An animal originally believed to be a wolf that was struck and killed in Franklin County was actually a wolf and dog hybrid, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game confirmed on Friday afternoon. 

Department spokeswoman Jennifer Jackson said the hybrid was struck early Friday morning on Highway 36 between Williams Creek and the parking lot at Emigration Summit. 

Jackson said the motorist suspected it was a wolf and contacted Fish and Game. Had it been a pure-blooded wolf, Jackson said the incident would have been significant, since there are no documented wolf packs or breeding pairs in Southeast Idaho.

"We don't have any breeding pairs in this region, so it was an unusual thing to accidentally have someone run over a wolf," Jackson said. 

Jackson said biologists took tissue samples to perform tests. However, the owner of the animal saw an IDFG posting on Facebook and alerted the department that it was her missing 10-year-old pet. Jackson said wolf-dog hybrids are occasionally bred as pets.