Which is a bigger threat to humans and livestock?
Conflict with Humans
Wolves in the wild have a very strong natural fear of humans that has been instilled in them from generations of persecution and hunting.
On the other hand, although they are also very skittish and cautious around strangers, wolfdogs are much more comfortable around people than their wild ancestors.
This means that wolfdogs are much more likely than wolves in the wild to come into conflict with humans and their pets.
Livestock Depredation
As previously mentioned, wild wolves want nothing to do with humans. They just want to be left alone and be to allowed to hunt elk with their pack up in the mountains.
However, a wolfdog that has escaped or been abandoned by their owner does not have the skills necessary to hunt and survive on their own.
They also don’t have the support of a pack, which is the wolf’s greatest strength.
Because of this, a wolfdog is much more likely to have to resort to an easy meal like cattle or sheep or other livestock.
Reputation
The problem is that it is often extremely difficult to differentiate between a wolfdog and a wild wolf.
The USDA touched on this issue in a Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series Report where they stated:
“Depredation by domestic dogs also can be confused with wolf or coyote kills. Domestic dogs can be a serious problem to livestock, especially to sheep pastured near cities and suburbs. Dogs vary how and where they attack, but often attack the hindquarters, flanks, and head. They rarely kill as effectively as wolves or coyotes and are considered “sloppy” predators, slashing and tearing prey that sometimes results in many injured animals … Dogs rarely feed on the carcass.”
USDA
If a rancher finds a dead cow in his fields with teeth marks, he is going to assume that it was a wolf without considering the possibility that it could have been a wolfdog.
The same is true of people at a campsite who see animal that looks like a wolf that is getting to close to people looking for food.
Another interesting note here is that this could be a possible explanation for accounts of surplus killings. It is well known that wolves do not kill for sport, but their have been some accounts of this by ranchers who found uneaten carcasses. These rare and isolated incidents could have been wolfdogs.
Population Comparison
This possibility is even more compelling when you consider how many wolfdogs there are compared to wolves in the wild.
Reports estimate that there are at least 250,000 to 500,000 wolf dogs in US, although this number is likely higher.
Of that number, 65% escape or need to be rescued or euthanized before the age of three.
In contrast, there are only 15-20,000 wolves in the wild, more than half of which are in Alaska.
So, the chances are quite good that wild wolves receive the blame for a lot of conflict that was actually caused by escaped wolfdogs.
References
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/gray-wolves.pdf