MUZZLE TO MUZZLE II

On the 6th June 1998 it was time for a long overdue visit to see Kodiak and Kenai again. I was looking forward to the visit since the UKWCT had gained some new wolves since my last visit. The first group were three European wolves, a male from Germany called Apollo and two females from Romania called Athena and Luna, who were brought from a wolf sanctuary in Holland in February. They were about 10 months old at the time. The other group of new wolves was pair of female timberwolf cubs who were only three weeks old and as yet unnamed. It seemed unlikely that we'd be able to see them since they were so young.

First off we walked the two timberwolves Kodiak and Kenai, who I saw during the last visit. Kenai was her normal relaxed self, but Kodiak was a little testy. He likes to see who he can intimidate by growling at them. If you back away then Kodiak knows that you're scared and will have nothing to do with you. But if you hold your ground or carry on with your approach, then Kodiak will back down and feel fine about you. The only thing to watch out for is the tail. If the tail is down and he growls, then you're perfectly safe. If the tail is up however, then backing away is recommended. Kodiak growled as I approached but his tail remained down so I continued my approach and gave him a good scritch which he enjoyed immensely. The wolves were blowing the last of their winter coats, so they were eager for any scritching available!) But I can tell you now, it's very hard not to flinch when an adult wolf growls at you!

Following the walk with Kodiak and Kenai we went to see the new European wolves in their pen. They're still not humanized so they kept their distance from everyone, but we managed to get a reasonable look at them. Someone mentioned that they looked like foxes, though I think that's just down to them being small and reddish brown in colour. The should look more splendid once they grow their winter coats.

Finally came the wolf cubs. I thought that we wouldn't get to see them since they were only three and a half weeks old. But I was mistaken, Roger wanted to introduce the cubs to everyone to help socialize the cubs, so that they grew up feeling safe around humans. They were so unbelievably cute! One was later named Duma, and the other Dakota.

There were various oddities about wolf cubs. The first was that their ears stick straight up from a very early age. Normal dog pups have floppy ears for quite a while. Secondly, wolf cubs start off with the most vivid blue eyes you've ever seen. They are extremely beautiful. It's only as they grow older when they start to turn towards the more familiar yellow or brown colour.

As always my thanks go to Roger Palmer and Colin Thorne for allowing everyone to interact with the wolves, especially the wolf cubs. Thanks too to Megadog and Shiraa who were there with me for the visit.

One of the cubs starts yawning on Shiraa's lap.

Both cubs find great interest in the two-legged things.

After a feed, one of the cubs falls asleep.