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Only known woolly dog pelt returns to B.C. after more than 160 years
The pelt is on loan from the Smithsonian Institution and will remain on view through August 2027, highlighting woolly dogs’ cultural importance.
- After more than 160 years in storage at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the only known pelt of an extinct woolly dog has returned to Canada's West Coast for display at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.
- Historically essential to family life and oral traditions, woolly dogs were bred by Coast Salish and Makah peoples for their soft fur, woven into ceremonial textiles before the species became extinct by the late 1800s.
- Mutton, a canine companion of 19th-century American naturalist George Gibbs, is believed to have come from near Chilliwack, British Columbia, with genetic research suggesting the dog lived to be about 18 months old.
- During a special private event on Friday, Atheana Picha viewed the remains, describing the encounter as powerful and noting the pelt represents a "generations-long sinew of Indigenous culture."
- Museum of Anthropology curator Jordan Wilson described the display as a major milestone, with the rare specimen remaining on loan at the Vancouver facility until the end of August, 2027.
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Woolly dog pelt on loan to B.C. museum from the Smithsonian - Creston Valley Advance
The only known surviving pelt of the woolly dog is returning to B.C. for a period. The University of BC says the pelt, which has spent more than a century in storage, is coming the closest it has been to home since it was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in 1859. On loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, it will be on display at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC from September 2026 to August 2027. Woolly dogs were spe…
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Leaning Left30Leaning Right0Center14Last UpdatedBias Distribution68% Left
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68% Left
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C 32%
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