Pet and Neighbors

What is the name of your state? NY

I am not sure this is the right forum for my question. If it is not, please forgive me.

Let me give you a little background in order to help with an answer. A very dear friend of mine, who is blind and lives alone in upstate New York. He is 63 years old and owns 20 acres of land, which he lives on. His closest neighbor is approximately 7 miles away. Anyway, about 3 years ago, he adopted, what he thought, a stray dog. This dog is VERY large and also very protective of him. The dog accompanies him every where on the land and seems to know of his handicap by guiding him on walks, alerting him of potential dangers, etc. My friend has never been happier. I went to visit him and saw this dog for the first time about a year ago. I was surprised to see this was not your average domestic canine, but rather a very large wolf. I was not alarmed, just surprised. This wolf proved to be very special. One evening, Tobrook (wolf's name) kept trying to get my friend out of the house by grabbing him by the hand and guiding him to the back door. My friend just thought the wolf wanted to go outside. When my friend and the wolf stepped out on the back proch, my friend could feel extreme heat coming from the side of the house. It was a fire. The wolf guided my friend to safety. When the fire department showed up, they were able to get the fire out with minimal damage. His closest neighbor arrived to see what had happened. He noticed Tobrook. The next day, he promptly notified animal control to come and seize this 'wild' animal. Had it not been for this 'wild' animal, my friend would surely have died.

The neighbor wants this 'wild' animal to be destroyed stating that he is living in fear this animal may come to his property and terrorize his family!!! He is also telling officials my friend is keeping a wild animal without a license. My friend is Native American and is licensed with a permit to have this animal.

The neighbor continues to come to my friend's property to check on the status of this wolf (terrorize his family, eh?). My friend has asked him to stay away from his property and to stop bothering him several times. It has gotten to the point that everytime this neighbor shows up, the neighbor is always asking "When are you gonna get rid of that animal? He should be destroyed! If the authorities don't do it, if I ever catch him off your land, you can be guaranteed that I will do something about it!"

Now my question: Short of getting an order to stay away, is there any other way to be amicable in getting this neighbor to honor my friends request? Also, would his comments be considered a threat?

My friend loves this animal and would NEVER think of having it destroyed.

I appreciate anyones insight on this.

Likely this is a canine/ wolf mix, whose appearance tends toward the wolf and whose demeaner tends toward the canine. Perhaps your friend can have the dog tested to see if he can get it certified as his "service dog". The dog already seems to have had such training, or seems to instinctively serve such a role.

Anyway, call the local Humane Society and ask them if there are ordinances that would prohibit him from having a dog/wolf mix. If the answer is NO, that's what he tells the neighbor. Heck, people are stuck with viscious dog breeds next door. Being "all dog" doesn't necessarilly make them "safe" eoither.

Thank you for your response.

When I was there the last time, we did take the wolf to the vet. On the form the vet filled out, as to the breed of animal, states he is a wolf. Not wolf hybrid. I'm not sure what kind of tests were done to come to that conclusion.

I am not sure if he belonged to someone else or what. However, he is a well behaved animal and very in tune with my friend. He is currently trying to get the animal certified as a service dog. He was told that someone would be coming to the property to observe. It may take a while, but, I am sure that once the officials see how this animal acts around my friend, there shouldn't be a problem.

I just don't trust the neighbor. He seems bent on getting the animal out of there one way or another.

Any advice, short of getting a restraining order, on how to handle this neighbor?