Treskift / whatever

All you Swedes probably know of the wolf keeper that was killed yesterday at Kolmården Zoo by one of the packs. It’s on the news everywhere. A quick recap for non-Swedes.

In April I was at Kolmården. I met that pack.
I look at the photos I took that day and I feel slightly sick.
I love wolves, I really do, and I think it’s an amazing thing that I’ve been able be in close contact with them twice. I’m having some conflicting feelings, because it’s not safe. It’s safer to meet a wild wolf in the woods than in a holding pen. It’s when wolves get so used to humans that they see them as a part of their pack these things happen. Because turning on one individual and physically bullying them is normal wolf pack behaviour. But a human can’t take the same amount of pounding without being seriously hurt, and in this case killed.

It’s terribly tragic and I feel sick.
I hope this doesn’t lead to a new debate about the wild wolves in Sweden, because I’m in no mood to rage over trigger happy hunters.

Was indeed awesome. I have for the second time in my life had a wild animal weighing more than myself in my lap. IN MY LAP. Ah well, I was sitting down scratching one wolf on the tummy while another thought that wolf number one was getting way too much attention. Biting and jumping on him was the consequences, which left me almost on my back. It was quite nice, although I did get some small scratches on my camera^^ But hey, who doesn’t wanna brag about having your camera scratched by a wolf? (or two in this case)

In the enclosure we were at this time there was eight male wolves, all three years old. Practically enough they were all named Wolf, but in different languages!
There was a few of them that really stood out, and therefore I remember their names!

There was Úlfur, who was pack leader and I have to say he was very democratic! He was nice and playful with the others and cut them an awful lot of slack XD But the keepers told us that he really could step in and show who’s boss if it would be needed!

And then there was Farkas, who I would call the class clown. Whenever something was happening, he was there, jumping and taking up as much space as possible. He was also the one who on more than one occasion ended up in my lap ;D
I always kept track on him because he was easy to spot! He had a small black dot on his forehead and very light yellow eyes, almost creamy!

There was also Vilkas (I think) who was reddish yellow! Very pretty thing, but I didn’t have the chance to get as many photos of him. I have one which I will upload here later with lots of motion blur XD

And the only wolf I didn’t see up close was Lobo,who was lowest in rank. He wasn’t even allowed to come down and greet us :<
Always lurking around in the outskirts.

And of course there was four more, who I don’t remember the names of, but they were nice as well^^

My godfather is awesome!
When I was 15 he took me to meet the wolves at Kolmården and it was the coolest thing ever. And now for my 20th birthday he basically got me the same thing. This spring I’m going to Kolmården to meet these guys again ♥
Because who wouldn’t want a 50 kilo predator licking your face?





This last one came up to me as we were getting ready to leave, and just put his paw on my knee and wouldn’t move! I think he liked me~
And look how little I was in 2007 ;w;
I could just keep spammin you with pictures of me and the wolves, but I might just do that when I’ve got some new ones in April *w* ♥

Btw, wolves have really bad breath.