White Dog Fund Day 2 by Penny Whatley

Tony and I travelled to Reading on the Monday and were met by Richard Morley of the Wolves and Humans Foundation and Robin Rigg, a biologist from the Slovak Wildlife Society. Robin has spent the past fifteen years living in Slovakia travelling around the country trying to educate farmers and shepherds in the use of electric fencing, Fladry and livestock guardian dogs to protect their livestock and ultimately protect the wolf by using these methods.

Richard told me the dogs could run free in the field as long as they didn't go through the gate, I knew they'd stay fairly close to us in a strange environment so allowed the dogs off their leads. The aim was for the public to come onto the field and see for themselves how the dogs react to the approach of strangers and hopefully, seeing the important work livestock guardian dogs do, donate to the cause.

The first person to come through the gate was a photographer from the Reading Evening Post, Peter Bloodworth. The dogs spotted him immediately and charged up barking, stopping about six to eight feet away, decided he didn't pose a threat and came back to us. When Peter reached us his comment was, "Gosh, that was impressive".

He spent some time photographing the dogs and talking to Richard and Robin about their work so that an article could appear in his paper. Every time a member of the public arrived, the dogs would react by racing over to investigate, checking the situation out, then feeing satisfied all was well, come back to us (I believe the staff at the Trust warned people what would happen so that no-one felt threatened).

It has to be said that Haze, who is getting on for eleven years old, began to see the futility of doing this every time when Guido and Indi were quite prepared to do the investigating, her attitude was one of "Why have dogs and bark yourself?"

All members of the public were very impressed at how the dogs reacted and for us it was lovely being able to allow them to behave in a manner that was so natural for them. Once the dogs accepted someone, they were more than happy to be fussed even though they retained that slight aloofness.

One of the volunteers told Tony later that whenever the dogs barked, the wolves would become quite agitated. They didn't actually see each other but it might have been quite interesting to see the reaction of each had they done so.

Later, we were shown around the wolf enclosures. I hate to see wild animals in captivity but it must be said that these wolves are very well cared for and their enclosures are at least two to three acres with plenty of trees and shrubbery. They are swapped around from time to time to increase their interest and prevent boredom. We felt it was a very professional set up and the volunteers were so dedicated in their task of caring for these magnificent animals.

I would urge those members who have internet access to have a look at the two websites below, I am sure you will find them very interesting.

Wolves and Humans

Slovakia Wildlife