Dr. Val Geist, Professor Emeritus in Environmental Design, Adjunct Professor of Biology, University of Calgary
Dear Friends,
The news just reached me that a captive wolf pack killed a women, a keeper, a 30 year old woman, in the wolf pen of Kolmardens Djurpark (The Kolmarden Zoo) outside the city of Norrkoping, Sweden. It happened on Sunday June 17th, 2012, about 11 AM local time. The pack turned on her. It was a pack that was allowed to mingle with visitors. The wolves were pushed back by a human chain while armed guards looked on. The wolves will be euthanized.
It is tragic that my dear friend Erich Klinghammer has passed away, as his long experience in running Wolf Park would have been invaluable at this poit. Erich and I had a close connection as we were both with Konrad Lorenz at Seewiesen, and were ethologist by training. Erich repeatedly and redundantly drilled into me how dangerous wolves were in captivity, regardless of their socialization which at wolf park was extensive! He was the first to observe and record revolts within established captive packs in which pack members, suddenly turned on one of their own pack members and killed it. I remember examples of sons turning on dominant fathers and and daughters turning on mothers and killing such. Because adult wolves are exceedingly rank-conscious, and watch each other for potential betterment of social standing, adult wolves do not “play”. Only after that insight, Erich told me, were they no longer bitten. The revolts of his captive packs included keepers and Erich himself. He told me of the dominant male with paws on Erich's shoulders – Erich was about sis foot six – snarling into his face inches away. Erich said he dared not flinch. Nobody with a cold a infected by flu was allowed in the pens with the wolves. Erich was called upon to be the expert investigator in the case of 24-year-old Wildlife Biologist, Trisha Wyman, who was killed on April 18th 1996 by a captive wolf pack in Ontario. Erich was appalled to find out that everybody at that wolf park was surprised about that attack, because “ wolves did not attack humans!” Here a wildlife biologist with a masters degree, ever trusting of “science” lived three days after meeting her wolves. He was stunned at the ignorance. Ms Wyman had visited the park previously and spent some time studying the wolves. For Kenton Carnegie the case is less straight forward, but he too disregarded both the warning of locals and the fact that two wolves had attacked and were beaten back by two of his camp companions. Evidently he trusted 'science”. A captive pack of nine wolf hybrids, kept as pets, killed its owner, Sandra L. Piovesan, of Salem Township, Pennsylvania, on July 17th 2006i. Linda Wilson Fuoco and Chico Harlan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that Ms. Piovesan treated her wolves like children, and said as much when neighbors asked about them. Ms. Piovesan said that "they (the wolf-hybrids) give me unqualified love". She fed the animals’ road kill that sometimes caused the nearby neighborhood to smell. She said that she liked the wolf-dogs because they were pretty. While the notion of the “harmless” wolf is here not explicit, it is implicit. At risk are, clearly, the well-educated, caring persons who place their trust in science. But then, these were hybrids. A false dichotomy, I might add as canids remain canids. The danger with captive wolves is that they remain highly rank-conscious, and will exploit opportunities to remove a rival and better their social rank. That’s what makes beloved captive adult wolves so dangerous. Nobody is better informed on that than the Franks, and I hope that Harry and Martha will speak out on this. I still remember their bite-scarred legs, a legacy of studying for a lifetime closely socialized wolves.
Cheers, Val
