The new wolf experience!

On Saturday the 7th of September I was fortunate enough to be used as a guinea pig for the latest animal experience at Paradise Wildlife Park, the Meet the Wolves Experience.

It was odd coming into work in civvies, pretending to be a general customer. I had to get my head in the mindset of what it would feel like to be there for the first time. Strange.

We had to be there at 8:30 as it's an early start to get the best interaction with the wolves. Pia and Ricky came to meet us from the Discovery Centre and we were taken to the meat room to prepare the food. From the off, both Pia and Ricky were telling us lots of interesting facts about the wolves, and this continued throughout. This really gave the experience an extra level of depth.

Following the meat room, we walked over to the older two female wolves, Misha and Tatra. I hadn't realised before that they were a year apart, and Tatra had been raised alongside an Alsatian, which meant she had a lot calmer, more people friendly personality than her sister Misha.


After meeting the two girls through the mesh, we then headed over to the brand new enclosure in the woods to meet the other three wolves, Romulus, Inga and Anya. These youngsters have been with us for around a year and they arrived at six weeks old. Despite that seeming young, it's actually very late to start socialising them with people. so the keepers spent an incredible 7 months with them 24 hours a day, sleeping with them in their house and everything. Only a few people were chosen to be in their 'pack'. And the wolves still have a very strong connection with that group.

The new enclosure has been fraught with problems during the construction, but I'm pleased to say it's been worth the wait. The behaviour of the wolves changed dramatically when they were released into their new home, and they seem very happy, calm and relaxed.

Unlike with the girls, it's possible for the public to go in with the youngsters. Largely thanks to the hard work the keepers put in with them in the early days. Despite the reassurances of safety, it's an exhilarating experience as you're always fully aware that you're in free contact with wild animals. We filed into the main enclosure, one by one, through the metal 'airlock' system and then sat on the bench just inside. The wolves came straight up to us and immediately began sniffing us to see what the hell we were. We'd been advised not to wear perfume or aftershave, as these strong smells can lead to them being over-interested in us. Which in turn would lead to the experience coming to an abrupt end.

But all was fine and the wolves spent quite a lot of time with us being very interested and attentive. They're really nice to just hang out with. But after a while, they did lose interest and retreated to the back of the enclosure.

This was our cue to leave the enclosure and to circle round to the outside. The best was yet to come, as we were now able to hand feed the wolves through the mesh. For obvious reasons, it's not a good idea to do this in free contact. And it definitely allowed me to enjoy the experience more, safe that in this 'feeding mode' we were protected. That said, the wolves were incredibly gentle when feeding them, and they were careful not to bite our fingers. We fed them a mixture of horse meat and their favourite, sardines. Strangely, from time to time, the wolves would reject a piece of meat for no obvious reason. Often, one of the siblings would happily take the same piece. After the feed was finished, they ran around their enclosure in an excited fashion, raising their tails. This is brilliant natural behavior and shows how happy and settled the pack is.

Overall, a brilliant experience and I highly recommend it to anyone, Wolf lover or not. This educational, exciting and enjoyable experience will be one you remember forever. The experience will soon be available to book at http://www.pwpark.com

If you want to see what's going on in the wolf enclosure LIVE, then follow this link from our good friends at Deckchair.com. Webcams done properly. http://www.deckchair.com/cameras/15

My blog by Alex Smale

Location:Paradise Wildlife Park