HYBRIDS PETS
Their names are Max, Shania, Steve
Elite, Tuey, Marble, Kaia
Walker and even Vulcain
They are all pets
whether dogs or cats but from a whole new kind
They are indeed hybrids animals
namely from a cross between domasticated animals and wild animals
 
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Created in the US, those new breeds
have been selected to have the most
exotic and wildest look possible
'You have a certain fascination with the wild'
'Here your are in the fantasm, here you are in the dream'
 
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'it's a dream that is not new from human'
'being able to appropriate the wild'
'there, the idea is just to enjoy crosses for...'
'the benefits of the wild without the disadvantages'
'It's the appearance that please to people'
'often, this is what is meant'
'"I want a panther"'
To meet the desire of wild
American breeders have reached, since the 60's
to mate domestic cats with the bengal leopard cats
a small nocturnal and solitary feline
whose population lives in the wild
between India and North Korea, preferably in forests
The breed thus created was simply named: Bengal
A little later, in the 90's
Other breeders, still in USA
crossed domestic cats with african Serval
a medium-sized feline, close to caracal and leopard
who lives in Savanah between sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Africa
in reference to this habitat of Great Plains,
This breed has been named: Savanah.
This search for a wild look has not spared the dog world.
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To obtain a dog from a new kind
breeders crossed pure wolves with domestic dogs from german shepherds or husky-type
to give birth to wolves-dogs, the American Wolfdog.
And surprisingly to achieve these hybridizations
no genetic manipulation was necessary
Genetically close to their wild cousin
these domestic dogs and cats were able to reproduce sexually
or at least it does on a forced
But does this closeness allow us to cross individuals whose lineages are separated for thousands, even millions years?
Man, who always selected species for benefits to agriculture or to charm, is it this time gone too far?
Hybridization divided and raises both scientific and ethical questions.
'We play the sorcerer's apprentice since we have the ability...'
'to master of the living and make mixture as we see fit'
'you want to have a link with the wild, that's fine'
 
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'But not in your living room... We went too far'
Possess such animals is it also safe?
Can we really domesticate them?
Hybrids, pets or new monsters created by human?
Our investigation begins in the US, where the first hybrids cats have emerged
Deborah Johnson moved into an old farm to raise bengal and savanah cats
A business from which she derives most of her incomes, but above all a passion
Deborah has 15 cats wich keep her busy all day long
'This is my egyptian Mau, Isis, she is very sweet'
'we still do not know their exact origin but...'
'have been found mummified dating from Ancient Egypt'
'they are extremely intelligent cats'
'And this is my Savanah kitten'
'she is 15weeks, she is still young but she will be my next breeding female'
'Those two are Devon Rex'
'but most commonly they are referred to as the alien cat with monkey paws'
'because they are able to open all sorts of things'
'like Savanahs as they almost have human fingers'
'From this side... I'll go see what they do"
'This is Serenna, Isis's sister, a bronze color Egyptian Mau'
'here you have Kamaha, he is nicknamed "King Kamaha"... He is a bengal with rosettes'
'You may also see Max, I am sure he is hiding somewhere'
'And I will show you my bengals kitten'
'They are only 3 weeks'
'I will approach slowly because I don't want their mother to go out'
'Hello babies!'
