Daily Guided Tours:
Tuesday through Friday, from 1 to 5 pm, Wolf Park offers guided tours of the facility. These last about an hour and are on a very flexible schedule, usually starting about fifteen minutes after you arrive. These walking tours are about a half mile round trip over gravel, and include our red foxes, New Guinea Singing Dogs, main pack, and "East Lake" retirement section, as well as a good view of the bison pasture. You will get to see all of our animals and get an overview of what Wolf Park does, how we treat our wolves and how wolves behave in the wild, and will have the opportunity to ask questions and take photographs (there will be a chain link fence between you and the animals). Tours are appropriate for all age levels. Those who are unable to walk such long distances or have difficulty with uneven surfaces need only to enquire at the Visitors' Center and other arrangements can be made.
Howl Night:
The gates open at 7:30 for this presentation, which lasts until approximately 9:00. Visitors will be treated to a brief talk about our red foxes, and then will be invited to sit on the bleachers in front of our main pack enclosure, which is about seven acres in size and has between three and ten wolves in it. There are lights on in the enclosure and you will be able to see the animals. There will be a talk about wolf behavior and communication, focusing on the howl, and then a handling demonstration, where some staff will enter the enclosure and interact with the wolves. This will get them up and moving if they were previously napping! Between three and five times during the performance you will be invited to howl, and about ninety-eight percent of the time the wolves will howl back. This program is appropriate for all age levels (children too young to enjoy the talk usually enjoy the howling!) There are no tours of the Park offered during the Howl Night program -- the program occurs only on the bleachers. Visitors wishing to see the rest of the Park are advised to visit during our afternoon open hours from 1 to 5.
Wolf/Bison Demonstration:
On Sunday from 1 to 3 pm Wolf Park has its Wolf/Bison Demonstration, where we release 2-4 wolves in a 17 acre pasture with our herd of healthy American bison. Bison are much larger than wolves and have nothing to fear -- in fact, most demonstrations feature the bison chasing the wolves around in little circles for a while. Both bison and wolves seem to enjoy this demonstration, which we have been doing for over 20 years without incident, and which proves just how hard it is to be a predator in the wild. This program contains no real violence, and the talk is appropriate for all ages. Immediately after the Wolf/Bison demo we have a feeding demonstration and question/answer period. The remainder of the afternoon is devoted to guided tours of the Park. Be sure to bring drinks with you, as the demo is outdoors without shade and it can become very hot. (As always, no food is allowed at Wolf Park.) |
