LEADER OF THE PACK

It was a lonely and dangerous job, but wolf slayers earned lots of money and were highly respected by the local community, so there was no shortage of men who wanted to do it,” an elderly nun confides in me, when I stop off at the Convent Church of Belen on my way to Lobo. On parting she crosses herself and warns me to keep watch for werewolves.

Daniel is inured to local superstition and has a chuckle when I tell him. When he moved here in 2001, he didn’t even bother packing a hunting knife or wolfsbane. An ex-dog handler, who trained the German military’s dogs to sniff out bombs and drugs, Daniel’s only background for raising wolves was his knowledge of the canine world. His motivation came from, as he puts it, an urge to “work with an animal which man does not dominate”.

When I first arrive he suggests that we saddle up a couple of pure-bred Andalucian horses to explore the park. While a group of visiting children pull faces at the Chinese pigs in the mini-zoo, we ride out into a haze of sunlight, striped by the shade of stunted cork oaks that stud the surrounding hillsides.

A 10-minute trot takes us to the first enclosure. The wolves are free to roam in plenty of space, being fenced off in different sections of the park. Daniel’s trained eye soon spots the silvered silhouette of a Polar wolf. Then, all of a sudden, a group breaks from the trees. Heading for the pond just below us they clamber in and wallow like hippos in the muddy water, either unaware of, or not bothered by, our presence. Daniel points to each one and explains how wolves live together in clans governed by a dominant alpha couple who maintain strict discipline and ensure that each member of the pack knows its pl>

In the next enclosure three timber wolves, zonked by the heat, yawn and scratch. They could almost be mistaken for larger-thanaverage Alsatians, until Daniel opens the gate and they fall on him with boisterous nips. “It may look safe but it’s very dangerous – these aren’t tame animals,” he says. “The wolves accept me as a kind of extra-terrestrial pack member, but I’m not the leader. They decide their own pecking order and generally live as they would in their natural habitat.” Then he howls, and that’s when he gets us to join in.

Since he’s recovering from a broken rib gained in a riding fall, he doesn’t linger. “The wolves will pounce on any sign of weakness,” Daniel says, and is only partially being over-dramatic. Back at Lobo’s artifact-packed museum, he shows us a stuffed wolf that was killed by others during struggles for pack status. Daniel could have saved the wolf ’s life by removing him from the pack, but it would have been miserable, as wolves are very social creatures. As in the wild, this wolf was left to fend for itself, even though it meant its eventual death.

In a century where conservation is the constant buzz word, this may sound pretty harsh – but the result is a park, unique in Spain, where the packs are led by wolves, not men. What a privilege to see them up close in the flesh.
Lobo Park, Ctra. Antequera-Alora, Antequera. Tel: +34 952 031 107, www.lobopark.com

Other wolf parks in Spain

CENTRO DE NATURALEZACAÑADA REAL
Iberian wolves roam in large enclosures atthis wildlife park set in lush countryside, close to Madrid. Peralejo dela Sierra. El Escorial. Tel: +34 918 906 980.

PARQUE DE LA NATURALEZA DE CABÁRCENO
This vast park 17km from Santander is one of northern Spain’s biggest tourist draws. www.parquede cabarceno.com

Wolf expert SERGI GARCIA of Barcelonabased wildlife organisation Galanthus (www.asgalanthus.org), organises wolf-watching trips to the Sierra de la Culebra in Zamora.

Adopt a wolf
Help Grupo Lobo wolf conservation trust help wolves in Spain and Portugal, by adopting a wolf (http://lobo.fc.ul.pt). You can aid wolves worldwide by adopting from this UK conservation trust, too, www.ukwolf.org

Hungry like the wolf?

Bay with the wolves, then wolf down a steak, or two, at one of Lobo Park’s Barbecue Howl Nights. On a more prosaic note, this is also the land of snails, so look out for signs that read “prohibido coger caracoles” near Lobo Park, then follow your nose to the Venta los Caracoles, where you can sup on those caracoles that you’re forbidden to gather, simmered in garlic and cream.
Venta los Caracoles, Crta. Del Torcal, nr Antequera, tel:+34 952 700 926

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