'We called them Miss Marble 1 and Miss Marble 2
'The father has blood from bengal leopard cat but he is very sweet. He is nicknamed "The clown"'
'He has a very big head and a pretty spotted coat'
'Here are the babies'
'They are bengals babies, they are F3'
The F classification determines the proximity of the cats with the original wild species
F1 is the first crossed generation between a wild feline and a domestic feline
F2 animals correspond to the second generation and so on
Obviously, the further away from the original wild animal, the less wild physical features are marked
And price varies in proportion
The more cats looks wild because they are close to felines, the more they are expensive
A first generation bengal reached €4,500
A fifth generation cat will only cost €1,500
For Savanahs, more difficult to hybrid, prices may climb up to €25,000 for first generation cats
'They've got a little bengal leopard cat's blood in them, a tiny percentage'
'the father has more'
'These females may have be 5 to 7%, not more'
'while the father have 25% of bengal leopard cat in him'
'but what is good with him, is that he is very soft'
'on my females, they are excellent mother, yes, excellent'
Marble 1 has given birth to 4 kitten
A performance in these hybrids which often suffer from reproductive problems
Infertility, preterm birth, birth of a single kitten
As if nature reminded that those crosses were not quite in order of things
'I take care of them everyday'
'I handle all the time, they recognize my voice, I think it is very important to socialize'
But with hybrids, socialization does not always work
'Look, here is Max'
With a Serval father and a domestic cat mother, Max is a perfect example of a first generation hybrid cat
An appearance and a walk 100% wild
but a temperament that is just as
impossible to approach this animal at least stealthy and fearful
'it's really hard to obtain a F1 like this one'
'you are a good boy'
'yes you are beautiful... he loves when I talk to him and he understands when I tell him "good boy"'
'He is watching you'
To acquire him, Deb did not hesitate to pay $23,000
without any guarantee of emotional return on investisment
'When I got him, he was 6 month'
'we could not approach him'
'it took me 2 years to approach him, to make him understand that humans did not want to hurt him'
'Hey Bee-be! this one is a savanah, he is very athletic, a bit like bengals'
If the contact is easier with cats from later generation
we are still far from the big kitty which purr on our knees
hyperactives and insatiables, savanahs are the all-round champions in high jumping and other acrobatics performances
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a typical ability from servals
which are able to make spectacular leaps to catch their preys
always ready to play, they are however more reluctant to be handled
'be a good girl'
'sorry... people likes them with a beautiful spotted belly like hers'
'here, look, she wants to play'
'they want beautiful ears'
'you see the little white bones, as we call them, behind the ears?'
'she is very playful, she is perfect, there is nothing wrong'
'she is spotted, spots are the most aked criterion'
'ears are importants too, hers are exactly how it should be'
'I don't know how to explain to you, I'll show you...wait, escuse me Bee-be'
'you see this little stripe that goes from the corner of the eyes to the earlobs'
'it is also a criterion'
'their feet are differents too'
'people wants the bottom of their feet to be black, not pink'
Deborah's passion for felines does not know limits
Legislation being very permissive in Wisconsin, about wild animals detention
She has gained a real african serval
'Raja!  It's mom!'
'come baby!'
'She wont attack you, or else I would not have taken her'
'I would not have tolerate, she likes stranger'
'hello, are you ready for your day? come say hello to mom'
'come here to say hello!'
'are you alright? eveything's ok'
'Hey Kalani, this is the sister of Kamaha, a spoted bengal'
'she likes to be outside, she is friend with Raja'
'you're a good girl'
'yes you are a good girl too Kalani'
'Raja, please'
'she is not naughty'
'Now both, stop it!'
'No, there you sought it! she seeks after, so... well'
'Raja, come'
'come...good!'
'This is Kamaha's sister, Kalani'
'there you go, i know she bothers you'
'they love great prairies, tall grass'
'she loves to go hide in the bushes, near wetland'
'from time to time she will catch a frog'
'they hunt like domestics cats'
'rodents, frogs, small birds...'
'they like to be in tallgrasses because they can be cringe if they feel a threat'
Even if Raja is attached to her mistress, she remains a wild animal
A walk, even on leash, always turns into a game of hide and seek
where Raja hide in the tall grass, leaving her mistress care of the back
'where are you?'
'Raja?'
'come on girl, get out of here'
A totally normal behaviour, since it is the hunting strategy of Servals
They are hiding in vegetation to trap their preys
while their large ears are working as a dish to locate rodents
while their long legs allow to pounce on preys thus indentified
'she's watching us'
'I can feel it'
'it's extremly rare to have such an animal near you'
'she recognize her name well'
'but she is still a wild animal'
'I think if I let her go, she wouldn't go so far'
'But I'd rather not to take the risk'
'I love to reassure her'
Journalist:'I guess you are the only person to have established such a relationship with her'
Deb: 'Yes'
Journalist: 'and what about your husband?'
Deb: 'no'
'you're a badass, huh?'
'Alright, we've understood, don't get upset'
'No! Everything's ok!"
'The hissing was because she saw you'
'otherwise, you could see she respects me'
Experts estimate there would be 20,000 servals detained in captivity on American soil
Wild felines kept in cage just for the pleasure to have an unusual animal
to serve breeding programs that can be very lucrative
but is serval really in its place, locked in a cage of a few square meter?
