wolfs in my woods

[lupus]

after a loverly but damp weekend down the woods lightfoot and me went back to the yard where we meet up put our kit away and sat around doing some carving. after a while we noticed a big bus full of people pull up out side the yard. not long after that a van with a big trailer came in to the yard, it had UK wolf conservation trust on the side so we went over to have a chat.they do organized walks with the wolfs round the woods.we asked if we could see them and the people from the wolf trust went one better and said we can do a meet and greet.we signed a waver to say if they eat us its OK then the wolfs were walked right past us. the wolfs did not want to come up to us they were very wherry of us ,i think we must have smelt bad or something.

anyway was nice to see wolfs up close, heres some pics

 

[spamel]

Wow! Nice one! Did you get any closer or did you keep your distance? Truth be known, there are few wolf attacks on fit well humans recorded at all, so as long as you weren't dying and the wolf had eaten some time in the past few days, you would have been safe enough!

 

[robin wood]

I remember reading an excellent Farley Mowat book where he spent 6 months in the arctic living next to a wolfpack and studying them. One lovely story he told was about the day he watched the pack moving through a valley full of migrating cariboo, the cariboo all kept just enough distance to be safe as the wolves moved through but other than that were totally unstressed...just like watching a fox work a field with rabbits in I gues. Anyway when the wolves had passed through Farley who had watched this from a ridge above the valley stood up whereupon the whole cariboo herd stampeded over the far ridge...they knew who was to be feared.

Edit just found this on wikipedia on mowat

Having been trained as a biologist, Mowat took a Canadian government job as biologist in the Arctic. At the time, the government was concerned that the size of caribou herds was shrinking, and they suspected that wolves were eating the caribou, so the best way to protect the caribou would be to kill wolves. Flying into the heart of the wilderness on a small plane, Farley set up an observation camp near a local wolf population. After months of observation, Mowat concluded that, contrary to the ranchers' claims, the wolves mainly ate field mice and only ate old or sick caribou — by killing off the weakest of the caribou, wolves actually strengthened the caribou herd. The trappers in the area were, according to Mowat, using the wolves as scapegoats for the decline of the animals, for which they themselves were responsible; one Inuit trapper, who helped Mowat in his observations, estimated that he personally killed three hundred caribou per year to feed his dogs and himself. Mowat set forth his findings in his 1963 book, Never Cry Wolf, a book which was widely read around the world, and which was one of the major reasons the Soviet Union banned the killing of wolves.

 

[andyn]

Nice one Mark, bet you were over the moon on that one!

 

[DoctorSpoon]

I personally find it fairly disturbing to see a wild animal being treated like a pet, brought out on a chain for publicity purposes. Just where is the 'conservation' in that? I just checked out their web site and their merchandising is rather more to the front than any projects they support

 

[JonnyP]

I personally find it fairly disturbing to see a wild animal being treated like a pet, brought out on a chain for publicity purposes. Just where is the 'conservation' in that? I just checked out their web site and their merchandising is rather more to the front than any projects they support

The conservation is in making people aware, and I bet it works too...The wolf looks fine to me, despite it not liking the smell of Lupus..

 

[spamel]

Robin, check out the film of thre same name, based on the book by farley Mowat. Brian Dennehy (the cop from Rambo) is in it. It's pretty good!

 

[DoctorSpoon]

The conservation is in making people aware, and I bet it works too

Making who aware of what? Showing UK folk that wolves are lovely cuddly creatures will make little difference where the actual problem is; in Croatia/Poland etc where local folk want to shoot them in fear of them attacking their livestock.

Whilst it is worthy of them to raise funds here to support programmes over there, I think they are exploiting wild animals by treating them in that way. Zoos have wised up to this and now raise their animals in naturalistic settings whilst supporting conservation programmes in the animals native countries.

 

[Earlyturtle]

The Mowat book sounds interesting, my dad bought me a wolf book when he was in Canada and it's amazing. It's called The Last Wild Wolves by Ian McAllister and has him following the packs he's been studying in this temperate rainforest on the West coast of Canada. Also talks about a colleague who walks several miles every day through the forest just collecting wolf poo to analyse

 

[Tengu]

These are BRITISH wolves, they live in the city, and have to be trotted out every so often to show them what woods are.

(they probably mistook them for the Eden project...)

(they were probably glad to go home)

Lets face it, a wolf is not a dog. (a creature of lupine descent who long ago decided to parasitise on humans, they are now the dominant life form of the planet)


Im trying to remember what someone said about this Farley Morrat, I think it was something like their experince was limited.

 

[fishy1]

I personally favour the reintroduction of wolves to Scotland, however I don't feel they should be kept on leads. That one particularly looks like some kind of choking collar, I.e when it pulls, it gets strangled.

I'd always thought of wolves being larger than that, they look like a medium sized dog.

 

[Tengu]

Wolves come in all sizes and colours, some are huge animals while others more like jackals.

I dont like this either....would a Zoo treat their animals that way?

 

[abushcrafter]

dose look doggy / / uppy_dog

 

[nicodiemus]

I bloody love wolves. And i bloody hate seeing them chained. Absolutely heart wrenchingly beautiful animals imo.

 

[litefoot]

Despite some of the more cautious comments regarding our meet and greet with the wolves I can only say that it was a totally unexpected but rewarding end to our stay in the woods.I for one was pleased to see them that close for probably the first and last time.
Litefoot.

 

[Tengu]

They should at least have found some wolves that looked like wolves....

I mean, would you have known any different if you wernt TOLD they were wolves??

 

[Kepis]

They should at least have found some wolves that looked like wolves....

I mean, would you have known any different if you wernt TOLD they were wolves??

In a word - Yes

 

[pothunter]

I have very mixed feelings regarding this, In a suitable enclosure and as a pack I love to see them, I have never had the opportunity to see them in the wild.

Handled as domestics means that the animal no longer understands where it belongs in the scheme of things, either in the pack hierarchy or the domesticated world.

Regarding reintroduction into the UK, it aint ever going to happen, you cant have a top flight predator roaming around our little island, they can travel huge distances very quickly and would do without doubt. They would also look upon domesticated animals as little more than a buffet.

Pothunter.

 

[litefoot]

They should at least have found some wolves that looked like wolves....

I mean, would you have known any different if you wernt TOLD they were wolves??

Perhaps a badge would help!
Litefoot.

 

[lupus]

this thread has certainly had a mixed response. i can see both sides of this have equal Merritt.

it dose seem wrong to have a wild animal on a chain, to be walked round for the entertainment and profit of humans. but how many people would give a fort to the wolfs plight in there native habitat if some one did not make them aware by having a thew captive bred animals to show them as the wolf trust do.

a lot of people in this country have never seen a wolf before , all they know are the film stereo types of a large dark beast with big fangs and demon red eyes.

i would love to see wolfs reintroduced to the British country side , it would certainly keep us on our toes when camping out and might stop some of the Pratt's who mess up the woods from going out and ruining our country side.