In the middle of the Skopje neighbourhood of Kozle, a wolf was captured last night. Not a wild one that came down from Vodno or Korab. A wolf that had been kept as a household pet - on a chain and leash, clearly maintained by some local „keeper". When the illegal household animal escaped, it ended up on the streets of the capital.

According to the police and the Zoo, the wolf was tame and calm - it posed no danger to citizens. That is why the intervention went without incident. Residents spotted it walking through the neighbourhood, immediately called in the specialists, and together with the Interior Ministry and the City of Skopje services, the animal was successfully captured.

The Zoo has called on citizens to respect the rule - keeping wild animals as pets is forbidden. Not only because of the danger to people, but because of the danger to the animal itself. A wolf is not a dog. It has instincts that can neither be trained out nor eliminated. On a chain, it remains a wolf - just one with less space.

The animal is now at Skopje Zoo, in quarantine, under medical supervision. It will stay there permanently. Behind the story of one confused animal in the middle of Kozle, hides a far more interesting question: who was the „owner"?

Why is someone in Skopje keeping a wolf on a chain? How many similar cases are out there - tigers, lions, bears - that have never been discovered? Macedonian law bans the keeping of wild animals, but the penalties are almost never applied. And so there are forums in Skopje and Tetovo where „first-hand" bear cubs, green-necked parrots, and - apparently - wolves are openly traded.

For the Zoo, this case is symbolic. They are appealing to citizens to report illegal keeping of wild animals. Citizens, traditionally in Macedonia, don't report - „why make trouble for the neighbours". And so wolves stay on balconies, bears in yards, and tigers in supposedly „private parks" across the villages.

This wolf got lucky - it ended up at the Zoo. Many others - don't. And that is a different, sadder story.