Spotlight on Wolf Park
Monday, 11 Jul 2011
- Alex Deiro
Wolf Park Founder Erich Klinghammer said the park all began because of one friendly wolf at the University of Chicago.
"I decided to choose the wolf as a symbol. And the reason for that is that I met a wolf at the University of Chicago who jumped up on me and licked me in the face," said Klinghammer.
And for Klinghammer, that's when the dream of Wolf Park took shape. The park has now been functioning as a research and education center for almost 40 years. For Klinghammer, the park's mission has always been to bring the wild world of wolves to humans, and dispel the myth that wolves are all bad.
"Well the problem was little Red Riding Hood. But Little Red Riding Hood is dead. I mean, too many people have known wolves close up. And written about them, and exposed them. Especially here, places like Wolf Park," said Klinghammer.
For the Clements family, Sunday was the first visit, but certainly not the last. Teresa Clements said her son and nephews enjoyed the experience so much they bought their own membership.
"They're really interested. They want to see all the stuff that's around, and they're kind of really interested about how they live. So they just really seem to like it so far," said Teresa Clements.
"Just watching them be in their natural habitat and see how they interact with other wolves and humans," said Reeve Clements.
Wolf Park is also home to the bison demonstration, the only one of its kind in the world. The demonstration began as an experiment to prove well-fed wolves wouldn't attack just anything that moved. Klinghammer said there are parallels between humans and wolves, the largest similarity is social interaction. Wolves need to live in a family group.
"Wolves of course are a social animal. They live in family groups, more or less packs. Dogs and people were able to live together because their social behavior is similar," said Klinghammer.
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