'what we wanted to do was to keep the sweet temperament and the pesonnality of a domesticate animal'
'but bringing an exotic touch'
'especially those ears, and a superior intelligence, this is what we've done'
This hybrid cats trend is conquering France
If savanah are still uncommon, bengals are, meanwhile,well established
imported into the hex since 1989
Bengal is recognized by the L.O.F, the official nationale registration book of felines origins in France
There would be 8,000 today
However, only F4 and later generations are legally tolerate
Agnes Gayraud is so loving this new breed
she embarked on farming four years ago, in addition to her job
a passion that asks a substantial investisment in time, but also in money
because her passion does not know limits, she went to get her cats from the best lines abroad
and has enrolled in cats contests
for each of her competion cats, she spend an average of €10,000
'So this pussy is called Nala'
'although her real name is Legadema'
'and she is a 7 month and a half little female'
'so this little pussy is very, very beautiful'
'she has already gaines quite a lot of exhibitions'
'since she is a "Junior Winner"'
'they are brought from the United States'
'it's the cradle of the breed'
'oh my baby'
'we can pass hours watching them, we do not get tired'
'we come home and sometimes we think "such beautiful"'
'we come home and we are surprised to have them to ourselves'
'to... to have those beautiful cats'
'It's still a pleasure, I mean, after years I look at them and they still please me'
'it's a passion, they are superbs cats'
Superbs, certainly, and above all vibrant
Beware of the fragile ornaments and furnitures
'ah! Full activity Nala!'
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'that's... that's... that's nothing'
'so well, backflips are her specialty'
'it's party time today'
'so... the sofa hum... she prefers to play than being catch'
For Agnes, breeding bengal is more a hobby than a business
her breeding cost her near to €11,000 per year between food and vet expenses
about enrollment to international competitions, it's over €10,000 per cats
even if she sale her kitten from €1,500 to €2,000
she does not recover her expenses
just to acquire Shania, she spent €3,500
'she has feline behaviours... totally'
'much more than the others'
'oh la la that wild head!'
'when she goes mad, when she fights'
'it's different, others feel it'
Rivalries and marking territory are rife with bengals
for which the use of litter box is far from obvious
'well yes it's difficult'
'I think she peed while I was talking... so I could not... I saw her'
'That is the problem here, there is a lot of smells'
'so necessarily they go behind eachother and mark their territory'
Impossible for many to leave frolicking in the garden
where the marking territory would be less bothersome
Bengals readily escape and rarely return to their home once in nature
Regular household, protected furnitures, walks on a leash
those cats ask for a lot of attention, and those, from birth
'Socialization is very important with bengals'
'everything takes place during the first three months, i mean...'
'it is the role of the breeder'
'when they are born at home, they are in our bedroom'
'they are used to humans, we handle them everyday...'
'every house's noises, vacum, every noises... hum'
'so they are socialized'
'And if it has been done wrong'
'we can not get it back'
'I will show you my first pussy for example'
'which was imported from Germany'
'I've never recovered her, she's 4 years old'
'she's afraid, poor her'
Journalist: 'So this is Darjeeling?'
Agnes: 'So then... she is a little bit wild'
'and so she is really adorable, not agressive at all'
'not at all, she is just a bit scared'
'come Darjee... come Darjee'
'she is very shy... come sweety'
'So...well, look, you see she is scared'
'she is not reassured so I handle her rarely because I don't want to put her unconfortable'
'but she is great friend with Walker'
Every breeders do not dedicate as much time to their litter of kitten as Agnes
Because Bengals are trendy
Numerous of unscrupulous breeders produce them literally in series
They sale then a lot of kitten which will never be adapt to a domestic life
So the situation becomes unmanageable
In United States, where these hybrids cats exist for a several decades
the problem has assumed alarming proportions
In this feline shelter, the Wildcat Sanctuary
To welcome these cats abandonned by their owners, has become a daily puzzle head
Tammy Thies, the shelter's founder, 's ambition was however quite different on the basis
She was only wishing to rescue big felines whom owners weren't able to manage or feed anymore
Be it tigers...
