A Man Among Wolves
Last night there was a segment on the TV news show 20/20 about shaun Ellis that is basically a lead in to the National Geographic special about him that airs Monday night.
The pack of woves that he dealt with were captive and he did appear to have hand raised them because the mother wolf died. He did attempt to interact with the wolves in various captive pack situations. He did from time to time get nipped by the wolves when they were interacting with each other and him. However, to the extent that he got bitten is quite common when handling captive wolves.
One thing to point out is that his interaction with the captive pack and his attempts to emulate their behaviors i.e. growls, howls, body posturing, and feeding was done while the wolves were juvenile. In many circumstances humans who have raised wolves in captivity can "get away" with what they think is dominant "Alpha" behavior with juvenile wolves.
Once the wolves mature, males at age three and females at age two, and the human tries to act that same way and think that they are still alpha, they'll end up getting severely bitten, maimed, or even killed. that proved to be the case with Mr. Ellis because for some reason he conveniently had to leave the captive pack for an extended period and when he returned the wolves had matured by that time and became severely aggressive with him. He did have to act submissive to prevent from getting himself hurt. And he eplained that the "social order" had changed merely because he had been gone for so long. Now that is real bzdura.
The outcome would not have been any different even if he didn't leave.
The wolves did reach sexual maturity and because of the dominant aggressive, stupid and moronic way he interacted with them when they were juveniles, they came after him and put him in his place.
I agree that this guy is a fake and he will not fool anybody who has worked first hand with captive wolves. A human is not a wolf and there is no way that they think that we are a wolf or are in a pack with them and to further think that humans can teach captive wolves how to hunt with the ultimate intent to re-release them in the wild is even more ludicrous.
If I got the National Geographic channel I would watch his special just for the entertainment value but I saw enough on the 20/20 special to know that he knows enough to know how to prevent himself from getting severely hurt, enough to fool the general public but certainly not enough to fool those who have worked extensively with captive wolves.
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Replies (7)
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[quote=dingodaddy] There has been a lot of talk recently about a documentary produced by the National Geographic Channel, called "A Man Among Wolves". It is about a man, going by the name of Shaun Ellis, who allegedly spent years living with a pack of wolves he raised, behaving like a wolf... leading the pack, eating, sleeping, playing with the wolves and engaging with them in battles for dominance. All this, we are told, he does for teaching some wolves how to survive in the wild. Every person that understands wolves and their plight will know that for wild wolves, habituation to humans can only lower their chances of survival. If Shaun has been living with wolves, snarling in their face at dinner time, and playing alpha dog, why aren't there any scars on his face from the natural aggression that happens between the alpha and those challenging him for the lead role? If he was really playing the wolf, he'd be missing a lot of skin for lack of the proper natural armor. I wonder if they show the part when the wolves reach sexual maturity and challenge him for alpha, or that he has to choose a mate or be choosen as a mate to complete the bond of an alpha pair and compete for breeding rights with other maturing males. Having read his biography, I've noticed it reads like the scenario from the movie "Instinct"... Except instead of apes, he's alienated his family to go live with wolves. It's interesting that he has such nice clothes though, and that he ceased alienation of humanity long enough to sign a movie deal. The more I find out about all this, the more it looks like another cleverly contrived hoax; another exploitation of wolves to make money. They'll sell some few hundred thousand ringtones, wolf plushies and copies of the video. They'll fetch cash from those interested in getting them to vilify wolves... and Shaun, in all his wisdom, declared that wolves do not feel emotions. I'm sure that if Descartes were alive today, the two fools would get along quite well. [/quote]
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Last night there was a segment on the TV news show 20/20 about shaun Ellis that is basically a lead in to the National Geographic special about him that airs Monday night. The pack of woves that he dealt with were captive and he did appear to have hand raised them because the mother wolf died. He did attempt to interact with the wolves in various captive pack situations. He did from time to time get nipped by the wolves when they were interacting with each other and him. However, to the extent that he got bitten is quite common when handling captive wolves. One thing to point out is that his interaction with the captive pack and his attempts to emulate their behaviors i.e. growls, howls, body posturing, and feeding was done while the wolves were juvenile. In many circumstances humans who have raised wolves in captivity can "get away" with what they think is dominant "Alpha" behavior with juvenile wolves. Once the wolves mature, males at age three and females at age two, and the human tries to act that same way and think that they are still alpha, they'll end up getting severely bitten, maimed, or even killed. that proved to be the case with Mr. Ellis because for some reason he conveniently had to leave the captive pack for an extended period and when he returned the wolves had matured by that time and became severely aggressive with him. He did have to act submissive to prevent from getting himself hurt. And he eplained that the "social order" had changed merely because he had been gone for so long. Now that is real bzdura. The outcome would not have been any different even if he didn't leave. The wolves did reach sexual maturity and because of the dominant aggressive, stupid and moronic way he interacted with them when they were juveniles, they came after him and put him in his place. I agree that this guy is a fake and he will not fool anybody who has worked first hand with captive wolves. A human is not a wolf and there is no way that they think that we are a wolf or are in a pack with them and to further think that humans can teach captive wolves how to hunt with the ultimate intent to re-release them in the wild is even more ludicrous. If I got the National Geographic channel I would watch his special just for the entertainment value but I saw enough on the 20/20 special to know that he knows enough to know how to prevent himself from getting severely hurt, enough to fool the general public but certainly not enough to fool those who have worked extensively with captive wolves.
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This will be on again tonight on National Geographic. Too bad I do not get that channel.
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[quote=Eyes Of Fire] Between this and "The Dog Whisperer" and that horrible segment they did on CO's in their "designer breeds" special... I'd say it's good for your own sanity you don't get NG :lol: Not missing much, honestly.[/quote] So I take it you'll be watching this show tonight as well? :lol:
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Just out of curiosity, you don't think that the Dog Whisperer's tactics are effective?
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