New wolf platform opens at Wildwood

Wildwood has opened its new wolf viewing platform on Saturday 18th July 2009.

The original platform which was dismantled earlier this year had proved very popular but had come to the end of its useful life.

The ranger team designed and built the new platform, which is bigger and better than it's predecessor. The platform gives visitors a true bird's eye view of the wild pack of Wildwood wolves.

"The rangers have done a great job" commented Chris Towner Head Ranger at Wildwood "it was quite a construction job but I am sure visitors are going to love the view they get of the wolves"

The wild pack of European wolves (once an animal that roamed across the UK before being hunted to extinction) can now be seen flitting through the trees of their enclosure or sitting on the plaforms. If visitors are really lucky they may see and hear them howling.

Wolves are just some of the huge range of British animals that can be seen at the Wildwood Discovery Park near Canterbury. For more information visit our website at http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/ or telephone 0871 7820081.

Wildwood's 'Wildlife Conservation Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury.

Wolf Facts

European Wolves, Canis lupus

Wolves were last seen in Britain in the 1700s, but they had been respected for their intelligence, hunting skills and the strong family bonds within each wolf pack throughout our early history. When Man ceased to be a fellow hunter and wanted to grow crops and keep livestock, his attitude towards the wolf changed and they became enemies. Forests were burned to flush out the wolves, which were persecuted and killed. It has been suggested that wolves might be reintroduced to Scotland to control red deer numbers, although a feasibility study for the island of Rhum was not followed up. Wildwood has a breeding pack and two hand-reared sisters, born in 2000, which are kept separately. The leaders of the pack are a male and female (known as the alpha pair) and these guide the other pack members.

FACTS:

Conservation Status and Distribution: Currently extinct in Britain, wolves are starting to spread westwards in Europe, despite being hunted, and have recently crossed over the Polish border back into Germany.

Vital Statistics:

Preferred habitat: woods, forests, rocky crags and tundra

Favourite food: deer, wild boar, beaver, rabbits, birds, mice, fruit and nuts

Size: 120-200 cm

Weight: 18-50 kg

Average wild life span: up to 15 years

Breeding: only the main (alpha) pair breeds; the rest of the pack helps to raise the litter

Average no. young: 4-6 pups

Fun facts:

• After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Saxon and Norman dead were left on the battlefield for the wolves of the Wealden Forest to scavenge
  
• Mary, Queen of Scots, was the last British monarch to go on a wolf hunt
  
• The last British wolf was killed in Scotland in 1743 and wolves were eradicated from Eire shortly afterwards
  
• In parts of China, villagers still bang cooking pans during a lunar eclipse to stop the giant wolf of heaven from swallowing the sun

Folklore:

• Some Scottish and Irish families are descended from wolves and can still change back when they feel like it
  
• Wolves' eyes glow in the dark
  
• Wolves protect the paths of the dead and see travellers safely home
  
• Wolf teeth rubbed on the gums cures toothache
  
• The Vikings believed a giant wolf called Fenris would swallow the sun and bring about the end of the rule of the gods, so they chained him to the earth with a magical thread made of secret ingredients, including the breath of a fish and the footfall of cat. But on the day of doom, he broke free and rushed across the sky to capture the sun in his huge jaws. Just as they snapped shut however, the sun gave birth to a shining daughter who slipped between his teeth, soared high out of reach and still provides light today for the world of men.

Wolf howling photo by Les Willis