A Day Out With the Wolves of Berkshire

The Royal County of Berkshire in the south of England is one of the oldest counties in the country. It is a beautiful part of England blessed with stunning scenery of beautiful woodlands along the River Thames and River Kennet which flow through the county.

Against this idyllic country setting, I embark on a walk on the wild side with one of the most charismatic and controversial predators in the world – the wolf, the largest of the canid family. This majestic creature is both revered and feared in equal measures.

Since the mid 18th century, wolves have been extinct in Britain thanks to hunting and rural or urban development which destroyed their habitat. They are still found in parts of Europe where farmers have put bounties on their heads blaming them for loss of livestocks. Wolves have suffered bad press for centuries often portrayed as cunning and evil in myths and legends.

In reality, wolves are loyal, intelligent and have a sophisticated social structure. In Beenham in Berkshire, the founder of the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, the late Roger Palmer knew this. He first kept a wolf cub as a pet 35 years ago and since then had learned to respect them. In 1995, together with his wife Tsa, they founded the Trust with the aim to “enhance the conservation, scientific knowledge and public awareness of wolves and their habitat; to provide opportunities for the ethological research and for people to interact with wolves; to improve the chances of survival of wolves in the wild and to run education programmes for schools, conservation and other organisations.”

The Trust has grown into a leading organisation supporting projects for wolf conservation throughout Europe and in particular in Russia, Croatia and Bulgaria. Like her late husband, Tsa is passionate about wolf conservation and today she still heads the foundation. The Trust now has three packs of socialised ‘ambassador wolves’ kept in spacious enclosures with underground dens and mounts to simulate their natural environment. Wooden platforms are placed in their compounds to enable them to survey their environment as they would in the wild.

The wolves, three in each enclosure, are housed in packs according to their pedigree : the North American pack- Dakota, Duma and Kodiak (founder wolf of the Trust); the European pack- Alba and his sisters Latea and Lunca, the first European wolves to be raised in the UK in over 500 years and the Juvenile pack siblings Mai and Mosi and Torak, an Anglo-American breed, unashamedly handsome and cool. The ambassador wolves go to shows, schools and colleges on educational outings and at the centre, visitors can enjoy close encounters with the wolves on walks and even howl with them when they become members of the Trust.

On a crisp autumn day, I join a family with two children on a private walk with Duma, an elegant American wolf accompanied by Tsa and the handlers. This walk is especially arranged for one of the little girls who is battling a terminal illness. That afternoon, she is cheerful and enthralled by the charisma of the wolf.

Like in human society, we have to be introduced to Duma first to get accepted in her pack. Toni, our escort, line us up and with our hands clenched into a fist to denote non-aggression, we let Duma sniff us as a way of getting acquainted in wolf speak.

Wolves do not take command the way dogs do. They follow their own instinct and are masters of their own behaviour. To show she is leader of the pack, Duma sets off towards a field with a strong chain leash round her neck with two handlers dragging behind her. It is apparent who is walking whom. She has a mind of her own and she takes her time walking round the field often stopping to scratch the ground or sniffing the air. When Duma is ready to grant us a close encounter, we approach her one by one, still with our hands in a fist, and rub her tummy. Toni warns us not to pet Duma on the head or stroke her upper body as that is a sign of dominance in a pack and could aggravate her. When it is my turn, I stroke her belly, her fur rough to the touch, she turns round and try to touch me with her nose. Close up, I could feel the power and energy that this creature possesses and her amber eyes are mesmerising. When everyone has their turn, Duma decides to move on and we follow her in a pack with her as the Alpha female, leading the way to her enclosure.

After my first encounter with a wolf, I am smitten and I decide to join the Howl Night. The night is cold with the moon in its full glory casting an eerie light on the enclosures making the graceful movement of the wolves more enchanting as they trot around the fence to meet their human pack. Prior to that, we are treated to a talk and video presentation on wolves in the wild displaying their animal magic and giving out a strong message that we have to protect these amazing creatures from extinction.

We gather round near the outer fence of the enclosure and led by the staff of the Trust, we let out a collective howl. It is quite surreal to see a group of adults howling at the wolves. After a few unimpressive howls, the wolves start to respond and howl with us. As if to show us the proper way to howl, Mai and Mosi, the two juvenile wolves, jump onto a wooden platform and let out a long and melodious howl in perfect pitch.

Howling is their way of communicating and to send messages of warning or to alert of their whereabouts in the wild within the pack. They tend to howl in different pitches and the discordant sound often makes it sound like there are more wolves in the pack than there actually are, as a defence mechanism. With their howl still ringing in my ears, I take my leave reluctantly and against the moonlight, Torak the mighty and handsome alpha male, looks hauntingly magical and I begin to understand why the North American Indians believe they belong to the realm of the spirit world. It is pure magic as the packs howl away into the night.

For further detail of the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, email them on ukwct@ukwolf.org.uk or telephone 0118 971 3330 website: www.ukwolf.org

28 October 2008