Meeting the Wolves
Gaby Dufresne-Cyr’s Dogue Shop and the Park Safari African zoological establishment combined forces and hosted the first Howling with the Wolves interaction seminar. The event drew a record number of participants from all over the world. A few wolf fanciers came from British-Columbia, Ohio, and Switzerland.
The day long wolf seminar started in mid-afternoon. Participants gathered in from of the arctic wolf enclosure to hear a short lecture about Canis lupus. Dispelling myths from reality was the main focus of the discussion. Next on participant’s agenda was the wolf interaction and language presentation. During this multimedia lecture, visitors learned to recognise Canis lupus and Canis familiaris’ physical and emotional language. Following the presentation, wolf fanciers had dinner with Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, the animal behaviour specialist, and continued discussing wolves, coyotes, dogs, felines, and other exotic animals. The atmosphere was casual and amicable.
After a relaxing and funny dinner, seminarians were brought to the wolf enclosure and were divided into smaller groups. Each group entered the enclosure and spent some time with the Park’s staff, specialist and resident wolves. Wolves were free to decide who they wanted to interact; consequently, a few select participants were kissed by the wolf puppy or fed the adult wolf. The wolf-dog hybrid hogged the scene and visited every person. No one was to leave without saying hello, at least not according to Meeka! The encounter was a wonderful learning experience for both animal and human.
After the Park closed, guests got a chance to howl with the wolves; unfortunately, the savvy canines had other things on their agenda. In the back ground, the buzz of enchanted people was noticeable. Gaby’s clients learned many important lessons during this unique event. First, wolves are the gentlemen of the Canis species and dogs are the bums. Secondly, wolves do not always howl at the moon. Thirdly, lions roar when people howl. Finally, when entering a wolf enclosure, the creature one should fear the most is Culiseta longiareolata or the common mosquito.