A little walk

I went on a walk yesterday, nothing big, just for an hour or so, around a field. Mum and dad and my sister came with, but sadly my brother couldn't, as he had school. There were a score or so of other people there too, and most importantly, there was Mai and her sister (who's name's just slipped my mind). What's so special about them, you may ask? Well, the answer to that's quite simple, really. Mai and her sister (who's name also starts with an M, and then a vowel) are wolves.

That's right, folks. Yesterday I went to the UK Wolf Conservation Trust near Beenham, in Berkshire (it's near Reading). How to put it into words...? Amazing, for one. Walking along with two wolves (both on a chain held by two people, but still)...if you know me well, you know of my facination with wolves. So to me, it was truly stunning to, at the beginning, line up with the rest of the adults, and be sniffed by the wolves. If you know me at all, you will also know of my deep-seated distrust of dogs. It's not exactly a fear, more of a... cautiousness. As a result of this, I did not go up to the wolves later to stroke them but still, it was plenty worth it.

The two that we went on a walk with share a very large enclosure with their brother, Torak. He missed them while they were gone, and so occasionally we would hear him howling after us. There are three other wolves, two sisters from Europe (ours were Canadian) and one other, American, wolf. Sadly, this one (her name was Duma)'s brother recently passed away. The handlers believe he was playing with his sister in the enclosure, and whilst running at about 30mph (the maximum a wolf can run) he crashed into a tree, and broke his neck. This was four years ago, but it hurt him badly, and his hind legs eventually stopped working, so he had to be put down.

We also tried to visit my great-uncle Wolfgang (also known as uncle Wolf) as we believed this to be rather appropriate. Unfortunately, he had not yet returned from visiting my mum's sister and her family up in the north of Scotland. Ah well, better luck next time, eh?