mountain lions
lynxs
or Servals, felines that anyone or almost can hold in their garden in US
but for 9 years, the shelter sees influx from hybrid cats
Nowaday, the Wildcat Sanctuary has 120 residents including 40 cats
'A lot of people acquire hybrids cats because they are beautiful'
'without taking into account their personnality, the temperament of these cats'
'Here we often joke, saying: "we do not marry someone for its physical"'
'this kind of marriage does not last'
Alicia is one of the keepers
She knows each cats's origins in the shelter
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'our enclosures are equipped with a double doors security lock to prevent cats from escaping'
Not being vaccinated against rabbies, we are not allowed to come into cages
'this one is called Hilo, it's a F1 savanah'
'a crossed between a Serval and a domestic cat'
'he's getting on rather well with other cats'
'but he can be sneaky sometimes, so I always keep an eye on him'
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'So this is Sebastian, a bengal'
'he's probably a F3 or a F4'
'Most of the time they do not find a new family because they defecate outside the litter box'
'or because they are agressives with other cats'
'there, this is Jahara, he's a Serval'
'he belonged to a private person in Winsconsin'
'his owner also had bengals'
'so we suppose she was planning to breed F1 Savanahs to sale them'
'but Jahara went after her'
'at first he was friendly with his mistress, she even enterred into his cage'
'but over time he was getting more and more agressive to her, and got to attack her'
'so she decided to place him with us so he could find a life of wild animal'
'at first people are full of good intentions'
'they love their animals'
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'in their mind they are convinced they do the right thing'
'they have the impression of being loved by their cat and think they just have to take a good care for their cat to be happy'
'it is not necessarly true'
Each day, they must feed this population of abandonned hybrides cats
For this association whom only live on private donations, it's a substantial budget
'it is about 55kg (110pound) of meat per day'
'it goes from chicken thigh to noble pieces of beef'
'passing by preys like rats, rabbits, mice'
'this bucket is for hybrids'
'they have bowls for one or two'
'as they all have a specific diet, each morning we must prepare different menus for the day'
'let's feed them'
'they are waiting'
'Keesa here is a F1'
'she loves chicken'
'she will come back'
'she is wild... do you see yourself feed a cat like this at home?'
This young Savanah is uncontrollable
Very agressive with other cats in the enclosure when it is about eating
She has to be fed first and go to hide to devour her daily ration
Her fellow is not much sharer
'We have to put this one in a separate cage because...'
'if we don't, he'd steal everyone's food'
'I open the hatchway; he get in'
'I close it, this one is a bit rusty'
'then I lock it with a stick because he would be able to open it and dodge'
Other kind of hybrid, less common, this jungle cat
is derived from a cross between a domestic cat and a chaus
A feline whose population lives between Egypt and South East Asia
Twice bigger than a cat, this feline is endangered in some parts of the world
This agression can be turned against other pets
but also on young children
Cats become unmannageables, owners then, only have two issues left:
Euthanasia or placement in foster
Unfortunately there is only 4 shelters like the Wildcat Sanctuary for all the US
And demands exceed by far carrying capacity
'we received 40 called per months from people who want to get rid of their Bengal'
'always with the same recriminations'
'"my cat pees in the house, he pees on my husband, on furnitures..."'
'"He has bitten my boyfriend..." the most common problem is that they pee everywhere'
'the solution is to stop breeding new wild cats hybrids'
'we already have enough of wonderful domestic dogs and cats'
'why creating news to get them into this fate?'
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'don't contribute to this problem by acquiring your animal from a breeder'
'our cacthword is "Adopt instead of buy"'
American shelters are not the only ones to ring the alarm bell
This phenomenom worried scientists, for which this trend is a true kink
which may ultimately threaten the survival of wild felines
Gregory Breton, who travels the world to indentify  wild cats in their natural habitat
works in close collaboration with customs that put him animals from wild life trafficking
Marketed animals for use in breeding program for hybrids cats
'So currently here in our Felines's park'
'we have 5 leopards bengals cats adults'
'and there is 3 that have been seized by customs or untrusted to us because breeders did not want them anymore'
'It has become a very coveted species'
'for an animals trading'
'because, unfortunately for him, he can hybridize with domestic cat'
'make to reproduce a domestic cat with a bengal cat'
'A leopard bengal cat, I insist on it, the wild species, is makable from a genetic point of view'
Because they are genetically close, felines can mate and have cubs
but it is not natural selection for all that
'what we are doing is to force animals to have cubs that have nothing to do with them'
'so there is an ethical problem behind this hybridization madness'
'In the wild they do not hybridize, they do not meet each other'
'or a leopard cat will kill a domestic cat'
With hybridization, Human causes forced marriage materially impossible in the nature
because of the remoteness of animals
Indeed, living on separated by oceans continents
or Asian leopard cats, nor Africans Servals, would have met american domestic cats
But this is not the first time than humans attempt crosses between remoted species
'So Human did try things, he tried to hybridize a Tiger with a lioness'
'a lion with a tigress, a leopard with a jaguar...'
