Hybrid Wolf-Dog Bites North Bay Student

A teen at Terra Linda High School suffered a minor abrasion on his  hand on Friday when he was bitten by a hybrid wolf-dog at the end of a  demonstration in his biology class, said Terra Linda Principal Lars  Christensen.
     The 15-year-old student did not require stitches, and returned to  school later that day.
     The incident occurred on the school's soccer field, where a  biology teacher was giving the students an opportunity to see a live wolf-dog  hybrid as part of an ecology unit in the class. The students were learning  about the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park.
     A biology teacher had asked the assistant principal, Chris  Cerbone, to bring in his two seven-year-old hybrid wolf-dogs for the  demonstration, Christensen said.
     Cerbone went to school at the University of Wyoming where he  majored in wildlife science and adopted a brother and sister wolf-dog hybrid  pair when they were about six weeks old after they had been confiscated from  an illegal hybrid breeding facility in Texas.
     Before bringing the dogs to school, Cerbone provided the school  with proof that the animals had all of their proper vaccinations, Christensen  said.
     On Friday, a mix of primarily freshmen and some sophomore students  sat in the bleachers while Cerbone went through his lecture with the animals  leashed on the soccer field. Afterward, a few select students were allowed to  approach the dogs.
     One of the two hybrid animals got spooked when all of the students  got up to leave at once when the bell rang at the end of the class and  snapped at one of the students, Christensen said.
     "The poor thing got scared, and did what dogs do when they  scared," Christensen said.
     Christensen said that the school immediately sent the student to  the hospital and notified his parents. The student did not end up needing  stitches.
     "We take it very seriously," Christensen said. "But at the same  time, it is literally an abrasion."
     After the bite, Cerbone had the animals checked out with animal  control in Sonoma County, where he lives.