Wolf encounters in Kolmården – an emotional approach to education
Kolmården Wildlife Park offers visitors a unique opportunity to become close and personal with wolves. Today over 15 years since the programme was initiated, an increasing number of people eagerly enters the wolf enclosures, on a daily basis, for a memorable and educating experience.
Currently, there are three wolf packs of different ages in Kolmården with a total of 15 animals. The wolves have been hand-reared and socialized from a few days of age in order to avoid early parental imprinting. All individuals to be used for this interactive purpose have been selected by analysing the studbook for north European wolves for genotypes of lesser importance. From a conservation breeding perspective these particular wolves represent a surplus and, hence, the programme does not compete with the zoo communities’ efforts to establish and maintain a viable ex situ population. In Kolmården socialized wolves are not allowed to form alpha pairs and breed, as reproductive events are known to cause aggressive behaviours towards humans. The wolves are by no means trained, as the goal is to maximize and display their repertoire of natural social behaviours apart from reproduction..
Each wolf encounter has a maximum of 15 people and lasts for about one hour. The group is guided by an experienced animal keeper. After an intense and emotional greeting ceremony (strictly on the wolves’ conditions!) the guide communicates ethology, ecology and, needless to say, is prepared to discuss wolf conflicts in the Swedish society. The second part of the encounter typically consists of the fascinated group of visitors studying and interpreting behaviours and dynamics of the pack, and over time one may assume that the effect will be more interest in and discussion around this intriguing animal with an accompanying motivation to ensure the protection of wolves - and even more importantly - their habitats in the future.
