A WOLF expert who has been working with the pack at Longleat for the last 18 months believes howling sessions could help reintroduce wolves into this country.

Shaun Ellis started the wolf howling sessions last year in a bid to reorganise the pack's hierarchy, which had been under threat.

Mr Ellis, who has worked with wolf packs in the USA, believes his pioneering idea to communicate with wolves will help the animals lose their bad public image.

He hopes that by showing the public how wolves are part of a hierarchical society, the animals can one day be safely reintroduced into the wild.

He said: "Wolves have had a bad press, but the howling is all part of trying to help them bond as a pack.

"We have had a lot of contact with experts about the howling sessions and hope that people can use situations like this to study the animal so one day it can be released into this country again."

Mr Ellis has been at Longleat Safari Park, near Warminster, for the last four seasons working with the wolves.

His most recent success has been to use tape recordings to make the wolf pack feel threatened by an invading pack.

This enabled a new leading female to take over and carry on with the breeding.

The scheme is the first of its kind and it is hoped the pack at Longleat will become the benchmark for a study of wolves worldwide.