraska, was on his way to a Rotary Club of Wausau meeting when he encountered the animal. Thirty to 50 people were downtown during its visit, and a man on the corner reached down to grab his child’s hand when the animal made its way through town.
“If I would’ve had a camera on my seat, it happened so fast I couldn’t have gotten the camera up,” he said. “He was definitely a wolf on a mission. I’m not sure if he knew what that mission was. …”
And if anyone asks, Campbell’s vision is 20/15.
Adrian Wydeven, DNR mammal ecologist out of Park Falls, said the wolf – if it actually was one – was probably lost or confused, possibly hunting for deer the night before. Wydeven also raised the possibility that the animal could have been a dog-wolf hybrid.
“That would be very unusual if a wolf was actually in downtown Wausau,” he said. “We’ve had reports of wolves killed on the outskirts of Madison, on the outskirts of Appleton and on the outskirts of Eau Claire. I guess they’ve even gotten as close as the suburbs of Milwaukee. But for one to be downtown, that would be highly unusual.”
Wydeven said wolves are usually far more afraid of humans than the other way around. If you ever encounter one, he said, yell, wave your arms and act aggressive to scare it away, but don’t run away from it.
You might also want to try singing the old Duran Duran tune, “Hungry Like The Wolf” while you’re waving your arms and acting aggressive.