Wolves are by nature a timid, nervous animal. It is said by Native American Indians that if you see a wolf once it has seen you a thousand times. All the fairy tales and legends are misleading. They are incredibly clever, very resourceful and the ultimate team player.

Being socialised means the wolves have been raised with humans. Don't mistake the word socialised for domesticated or tame. The wolves at the Trust are wild animals that have learned to trust and tolerate the presence of humans as long as the humans obey the rules. Our wolves interact with many different people from children to adults. They walk with members of the UKWCT in the woods and attend many shows and schools each year. In return, when they are not being ambassadors for their wild cousins, helping to raise awareness and funds for projects in Europe, they live in large enriched enclosures back at our base near Reading in Berkshire. We feel it is a big responsibility looking after captive animals and ensure that their health and welfare is paramount. This means they get the best care we can provide them and when not working they live in an environment which is the closest to their natural habitat as possible. Some of us at the Trust have had the privilege to observe wild wolves and our 7 socialised wolves show the same characteristics and routines as the wild ones, often playing tag with each other at dawn and dusk and displaying hunting skills and strategies toward any pheasants or small rodents who are unfortunate enough to stray into their enclosure.

So where does TTouch come in to all this? The wolves display no behavioural problems, they don't suffer from many illnesses or injuries and they don't need their performance enhanced. They do however react very instinctively, at times they can be shy or nervous in new situations or to some stimuli. TTouch is a tool at help them act beyond instinct. It can calm, reassure and help them to cope with the limited demands we put them under. 

For example we often do meet and greets. This is where a member of the public can, (if the wolf is willing), stroke them. This is controlled by the wolf handler and assistant handler. Occasionally someone doesn't listen to our instruction and touches the wolf in a dominating manner, this can unsettle the wolf and make it nervous and unwilling to be touched again by anyone it doesn't know or trust. In these situations I have used TTouch to help calm and reassure them. Once settled they generally allow other people to come and meet them. This is also true of objects in the environment which might spook them. One wolf is fearful of hot air balloons and all are suspicious of anything new around the farm or building and maintenance work being carried out. By using the TTouches I've managed to stop them bolting or been able to calm them enough to walk past a scary object without using force.

Wolves are a very hardy species. The injuries and illnesses they sustain often tend to be minor and usually heal on their own without intervention from humans.

A wound or injury that looks very serious to us will often heal with in days. Where possible we let nature do its job and only step in if the situation looks to be getting worse. Treating a wild animal, even a socialised one is never easy. They revert to instinct and can often guard an area of pain. At the UKWTC we have an experienced Wolf Welfare Officer whose job it is to ensure the wolves are happy and healthy. It's his job to make decisions and liase with vets etc. Ultimately it's the welfare officer who will go in to treat the wolf. Over the last 3 years I have helped him apply medications and devise ways of getting wolves to take meds orally. We have found that a calm, efficient approach that includes TTouches works the best. The wolf is less stressed and we can always reapply the medication the next time we come to do it - a good test of how the animal felt about the experience.

Having captive animals is never ideal. In a perfect world all wild animals would be free to live their lives as nature intended. If we do have the responsibility of caring for captive animals I feel it is our duty to make their life as enriched and as stress free as possible. We have so much to learn from them and if I can give back a little of what I get from these beautiful creatures then I will. Tellington TTouch seems a great way to do that. I enjoy working with the wolves and they seem to love it too!

For more information about the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, please visit their *website.

*TTouch UK is not responsible for the content of external websites

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