By PAUL ANDERSON

Karma the wolf-dog will live. An Orange County judge today overturned his previous ruling that the animal be euthanized and said Karma can be sent to a wolf sanctuary in North Carolina, despite animal control officials' insistence the dog is vicious -- noting that it once killed two cats in an Anaheim neighborhood.

"Despite the nomenclature of 'menacing' or 'vicious' dogs, the court is actually addressing irresponsible pet ownership," Judge Corey S. Cramin ruled. "Karma is as much a victim as the people and pets who were harmed by Karma." The ruling came two days after the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2, with Andrew Do and Shawn Nelson dissenting, to support placing Karma in the Full Moon Farm wolf sanctuary. The dog was deemed a wolf-dog hybrid by county animal-control officials, but attorney Christine Garcia, who represents Karma's owners, said she has papers to prove he is a purebred Siberian Husky.

Cramin earlier ordered the dog be put to sleep, which prompted a petition signed by thousands of residents who want Karma spared. Garcia told City News Service Tuesday she hoped the judge would return the animal to its owners, "but if that's not possible we would like the dog to live out the rest of his life happy in a sanctuary."

Garcia said "seven generations can be proven" in the dog's lineage. Animal control officials viewed the dog as a hybrid, but Garcia said all Siberian Husky's have wolf ancestry that will show up in tests.

"In fact, every dog is going to have some wolf in him, even a beagle," Garcia said.

Garcia represents the owners, Joshua and Tiffany Ogle. The county supervisors held a special meeting Monday on the 4-year-old dog's fate. The move came after a contentious debate last week, when OC Animal Care Director Jennifer Hawkins, a veterinarian, stood by her designation of Karma as a vicious dog that should be put down. Spitzer said the board's decision was not meant to overrule Hawkins' ruling, but to find a home for the animal.