A visit by the BBC

On Friday 25'th January, BBC Look East visited us - or rather, reporter and newsreader Amanda Goodman and cameraman Eric Larsen did.

The visit was arranged at a mere 24 hours notice and resulted in a bout of frantic phoning around to get some handlers to come in for it. The VIP's duly arrived at 2:30 pm and with the weather threatening downpours and mayhem on top of the already muddy conditions, we quickly showed them around the site and gave them a brief introductory talk.

Amanda explained that she would like some footage of us playing with the wolves and that she would also like to do a solo piece on camera in the pens and then a couple of interviews with us. She was rather nervous at first as we introduced her to Peyto and Cheza who went through their usual overwhelming, wolfie greeting. She soon got into the swing of it though and Eric got some good footage of the boys playing with us and posing as master predators on top of their shelters.

Then the time came for Amanda - by now, covered in muddy footprints - to do her solo. Off she went to change her coat and re-do her hair and back she came a few minutes later with an immaculate white woollen jumper just visible under the open breast of a new, clean coat. The camera had just started rolling with her opening line when Cheza jumped up and inflicted the most enormous and outrageous, muddy paw print I have ever witnessed - right in the middle of the immaculate white jumper. I'll say one thing for Amanda - well, two things actually; she has a sense of humour and she has tenacity. Undeterred, she went through take after take, each sabotaged by a wet, muddy wolf. Noses disappeared up her coat and into her ears, pockets were investigated and personal bits sniffed.

Several of those takes will, I am sure, make their way onto one of those out-takes programmes where reporters' worst nightmares are routinely screened for the idle amusement of the public. Dogged persistence did pay off though and she eventually got through her 30 second presentation unmolested. With the solo over, it was time for the interviews. Three of us got about half a minute each to answer a few questions about why we do what we do. I don't know whether the answers were quite what the public will expect. Afterwards, none of us could quite remember what we said but all of us were sure that we had talked rubbish.

Amanda appeared only a couple of hours later, reading the news on TV. Several of us saw her and she was heavily scrutinised for mud but to no avail; the BBC had successfully removed every trace of it. I don't think anyone seeing her that night could have guessed what she had looked like only hours beforehand.