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| Fellowship Day 3 |
In with the Wolves!
Saturday consisted of four seminars and an hour or more's visit with the wolves. But before that we has the opportunity to tour the park and observe the wolves and coyotes first thing in the morning with Pat Goodman. She is incredibly knowledgeable about each of the wolves - in fact she's been with the park since its beginnings in 1972.
The early morning tour with Pat Goodman and others from the seminar.
Miska and Marion, wolves from another pack, come and greet us.
The seminars have been fantastic, Ken McCort's approach is very scientific and no nonsense, which is very refreshing, and he enjoys regaling us with his anecdotes about his encounter with animals, human and other wise. There is so much to take in, that my head was spinning by the end of the day. He is very hot on debunking the dominance myth and looking at behaviour from the animals point of view. He's been in the business for nearly thirty years and his wife, Marilyn, who also joined us, is a veterinarian.
Tristan, the gentle and benevolent alpha male of the main pack.
The highlight of the day was of course, getting the opportunity to meet the wolves and spend time inside their 6-acre enclosure. Tristan the alpha male is very reserved and tends to be more careful than the others about whom he bestows his affections on. Kailani, the alpha female, is the exact opposite and like to find out where and how people squeak! I might add that she's alpha female only because there are no other females in the pack.
Greeting the main pack.
The other 4 members of the pack consist of Reudi and Renki, litter mates from 2004, and Wolfgang and Wotan, litter mates from 2005. Renki is another wolf who likes to squeak people, and Wotan and Wolfgang regularly have to remind him about his manners in public. Reudi, however, has the sweetest temperament of all the pack and he is very gentle with all the visitors.
Wotan: one of the males from the 2005 litter
Wolfgang reminding Renki to watch his manners with us!
A happy wolf.
And finally, a photo of me with the wolves! Courtesy of Carolyn Andrejcek.