Wildlife park welcome wolves
The new pack of wolves at
Wingham Wildlife Park
by Jamie
Bullen
A pack of wolves are finally
prowling their way around a wildlife park after their arrival was
delayed when the owners lost £3,000 on a digger fraudulently
advertised on eBay.
Wingham Wildlife Park welcomed the
five-strong pack of European Wolves last week after months of
preparation and fears they would never arrive in the city.
After planning their arrival and
building an enclosure the arranged transfer for three males and two
females from French zoos was thrown into doubt after a digger
purchased on eBay in October never materialised.
Park owners are now chasing police
and eBay to recoup the £3,000 spent on the item and say they have
been frustrated with the response from both organisations.
Managing director Tony Binskin said
staff at the wildlife park were heartbroken by the incident adding
the deal to bring the wolves almost fell through as a result.
He said: "The digger was a huge
disappointment for us, because it really delayed the Wolves coming
to the park and caused us a lot of heartache.
"Nothing has happened yet about
this and we feel we have had no support from the police or
eBay.
"But the Wolves are here now and
the enclosure is complete. It was always important that this
incident didn’t affect our plans to the point that things wouldn’t
happen.
Mr Binskin said a decision to
introduce the wolves to Wingham was influenced by visitors
continued requests to see the animals up close and preservation of
the endangered species.
The European Wolves are extinct in
the UK and are being bred in European zoos in an effort to save
them by wildlife campaigners.
He added: "Many zoos do already
keep European Wolves and work with them in captivity has been very
successful, and we are now trying to take our own steps to
contribute to this good work."
The animals were initially divided
into seperate groups at the wildlife park but are now settling in
together after both packs were merged.
Staff were left gobsmacked when the
wolves first entered the park’s main enclosure when took a dip in
the pond to retrieve a stick
Animal registrar Markus Wilder
said: "They are settling in really well and gelling into one big
happy family.
"We were worried they would start
fighting but that is not the case."
The case has been referred to the Action Fraud team.
15/01/13
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