Does anyone know of anywhere where you can experience Wolves?  I would love to meet some and see them doing what they do naturally

Hayley

Hi Hayley,

The closest to you would probably be The UK Wolf Conservation Trust in Beenham, Reading, Berkshire.

HTH :)

Hmmm, having had a quick look at the site I doubt it is actually want you want as they are not raised naturally. They have obviously been trained as according to their website the wolves attend shows and are used in film making :(

Thanks for that, but you're right I would prefer something more "natural".  Not quite sure what I want, but I would like a chance to get close to them - but I don't really want to take one for a walk - not sure if that would happen in the wild!

H

I think the closest you can get to 'natural' wolves in this country is probably the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland.

Paradise park in Broxbourne do a wolf experience - they also let you feed tigers etc.  Not sure if they have a website or if it's exactly what you want but it used to include a walk with the wolves through the park's own woods.

Nikkixx

Ps or if they still do it -was a couple of years back I was looking at it

If you fancy flying to Russia I know a conservation group who are involved in an ongoing study into wolves ! only thing is you would have to be willing to travel to Siberia !!

One of the safari parks have some fruit eating wolves or foxes(not quite sure which & I jest not)but I can't remember off hand which on their favourite fruit being banana !

The safari park that is on TV has a pack of wolves that are quite wild, it might be worth contacting them(or sim) & ask if you could spend a day with the keepers

They are one of the most fascinating species along with the big cats & dolphins mind you I ama sucker for any wildlife I spend hours watching the british wildlife in my garden & surrounding countryside

The Highland Wildlife Park is well worth a visit (and it's a lovely area for a holiday :)).  The have an observation platform out over the wolves enclosure, you can sit there for hours watching them if you wish, but they also do very informative talks during feeding times.

Hi,

Yes I would also recommend, the highland wildlife parks. Especially if you walk round with the guide. As he will tell you everything there is to know about wolves. I know the park is all about native wild breeds in scotland. One thing they are especially keen about. Is introducing them back into the wild.

We went in january, when we where in scotland for a holiday. It is the best wildlife park we have been to. They are 100% committed to conservation. And the guide who we had his passion for the animals. Is just fantastic

Alix

hi
if you go to the highland wildlife park during the week ( not on saturdays) you can follow the wardens round as they feed the carnivores, a sight worth seeing as sometimes when they have finished they can Howl!! unfortunately they have not done this whilst i have been there. the only thing you wont see are wolf cubs as at the moment there is no breeding program for the current pack :-(.   Im lucky its only a hours drive from me so i can go quite often. :-)
incidently my husband got me a wolf sponsorship for a year for xmas (last year,) a lovely unusual gift .. :-)

I know that you can do conservation work with them in Poland and I believe USA, although Im not sure that there is any guarantee that you will see any of them! For US ones try wolf.org, have to say that I nearly booked the weekend about wolf/canine behaviour!

Would much prefer something in England, especially as I have 3 children that I can't really leave for a long period of time, one of them only 10 weeks old.  May look into the Paradise Park one as that is only an hour or two away, and the Scotland one would be great on a family holiday, OH's family live in Aberdeen so could probably do a round trip.

Hiya - they have a website - www.pwpark.com - I've been on there - no mention of wolves at the moment.  Might be worth ringing them though, as you can shadow a keeper.

Nikki x

Tanglewood wildlife park in Kent ( sorry can't remember the address) has a large wolf enclosure with very good viewing facilities - it also has many other interesting wildlife species and is well laid out.

Yvonne

Thanks Yvonne and Nikki, will look those both up, Tanglewood sounds like the kids may enjoy it too?

Hayley

Have looked for Tanglewood on the Net, but have had no luck?

I've not heard of Tanglewood - did it used to be called Wildwood?  Whether yes or no, I'd recommend that one - it's on the Sturry road just outside Canterbury, beautiful european wolf pack and good viewing as well.  Great place too, loads of other great animals.  I've been there a few times with my camera for the wolves!

Second the recs for the Highland Wildlife Park as well, I went there in August 2003 especially for the wolves, and it was well worth it - I turned up in the middle of the keeper talk, very good, very informative - taught me a couple things I didn't know, which is always welcome!  Both the Highland and Wildwood are great for kids as well.

Yes - Wildwood - oops - sorry a 'senior' moment - it's well worth a visit - loads of stuff on conservation too. I'ts been some time since I've been there but I fell in love with the arctic fox cubs :D.

Yvonne

Just took a look at the website - it looks great, thanks, will plan a visit this year, with or without the kids!  Or maybe both! :)

Hayley

They are very cute :) I was last there last spring, I was doing an animal management course - I got to stand in the rain looking at water voles.  The wolves are much better, I snuck off to watch them in the end!

Ok if you want something in England there is a big colony of wolves at Woburn Safari Park and I know that they allow people to do academic studies of them - there have been several quite famious papers written on them.

The trouble with a lot of these is how semi-domesticated have they become? How far has their innate behaviour become modified by interaction with humans? Still interesting to see, though!

As I understand it if they have had too much interaction with humans they dont breed well. The ones at Woburn have to be put on 'the pill' ;)

Captive wolves in general retain all of their instincts and behave as they would in the wild (towards each other), the main difference being they become less frightened of Man and learn not to regard us as a threat.

Certainly the wolves at the UKWCT earlier in the year were displaying every bit of their wild tendencies as the beta wolf successfully challenged the alpha and over the course of a couple of weeks there was much snarling and growling between the two challengers.

However, when they're not hunting or playing wolves will spend much of their time resting and during the day (when most people visit zoos etc) wolves will usually be relaxing or, if it's not too hot, they might well trot around and watch their visitors. Wolves at Wildwood in Kent generally keep their distance, although if you're patient they'll come up to you eventually. The exceptions are their two hand-raised wolves, who'll come over to greet their visitors in the same way the wolves at the UKWCT often will.

However, such reactions are those they'd display to members of their own pack - not unreasonably, captive wolves treat humans as other wolves (which means if you're working with them you have to be constantly aware they might "test" to see if they can ascend the hierarchy).

For watching (somewhat less socialised) wolves doing their thing, the Kincraig park is one of the best options, but wherever you go the wolves will have at least some acceptance of humans. Watching wild wolves in Yellowstone is generally accepted as the most accessable way of watching wolves in a wild setting - but as mentioned, captive wolves retain their innate behaviour, it takes more than a few handlers to bury millennia of evolution!