The Wolfman

[Kymba]

Channel 5 friday 18th may at 8.00pm.
Shaun Ellis (42)has spent the last two years living as a Wolf.. Shaun ended up sharing their enclosure at a devon Wildlife park ( doesn't say which one, but the Only one I can think of is Sparkwell On Dartmoor) he adopts their behaviour and diets, he rears three pups and adopts the Role of Alpha male.
Should be interesting..

[JeffH]

That sounds like a 'must watch' Kymba - thanks for advance notice.

Jeff

PS I hope Shaun's alright nooooooooowww

[agrumpycow]

Sounds good, hopefully it will answer the question 'Why?'!!
I'm all for getting close to nature but........!
Looking forward to watching it

[SparklySarah]

Sounds really good, but we've got such bad reception on Channel 5 it looks like every programme on it is in a snow storm! A shame, because there is some really good stuff on there sometimes! Oh well, can't have it all can we.

Sarah

[demicav]

Sounds a little weird but very interesting at the same time. I will definately watch it. Thanks for letting us all know.

[eeyore]

Ive got his book "the wolf talk" which is very informative and a must read for those interested in wolfies - it does however also reveal that he is not quite the full picnic - for instance the bit where when the female wolf dies he feels an unstoppable compulsion to "howl for his alpha"

btw you are correct about the location tho he also spent quite a bit of time at longleat and in north america studying wolves in the wild

[Kymba]

It does say he's barking Mad and suffered many injuries while establishing himself as pack leader.. It also drove his wife and children away... he rckons he would do it again though!!!! takes all sorts to make a world go round dont it

Cheers for confirming its sparkwell pete.. Its an awful wildlife park, was always getting reported for to small and poor conditions animals are kept in.. Went there twice then refused to put money in owners pockets for animals to be treated so cruely

[eeyore]

among other pecadilloes he belives firmly in american indian teachings and actually belives that his spirit shape shifts to "inhabit the wolf"

however he has done a lot of good pioneering work managing pack dynamics with sound recordings to defuse conflict (particularly at longleat) its a great shape that HWP did not recourse to him before they opted to slaughter their wolf pack last year.

btw if you do want to see wolves in captivity one of the best collections is woburn - they have black bears in the same enclosure which makes for interesting interaction and a photographic bonanza

[Kymba]

Wheres Woburn???
Wildwood has wolves to

[eeyore]

woburn abbey safari park - suprisingly in woburn - its in bedfordshire near Milton keynes / leighton buzzard.

The best venue for close ups is the UK wolftrust near reading but they dont have enough wolves to display pack dynamics.

Longleat is another good one , while whipsnade has great enclosures for wolfies but is poor from a viewing photography point of view.