Is it a wolf - or a dog - UPDATED

Update: It's a dog!

Craig Stempf, who lives near the Silver Beach Marina, called The Press this morning to report that the animal in Scott Maclay's photos is indeed a dog.

Stempf said the family pet's name is Jake.

"He has some wolf in him, but he's very friendly," Stempf said.

Is it a wolf - or a dog

COEUR d'ALENE - Scott Maclay is certain he's not crying wolf.

The North Idaho College student snapped several pictures of an animal he observed Monday morning in the Silver Beach Marina parking lot along Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive.

"That's a wolf. I'm not a game biologist, but I'm a bow hunter, and I've seen them before," Maclay told The Press.

Maclay said he has shown the images to fellow hunters who also say it is a wolf.

Idaho Fish and Game Regional Wildlife Manager Jim Hayden isn't so sure, but it's possible.

"The photos seem to clearly indicate a domestic dog - but there's always some ambiguity in photos, so we can't say with 100 percent certainty that it is a domestic dog," Hayden said, in a message to The Press.

Maclay said the animal he captured photos of appeared to have caught the scent of a dead deer carcass situated at the time, near the marina.

"That one was slightly upwind of the carcass and was being spooked by passing vehicles while trying to locate it," Maclay said. "There were two other animals that I couldn't clearly see in the brush on the east end of the parking lot where the one that I photographed returned to."

Maclay said he's concerned about kids who ride their bicycles in the area that is traversed by the Centennial Trail.

He sent the photos by email to Hayden at Idaho Fish and Game. Hayden responded by visiting the site with a wolf technician. He advised Maclay that there was no evidence of a wolf - no tracks or scat.

Noting that the photos indicate the animal may be collared, Hayden said there are no known radio-collared wolves in the area, but added, "There is always a chance that a non-functioning collar can be present."

Hayden said that while there have been no confirmed sightings of wolves within Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls or Rathdrum city limits, the animals have been positively identified in the Blue Creek and Fernan Creek areas just east of Coeur d'Alene.

He told The Press that in August, a Cougar Gulch resident shot at three wolves on his property, killing two of them. Because wolf season on private land opened July 1, the shootings were legal.

"There are several documented packs in the eastern portion of the county, east of Highway 95, and suspicions of packs in the western portion," Hayden said. "We can't know of every wolf or pack. We can't discount an observation anywhere in the county - wolves cover a lot of ground. I'll suggest we're now at a point where we should assume, as we do (mountain) lions and bears, that wolves could be present about anywhere."

IDFG estimates there are more than 200 wolves in the five counties of North Idaho. Last year 76 wolves were taken, primarily by hunting.

Staff writer Brian Walker contributed to this report.