'we showed it was working, both at the time of antiquity'
'with Roman circuses, great princelly menageries'
'or in zoos in the early 20th century'
Nowadays, only a few chinese or russian zoos keep trying this type of experiment
A liliger, fruit of the union between a lion and a liger is born in a Siberian park
but most of western parks, categorically refuse this kind of crosses
to devote rather on the protection of those endangered species
And to save them, it is primary to not mix their genes
'The leopard cat is one species of feline among the 36 wild species'
'and from an evolution point of view, he has diverge from wild cats lineages'
'6 billion years ago'
'Human, has domesticate African wild cats'
'only, the african cat, 4,000 years ago'
'in Egypt, in Cyprus and in Mesopotamia'
'So today, people take domestic cats'
'hybridize them with leopard cats'
'so it is totally against nature'
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'it is like if, me, tomorrow, I decided to have a bonobo girlfriend'
'we decided to have babies, and kept them!'
'from an ethical point of view, we would never think to mate with ape like bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla...'
'it is something that seem to us, completely insane'
A hazardous comparison, alas no!
6 billions years ago, hominines separated in two distincts branches
the panines, ancestrors of bonobo and chimpanzee
and Homo Sapiens, human ancestror
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6 billions years, whether the time of Toumaï the half-man, half-ape being
that some paleo-anthropologists consider as the first being from human lineage
6 billions years ago, felines also separated in two distincts branches
The leopard cat from which the bengal leopard cat
And the wild cat, the domestic cat's ancestor
About Serval, it started to evolve in a distinct lineage 8,5 billion years ago.
The comparison is at least confusing
Does Human have the right, to serve his behoof or realize his dreams
to hybridize species which the genetic heritage has diverged for thousands years?
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Also why reingect wild genes on animals that humans took millenia to domesticate?
If feline hybridization raise genetical and ethical questions
those cats aren't dangerous for human
They certainly often pee to mark their territory
They fight for food and have just one wish: escape
Worst, they scratch off, this is not necessarly pleasant but not mortal
Unlike another kind of hybrids as Wolfdogs
from the cross between domestics dogs and wolves, also called "WD"
With this new breed, we made of the man's best friend
the typical domestic dog, obedient and submissive to his master
a potential killer machine.
'this trend of taking a wild animal or an hybrid as a pet does not date from yesterday'
'we started to hear about them since the late 80's in Minnesota'
'when we saw young children being killed repeatedly'
'obviously a domestic dog may bite you but this was another kind of behaviour'
'those children were killed, not simply bitten'
'this wolfdog was a time bomb'
'the dog seemt tame according to the means of the family, racy WD are able to kill'
'unfortunately we are talking about animals with a wolf instinct in a dog body'
'animals which don't have their place near to humans in a domestic setting'
Some states like Hawaï have strongly react to these attacks
by simply forbidding hybrids
Other states like Indiana, havig a WD is unregulated
American law is a true patchwork on a national level
How to regulate a WD population which has reached, according to the ministry of agriculture 300,000 fellows?
The simple eradication of those animals is not the solution
Because there are wolfdogs and wolfdogs
'When you cross a dog with a wolf, you never now which part of one or the other will win'
'during the cell division'
'it is impossible to know which part of each parents'
'will be transmitted to the individual'
'On a behavioral level, it will be such a mess'
In this genetic lottery, the best and the worst may arise
In some cases those crosses give birth to what americans call "low content"
whether wolfdogs with very few of lupine genes
Leslie's wolfdogs are emblematic of those "low-content"
Physically, they are close to german shepherds and huskies
Behaviorally, they have everything of the big good obedient doggies
Leslie get Steve, her young 4 months WD and her 2 years old female, Tuey on a walk
'come on'
'They have in their genetical heritage, blood from wild wolf, grey wolf'
'red wolf, silver wolf and other wolves from the same kind'
'that is for the wild part of the mix'
'and for the other part, they have genes from dogs'
'malamute's, german shepherd's or husky's'
'we get those breeds when we want a WD because there are genetically the closest to wolves'
'they will see Kaia again, a female that Leslie's friend, Teresa has adopted'
'This is Kaia' 
- 'Hello Kaia'
Kaia used to be part of the pack
Wolfdogs, even hybridized have conserved from their lupine ancestor, the sense of the hierarchy
And hierarchy is respected, and never forgotten
'she remembers, hey beauty!'
