AKRON, Ohio, June 8 (UPI) -- A wolf on the loose in Akron, Ohio, in a neighborhood near the Akron Zoo has been captured after several weeks of sightings, officials said.
Residents including Pam and Larry Witherow have been attempting to capture the animal for some time, WJW-TV, Cleveland, reported Tuesday.
The Witherows currently care for two rescued wolf-hybrids on their property.
The animals, which live in a specially designed, large and secure fenced-in den in the back yard, immediately began reaching out to the wolf, the couple said.
"They started howling and you could hear her howling way up there" in the woods behind the zoo, Pam Witherow said.
The couple managed to lure the animal to their property, captured her and named her "Spirit," but the animal later escaped.
"We had a tree on that side of the fence and she jumped up on the tree and crawled right over that tree and left," said Pam Witherow. "That's why I think she is a wolf. Hybrids don't do that."
Not everyone is convinced.
"It's tough to say without doing DNA work on it," Geoff Westerfield from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said. "It's tough to say whether it is."
On Tuesday the Witherows recaptured the animal under a neighbor's deck.
It was placed under a veterinarian's care and an animal rescue sanctuary from Tennessee is now traveling to Ohio to pick up the 70-pound animal, WJW-TV said.
