Idaho man's dog shot after being mistaken for wolf: 'It has crushed our family'
by KBOI STAFF
Wednesday, June 16th 2021
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An Idaho man's dog was shot over the weekend after a fellow camper at a high-mountain lake mistook it for being a wolf. (Photo courtesy Robert Kolb)
  
KETCHUM, Idaho ( KBOI) – An Idaho man's dog was shot over the weekend after a fellow camper at a high-mountain lake mistook it for being a wolf.
Robert Kolb says he took his 16-year-old daughter on her first backpacking trip to North Fork Lake in Custer County -- deep into Idaho's majestic wilderness. The father and daughter got in late because of numerous downed trees on a ridge. They quickly made camp, made a fire, ate dinner and went to bed.
A gun went off early in the morning.
"We woke up to a gunshot that was crazy close and then two shots shortly after," Kolb told CBS2 Wednesday night. "I put on my pants as fast as I could and tried to get out of the tent and by that time there were three men screaming that they had shot my dog on accident."
Their dog, Suki, had wandered off from camp.
"I was crazy mad, he said. "And I was concerned for myself and my daughter that somebody just shot a gun at camp."
Kolb said he went into survival mode to help save his dog. She had been shot in the head between her eye and ear. There was a lot of bleeding and she was on the ground breathing, but laying very still.
I screamed 'how could you shoot my dog and they again said they thought she was a wolf.Kolb and his daughter packed up their things and started on the three-and-a-half-mile walk back to their vehicle. Suki managed to make the hike. The shooter, along with the rest of his party, drove Kolb and his daughter to their vehicle which was at a different trailhead. They then booked it to a veterinarian clinic in Ketchum.
Remarkably, the dog did not need surgery. But Suki needed a tube inserted at the bullet wound site and there's still shrapnel on her left side, Kolb says. The dog's neck is also cracked and will need time to heal. But she is expected to be OK. The shooter has agreed to pay for the bills, Kolb says, and was also very remorseful.
He said he's telling his family's story in an effort to spread the word about gun safety in the wilderness.
"Without a doubt, we sure hope the people who pack guns in the wilderness will be a little more sure at what they are shooting at," he said.
He also suggested folks put a reflective vest on their dogs with Idaho's wolf laws changing. Kolb said he reached out to the Custer County Sheriff's Office to report the incident but has yet to hear back.
"It has crushed our family to have gone through this," he said. "And hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else."
An Idaho man's dog was shot over the weekend after a fellow camper at a high-mountain lake mistook it for being a wolf. (Photo courtesy Robert Kolb)
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