'the girls are talking, this is not necessarly a bad sign'
'by talking to each other, they recover the place they had in the hierarchy'
In front of Tuey, Kaia lower her tail and her ears before getting on her back
Despite her more imposure stature, Kaia shows she recognyze the leader of the pack
'she was the leader of her pack'
'that's what she's being mean to Kaia'
'that this is her, the dominant female and Kaia still accepts it because she's younger'
'they are now sixth or seventh generation dogs'
'the first generation is 50% wolf'
'Then we cross dogs between them'
'that make dogs which, while keeping some characteristcs from wolves'
'are a lot friendlier with humans and not agressive'
'in her you will have the long muzzle and a bit taper'
'longer canines and more curved'
'she has the same shorter and less hairy ears'
'It prevents bugs from nesting'
'her fur has multiple layers'
'she has a long topcoat and, as you can see'
'she has been mowed for the summer'
'she has a woolly fuzz for winter'
'this is a kind of sheep wool covered with a soft coat'
'then, the legs, there are stronger than dog's with a heavier foot'
'Grey wolf has to be able to cross the tundra'
'that surface be marshy or snowy, they need to move on'
'their feet are large and allonged, in fact they are huge! It makes them like snowshoes'
For 'purists, there is only one true wolfdog: 
the high content
wolfdogs containing a high percentage of wolf blood
from its wolf ancestor the wolfdog must not only 
have the physical appearance, but also the temperament
Mike belongs to these fans who cannot stand approximations
Fascinated by this breed, he went to the US to obtain his wolfog
from the most renowned breeders, although he lives in Belgium
He refused to communicate its purchase price
and sets an appointment with us in a place 
that he did not wish to specify
Mike : 'this is an animal... a tame animal'
'but it is not really a domesticated animal'
'a domesticated animal has no more instinct'
Mike has chosen to remain anonymous for personal reasons
Mike : 'I want to keep my tranquility'
'many people from the wolfdog community are extremely extremely jealous'
and I'm keen to absolutely protect the security and the tranquility of Vulcain...
...  against all these malevolent people'
'move back, move back, move back... because otherwise...'
'no no no... now he has seen the meat...'
'come, come, come... calm down, it's over'
Cedric: 'we'll get him to go down? Come Vulcain'
To get Vulcain accustomed to our presence, we 
start with a walk in a forest
where the wolfdog feels in its environment
He must accept us as belonging to the pack
Cedric, the friend who helped Mike taming Vulcain, is 
here to decode its behiavor and act accordingly
Cedric: 'in fact the animals are true sponges who will reflect our behavior'
'if we are friendly with you, he will be friendly as well or neutral'
'on the other hand if we don't want you, it will be another story'
The walk is paced by the stops of Vulcain, whose hunter instincts are always on
'Ah... yes there are hens here'
To distract its attention, a drastic method: feeding him with pieces of meat
Mike's pockets are always full of them...
Vulcain must be rewarded for its good behavior on 
a very frequent basis... every 2 minutes
but sometimes, meat is not sufficient to refrain the fervor of the wolfdog
... genetically programmed to hunt
Cedric: 'Vulcain, jump!'
