[Doug Roberts]

Just got home from a trip to Wolf Park, near Lafayette, IN. It was "Howl Night". Got to see and hear a pack of 8 wolves howling in response to several more that were on the opposite side of a 4 acre lake. These wolves are tame enough that staff walked freely among them but they responded to the distant howling and would answer howls from the 30 or so people who attended. Lasted a little over an hour. It's an incredible sound! I'll go back and take grandkids.

 

[10MMGary]

Doug are these wild free range wolves or part of some type of wolf sanctuary? Regardless it sounds like it would be something I would like to experience.

 

[Kyle]

They do sound neat, unless you hear them in your deer/elk/moose hunting area.

 

[Doug Roberts]

Sanctuary

Doug are these wild free range wolves or part of some type of wolf sanctuary? Regardless it sounds like it would be something I would like to experience.

I don't think there are many, if any, free range wolves left in Indiana. These wolves are in a sanctuary. The ones we actually saw howling are in a 7 acre high-fenced area with a 4 acre lake in the middle. They told us the wolves we heard from the far side of the lake are older wolves who have been removed from the pack for various reasons and can't be safely reintroduced. The place is called Wolf Park (http://www.wolfpark.org) and also has a few foxes, some coyotes, and a herd of bison. This time of year they are only open on Saturday nights but I'm told mating season is approaching and the pack will get increasingly more active and individuals will get more aggressive. We'll be going back in a couple of weeks.

Doug

 

[contender]

Doug
I live about 35 miles east of W P I have gone there many times. It is special when they have a howl night close to Halloween . Did they have the man that started WP come in with is family dog have it bark and start the chain of the wolves howling ?

 

[Doug Roberts]

No

Doug
I live about 35 miles east of W P I have gone there many times. It is special when they have a howl night close to Halloween . Did they have the man that started WP come in with is family dog have it bark and start the chain of the wolves howling ?

There were several dogs barking around the area but none of them seemed to have any purpose other than those known only to them. The staff in the pen were 2 guys, one of whom was video-taping, and a lady who did most of the narration and led the human howling. She was good! Told us that a particular type of howl would rally the wolves and cause them to all howl together. When she did that particular howl, wolves we hadn't seen ran to where the others were and began to howl. The third person was a guy who spoke about operation of the park. Both of them spoke about the Dr who started the place.

Are there any good restaurants right there around Battle Ground?

Thanks