European wolves in the UK

Vulpes

Vulpes

Well-Known Member
are there many left? why are there so few?Edinburgh and HWP have groups, i know combe martin and longleat are listed on zootierliste but I didnt realise they kept two groups at longleat or are they mixed with their timber wolves? do Wildwood trust in kent still keep wolves? how many of the wolf interaction places keep European wolves?
 
Cat-Man said:
wildwoods kept them last year, whipsnade have european wolves
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Whipsnade label their wolves as European but I'm pretty sure they're hybrids.
 
Wildwoods come from the Wolf Conservation Trust, where they first bred in 1998. The trust retained some of the cubs I think.

Wolves - UK Wolf Conservation Trust

Also, Paradise Wildlife Park have European Wolves.
Where did the ones go that were housed at the Norfolk Wildlife Centre until recently? They originated from Wildwood.

According to ISIS, an impressive 3.6 Iberian wolves are found at Howletts. What happened to the pair at Colchester?

I would be surprised if more aren't held in private hands or by wolf experience companies.
 
johnstoni said:
Wildwoods come from the Wolf Conservation Trust, where they first bred in 1998. The trust retained some of the cubs I think.
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Where is Wildwoods, and where is the Wolf Conservation Trust ?(their website seems to give no idea of their location).

Howletts Iberian Wolves have reared two litters so far I think. However they are very shy and pretty difficult to see(my experience anyway:( )
 
Maguari said:
Whipsnade label their wolves as European but I'm pretty sure they're hybrids.
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I was at a loose end last night and decided to browse through my zoo book collection. Happened to pick up "whipsnade zoo and its inhabitants" published in 1932, a year or so after the zoo opened. I know at the time that the European wolf and the Timber/Grey Wolf were mixed in the same exhibit and stated that two litters had been born that year but that one litter had been killed because of dominance. I seem to remember being told that at some stage over they years that the wolf pack had been replaced because of the hybridisation and that the wolves were pure European stock. I normally try to stick to posting what I know to be fact on this forum and I cant remember my source for this information, or remember any details, like where the pure Europeans were sourced from, so it was stored in my mind as purely speculation, which it probably is. Does anyone else have any more detailed information?
 
zebedee101 said:
I seem to remember being told that at some stage over they years that the wolf pack had been replaced because of the hybridisation and that the wolves were pure European stock.
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I always presumed the wolves in the old 'wolf Wood'(now Tigers) were north American and a p/c of them I have labels them as 'Canadian Timber Wolves(of course that caption may not be correct anyway)

I also assumed their existing pack was transferred to the current Wolf enclosure but perhaps not. So I too wonder when Whipsnade's wolves became 'European' and whether they are of genuine pure stock or not.
 
I remember that not long before the wolf wood was redeveloped for tigers there was a tree came down allowing part of the wolf pack to escape. As Whipsnade is organised along the lines of geographic taxa, especially in terms of keeping staff, it would seem as a good a time as any to change stock to pure european stock. It would also seem a good timeline in terms of improved zoo management when breeding from hybridised animals became unacceptable. I'm guessing the move took place towards the end of the 1980s? I'm at work so cant look at my guidebook maps of which I think I have a pretty complete set.
 
zebedee101 said:
It would also seem a good timeline in terms of improved zoo management when breeding from hybridised animals became unacceptable. I'm guessing the move took place towards the end of the 1980s?
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Were the wolves from London Zoo involved at all? Most 'unwanted' species from London transfer to Whipsnade, but I've no idea if the ZSL ones were offshoots from Whipsnade's Pack originally.

I remember a wolf escape at Whipsnade but thought they dug their way out.

If they are genuine Europeans, it would be interesting to know where the current group originated.
 
Pertinax said:
I always presumed the wolves in the old 'wolf Wood'(now Tigers) were north American and a p/c of them I have labels them as 'Canadian Timber Wolves(of course that caption may not be correct anyway)

I also assumed their existing pack was transferred to the current Wolf enclosure but perhaps not. So I too wonder when Whipsnade's wolves became 'European' and whether they are of genuine pure stock or not.
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I have an old London zoo book which states the first wolf puppies at Whipsnade came from Canada as puppies :)

Years ago they had a sign on the exhibit stating "Canadian Timber Wolfs"
 
MARK said:
I have an old London zoo book which states the first wolf puppies at Whipsnade came from Canada as puppies :)
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So its agreed their original stock were obviously Canadian/North american.
What we need to know now is whether there was a 'break' in wolf keeping at Whipsnade around the time the new enclosure was done, and were fresh Wolves involved.

Maybe Tim May can help here?
 
Pertinax said:
So its agreed their original stock were obviously Canadian/North american.
What we need to know now is whether there was a 'break' in wolf keeping at Whipsnade around the time the new enclosure was done, and were fresh Wolves involved.

Maybe Tim May can help here?
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I have a couple of books about Whipsnade written in 1932 and 1934 as well as the guide books for this era. They had both European and timber wolves in the same enclosure (to the right of the entrance gate where the cheetahs have just vacated and behind the brown bear exhibit) in a pine and oak forest. The timber wolves were described as bigger, darker and fiercer than there European cousins. The wolf wood then moved to where the tiger exhibit is currently (mixed and/or hybridised) and then to its current exhibit, where they are exhibited as European wolves. The London zoo wolves were a seperate entity. They announced publically when the London wolf exhibit was closing that the wolves would be transferred to Whipsnade. There was no way of socialising a pair of elderly wolves into the existing pack and what happened to them remains a zoo mystery. Incidently, in 1934 the bear exhibit seemed to have a mixture of Brown bear (russian and grizzly) and himalayan and north american black bear
 
zebedee101 said:
The timber wolves were described as bigger, darker and fiercer than there European cousins. The wolf wood then moved to where the tiger exhibit is currently (mixed and/or hybridised) and then to its current exhibit, where they are exhibited as European wolves.
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If the same wolves were moved from the Wolf Wood, they can't be pure European then- maybe it was done for the geographic exhibit considerations.
 
Pertinax said:
If the same wolves were moved from the Wolf Wood, they can't be pure European then- maybe it was done for the geographic exhibit considerations.
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This was my understanding of what had happened.
 
This is really interesting, has anyone got a picture of the current wolves at whipsnade? perhaps we could have a guess by looking at them. Timber wolves are quite distinct from Europeans.

Do Wildwood still keep wolves? they dont mention them on their website anymore! Are paradise wildlife park breeding their wolves?
 
Most of the land covered by the old Wolf Wood was used for the anteater and rhea enclosures when Web Of Life (now B.U.G.S) around 2000. Only 1.1 were held pretty much ever since the near closure in 1990. They must have been quite old by the time they left, or had maybe died? The second, smaller enclosure was retained for a pair of Maned Wolves, which were kept until around 2005/2006, when Meet The Monkeys was developed over the remaining section of wolf wood.
 
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