New guests in our Wildlife Park
4 March 2022
The 2022 season has started with a bang in the Wildlife Park with the recent arrival of 3 grey wolves and 5 reindeer!
A new grey wolf pack
In late 2021, three young wolves arrived in the Wildlife Park: a female, called Luna, who came to us from the French Gramat wildlife park and 2 male wolves, 2 brothers called Sirius and Remus, hailing from the Swedish Järvsö animal park. When they first arrived, all 3 wolves were rather shy. Our carers very patiently worked with the wolves to desensitize them to strangers, and curiosity has now replaced fear; the young wolves are quite happy to come and take a closer look at us humans. This means our visitors will be able to admire these fascinating animals from close by.
One question is on everyone's lips: which of the 2 male wolves will seduce the she-wolf and become the alpha male? From what our carers have been able to observe, it seems that Remus dominates his brother. But the game isn't over yet! The next couple of weeks will be decisive... Ultimately, we are hoping to welcome a couple of cute wolf cubs over the next couple years, and with them the alpha couple should form a new pack numbering approximately 6 individuals.
An all-female reindeer team
The Wildlife Park family was excited to welcome 5 eagerly awaited new members: 5 reindeer, all of them females. The Domain of the Caves of Han's Wildlife Park welcomed its first reindeer in 2017, thus taking an active part in the species conservation program managed by the Helsiniki Zoo and the LIFE program whose goal is to achieve a favourable conservation status for the species and to reintroduce reindeer to – among others – Finland.
Because of the shortage of female reindeer in the program, our Wildlife Park had up to now only welcomed male reindeer. Late 2021, the long awaited news finally arrived: a herd of females was to join the Park in early 2022! They arrived from the Arnhem Burger's Zoo in the Netherlands. After a thorough health check-up, they finally discovered their new living quarters in Han-sur-Lesse. The male reindeer Talvi has been appointed the ladies's reproductive male. The Park's 2 other male reindeer have been transferred to the Berlin Tierpark where other adventures await them. The 5 female have been named after Finnish lakes: Litti, Inari, Nilakka, Kukkia and Mirka (who had already been named after a lake in Quebec, Canada). Let's hope we shall soon see little reindeer gambolling in the Park!
