My birthday is in December, a rubbish time to have a birthday as it can get swallowed up by Christmas. Plus people have to think about getting you two presents, which can prove difficult. But last birthday Mr.B managed to give me one of the best presents ever - a day behind the scenes at the UK Wolf Conservancy. The only trouble was, I had to wait until May! But it was so worth it!
We got a tour of the place, all round the perimeter of the enclosures whilst having a very interesting talk by one of the volunteers. The Arctic wolves were shedding - I got given a clump of this wolf's hair which is now a prized possession.
We got to have a go at telemetry, finding a radio collar in a large field. We made enrichment 'toys' from scented straw & hessian sacks and gave them to the wolves. We got to take photos through special holes in the wire that the general public do not have access to. And we got to hand feed the wolves! I volunteered to feed Nuka, the wolf I spent many hours painting a portrait of earlier this year.
It was a very special moment for me.
Sadly, this was probably the last time we will be visiting the wolves. Since the escape of Torak, one of the older wolves, in the winter, the place has become too popular for it's own good and cannot handle the amount of visitors that turn up. That, combined with the fact that the wolves are now getting quite old, they have decided to shut the doors to the public and give the wolves a peaceful retirement. They will still continue their very worthy work towards conservation of wolves in the wild.
I'm just so happy we managed to get to see them close up and personal while we could.
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