WOW - what a day... beautiful sunshine and warm with only a few spots of rain, which were a welcome cool off.

I spent the first part of the morning cutting back trees and hedges ready for putting up yet more fencing - this time round the perimeter of the Wolf Trust to just make it that little bit more secure.

After that we spent a little time with Duma and Dakota. When lunchtime approached some people went off to the pub and the rest of us got to go in with Duma and Dakota again as Wendy, being an Assistant Senior Handler (ASH), very kindly offered to stay and supervise. This is when I took the following photo's.

Here we have newbie volunteer Darren getting to come into the enclosure for the first time. This is always a nervous but very memorable time... it was a good day for doing it. As the day was very warm the girls were quite relaxed. During cooler periods they are often a lot more 'bouncy'. You can see that Darren is staying standing - this is VERY important when you first meet the wolves so that you can maintain a perceived position of dominance. It is also harder to get knocked over (in theory, at least). You can see though how D & D really want to get to his face to be able to 'taste' his scent - they never stop wanting to do this as it is a communal thing. It is not a bad experience unless they have just been eating paunch (sheep's stomach) in which case it is a little foul smelling.
In the enclosure are (from left to right) Angela, Wendy, Darren, Cami, Sean and Paul Webb (Also pictured below)
As you can see once the girls have welcomed you in, they are happy to kick back and relax!
and relax some more...
	Whilst most people were busy crowding around Duma I spent time lying with Dakota trying to get some nice photos. I did have a little concern about the safety of my camera, but I had taken off the carrying strap to make it less attractive. The last few photos, especially the eye close up were taken from around 6 inches away from her. If she had wanted to grab the camera there would have been nothing I could have done!

Next it was time for the girls to go off for a walk in the woods with the members and whilst they did that Angela, Caroline, Cami and I got on with some work in their enclosure. We are in the process of putting up fencing around their mound so that it can be used for doing photo shoots. We do have an old photo mound but it is behind the Palmer house so it is an invasion into their garden to use it.

The new photo area is going to be a larger and you will be able to get around to all sides of the mound giving. So far we have put in about two thirds of the posts that we need for supporting the fencing. The fence is going to be about 8 feet tall, but have a large mesh so you can take photos through it easily. Currently the first scheduled use we have for it is the 18th July when a private photo group are visiting.

All content on this site is ©Dominic Earl