KHALIFAN, Kurdistan Region - In November 2020, 19-year-old Saman Abdullah came across a one-month-old cub close to his family home in the village of Kalakin, Khalifan, northeast of Erbil province, whereupon he made the decision to keep the young animal and raise it himself. So far, Abdullah's attempts to domesticate the wolf have been a success. Speaking to Rudaw on Sunday, he explained that the now year-and-two-month-old wolf is not a source of threat to his family members, relatives, or friends, although he is kept on a leash during the day in case he wanders off and attacks other people's pets or poultry. The family raised the animal on milk and, in an unusual step, share their food with him. "Today we cooked dolma [Kurdish traditional dish], so I fed him dolma," Abdullah explained. "He likes to eat fruits, especially grapes and figs." There are concerns that the domesticated animal could attack strangers, although according to Abdullah, "unless the person reacts to harm him, he does not do anything to him." Keeping a wolf as a pet is a highly unusual situation in the Kurdistan Region, where stray dogs run rampant and frequently starve to death. A few years ago, a policeman in Erbil proudly admitted to killing around 3,000 stray dogs, 40 of whom died in one night. Nevertheless, Abdullah clearly sees the benefits of caring for the creature. "I spend most of my happy times every day with this wolf."
