Carlos and I went up to Franklin Basin on July 5 to see the wildflowers. We remembered that they were spectacular in this area last year about this time, particularly the meadow right before the turn to Gibson Lakes. Carlos likes to drive the two miles to the lake to see if the snow has melted off the road and the first lake still has water.

This year, when we turned on the road toward the lakes, we had an unexpected surprise. An animal that looked like a wolf was loping down the road directly toward our car. We quickly closed our windows, and pulled out our camera. It seemed odd when this supposed wolf circled our car and trotted back up the road in the direction he had just come. The same direction we were heading. We followed him up the road, but quickly lost sight of him. We stopped some teenagers riding a 4-wheeler coming from the opposite direction and asked them if this animal belonged to them. They said it didn’t.

We passed two other 4-wheelers coming from the lake as we drove in. When we parked at the lake, we were the only vehicle there. As soon as we stopped, the teenagers came back on their 4-wheeler to tell us that the animal was following our car. They also told us that when they had come up the Franklin Basin road earlier that day they had seen a man with a rifle pulling a collar off of this dog. He took off when they drove up. They surmised that their presence had caught him off guard and scared him off. They believed he was there to shoot his dog. They left Carlos and I standing there, uncertain about what to do next.

In less than a minute, the dog trotted up the road where we were parked. We each stood close to our car doors, feeling very uncertain about whether this dog or wolf or both, was threatening or not. Once again, the animal circled our car and continued up the road.

At this point, even though we were feeling a bit nervous about whether or not this was a wolf or a dog, we decided that it was domesticated and not threatening. Since we were the only people at the lake, I decided it was our responsibility to see if we could rescue the animal. I felt certain that it would not be able to survive in the wilderness and so we walked up the road, following its paw prints on the dirt road to the campground.

I was happy to spot him in the trees in a distant campground. I called to him and he raised his head. I became more insistent that he come, and to my surprise he did. He ran to about 20 feet from where we were standing and stopped and looked at us. Carlos and I turned and walked back down the road, talking to him and calling him the entire time. He made it clear that he did not want to be petted, and was leery of us, but followed less than a foot behind us back to our car.

I opened the back door of our 4-Runner and, much to our surprise, the dog took off. We searched the area and never did find him again. We drove down the road from the lakes back to the Franklin Basin road slowly, with our windows open, calling the dog we had now called Buddy. I watched for paw prints in the dust and spotted some on the Franklin Basin road, heading toward Utah. This was also the same direction where we passed a flock of sheep on the road earlier that day.

With a very heavy heart we made our way home, never seeing Buddy again. Carlos was leaving town the next day and I was in a quandary about what to do to help this animal. I finally decided to call Animal Control in Utah and Idaho to report what had happened. The Cache County animal control officer drove up there and searched but never saw the dog, he reported to me the following day. He told me that abandonment of animals is sadly something he sees every day. I appreciated his caring attitude.

I found out from calling the sheriff’s office in Idaho that there is not an animal control agency that oversees this area, and the person I talked to could not have been less sympathetic to the concern I was expressing for this dog. He told me it was legal to shoot your dog on your own property in Idaho. I was appalled to hear this, but told him that this was public property, not private. He didn’t respond.

When the article “Wolf killed in Franklin Basin area,” was the headline in the Herald Journal on July 14th, Carlos’ and my heart sank. We knew it was very likely that this was Buddy, the dog we had failed to rescue. We contacted Toby Boudreau at the Idaho Fish and Game Department. We e-mailed him the photos we had taken of the dog and he verified that this was the same animal. He said that their geneticist was doing genetic testing to see if this was a wolf or a dog, or a hybrid and possibly both. He promised to let us know. After e-mailing him twice since then and not getting any more information, we decided that it was important that at least our part of the story be told.