When the time came for me to approach two female wolves (a pair of sisters who like to stay together), I knew enough about wolf behaviour to avoid the obvious mistakes. So I squatted down, didn't make eye contact, spoke softly and gently, and didn't make any sudden moves. Above all, I let them come to me. And they did! After a while they felt easy enough to come and lean against me, and we got muzzle to muzzle. The wolf with her jaws agape in the photo on the front page of this website is actually yawning, and very relaxed - which I took as a great compliment, especially as she'd only just met me. Soon we were on scratching terms, and I was burying my nose in the deep, soft fur of her scruff. And believe me, wolves smell wonderful: nothing like a dog (at least, not to my nose), but with a much fresher, sweeter smell, like clean grass.

We stayed at the Trust till it was night, watching the wolves racing about in the dark, and listening to their complex, mysterious howls - and I didn't want to leave. As a going-home present, one of the handlers at the Trust very kindly gave me a handful of underfur that he'd collected from what had come off naturally in the wolves' enclosure. So now I have a small box of wolf fur in my study, and occasionally I open it up and have a sniff. And I can't wait to go back and see how the wolves are getting on.

*The Wolf Conservation Trust

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