'you leave the dog'
'come... come... here'
'come Vulcain, come'
'you stay here, you stay here'
'come'
'come, come'
'come on, come'
'come on, come Vulcain'
'come slowly'
'he is not happy he doesn't really like dogs'
'no no no... but don't worry, it's not against 
you, it's the dog he doesn't like'
'come on, come... leave the dog.... off we go'
'come on Vulcain, there are more interesting things to do than chasing a dog'
'it's a animal who also is very playful'
but also bathing in a rather cold autumn water
'on the other hand if the person likes to go out, be active, 
 it is marvelous because its an animal you can take everywhere
'all weather, snow, cold, all that... at minus 15°C you walk him without problem'
'the more you walk him the more grateful 
 he is, the more the relationships improve
Mike admits travelling up to 15 kilometers per day so that Vulcain gets exercise
planned today: playing with a ball
'well done Vulcain'
'oh it broke away into pieces... wolfdog destroyer'
but also bathing in a rather cold autumnal water
his owner works up a sweat from him
nothing is too much for these wolfdogs who need 
to be permanently exercised and stimulated
Things get more complicated when Mike decides to move on to city walk
a rather hostile environment for Vulcain
With all the necessary measures,
avoiding the pedestrians
and the smallest sound can be a source of stress
Cedric: 'I'm proud of you, you know... I'm very proud of you'
The wolfdogs inheritated from their wolfs ancestors the ability to 
hear sound at a much higher frequency than us
40 kHz, compared to only 20 kHz for human beings
therefore the smallest motorcycle backfiring noise sounds as a deflagration for them
Cedric: 'slow down Vulcain, don't be afraid'
Mike: 'beware he is scared by motorbikes'
'take the glass, he fears... slowly slowly"
'it's nothing, it's nothing... it's over, it's over'
it's over it's over, it's nothing it's nothing'
Cedric: 'yes he will be much more... you will 
see the eyes... tac tac tac tac motion'
Mike: 'beware of the car because he is fed up with it
Cedric: 'he will be scanning more broadly'
Are these dogs really able to live near human beings?
For Peggy Callahan, who studies the behavior of 
captive dogs at the Wildlife Science Center,
these hybridizations are in total contraryness with the very nature of wolves
because between dogs and wolves, it's far from being a love story
'The natural behavior of the dogs consists in defending 
 us... that what we trained them for historically'
'to protect us from wolves. But this fence changes the behavior of 
the dog. Remove it and the dogs will quickly escape.'
'Currently they talk, they have a conversation.'
'Everybody is happy. The dogs think they do their jobs well and 
 the wolves think "one day I'll eat you up" '
'What is interesting is that she asks herself questions about 
 this small dog: will he submit itself or not?'
'So of course when we cross these close enemies, the result is explosive'
'come with me... no you stay here'
'these guys are hybrids of wolves and dogs'
'but we can't tell which percentage of dog 
 and which percentage of wolf they have'
'when looking at their phenotype, we can observe that the 
 female has more doggy characteristics than the male'
'She has a light colored coat, the male's being darker.'
'he has a thin body, closer to wolf's'
'Nevertheless both killed dogs as they were still 
 very young. That is a wolf behavior'
'She was four months old as she killed a dog'
'It's amazing... a puppy killing a dog. It was a small dog but even'
'he was six months old as he killed a dog who was his friend 
 so far. He knew this dog, but one day he killed him'
'When growing up, wolves attack other members of the pack or other wolves'
'It's a very natural behavior for them. Dogs do not kill each other normally.'
'It's not their nature whereas it's natural for a wolf to kill another wolf'
'We are mixing two species that we separated 20,000 or 40,000 years ago'
'there is no scientific consensus yet on the moment when domestication took place'
'we select a dog so that he does 
 not attack human beings or other dogs'
'Nature selected wolves so that they attack other dogs'
'that's were the problem is'
'don't stay in front of the door please'
'I decode their behavior when they approach me.'
'Currently he is very submissive. But it can change very very quickly. 
 He is fearful, he moves away. It's a classical behavior'
'one should not expect to develop the kind of relationships 
 one can have with a dog years after years'
'he's got impressive canines... they are long, they reach its lower lip'
'She is extremely aggressive. Not with people but with other animals. That's her temperament'
If the origin of dogs still divides the scientific 
 community, it reaches consensus on one point:
the dog is the very first species to have been domesticated 
 by human beings, even before the appearance of agriculture.
Crossing a dog and a wolf today is equivalent to starting 
 again the slow selection process started by their ancestors
Some populations of wolves would have differenciated to get closer 
 to human camps and to benefit from their waste
'therefore creating a sort of auto-domestication phenomenom whereby 
 the less fearful wolves towards human beings
were those who were able to get most of the food, which 
 hence created a selection on the degree of sociability towards men
Only the animals which accepted the contact with human beings could be domesticated
The other, much more numerous, always have refused to submit to human beings.
or Leopard Bengal cats, nor servals, neither wolves had ever accepted to live with human beings
Will hybrids better tolerate this situation?
or will they remain wild animals forever, whose 
sole dream is to recover their freedom?
-subs added by Filoup Saarloos and KakoumIer
