Dr. Erik Zimen
A Life for Wolves

Dr Erik Zimen was born in 1941 and grew up in Sweden. His enthusiasm for dogs began when as a 13 year old he acquired his first dog along with a book by Konrad Lorenz "Man Meets Dog". From that moment on he knew what kind of work he wanted to do. He wanted to become an ethologist just like his role model Konrad Lorenz.

He studied zoology and anthropology in Zurich, and obtained his Ph.D. with Professor Herre at the University of Kiel entitled:"Wölfe und Königspudel - ein Verhaltensvergleich" (Wolves and Standard Poodles -a Comparison of their Behavior). For several years he was a member of the research team of Konrad Lorenz at the Max-Plank-Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Seewiesen near Munich. In the National Park Bayrischer Wald ( National Park Bavarian Forest) he studied the social behavior in a wolf pack. In the Abruzzi mountains in Italy he directed an extensive research project on the ecology of wolves.

For many years he also made many documentary films "Wildwege" and "Wolfsspuren" dealing with the relationships between animals and humans. In 1976 he made his first documentary film for SDR (South German Radio) in Stuttgart about the behavior of the wolf. He made many more films for TV about animals and humans throughout the world.

In 1979 he moved to the University of the Saarland (Alsac Lorraine) where he joined the Bio-Geography research team of Professor Paul Müller who was concerned with the behavior and ecology of native mammals. There he directed studies on the ecology and behavior of the red fox and several other predators.

Increasingly Zimen became interested in the eco-sociology of the great hunter - Man. He was especially interested in the Native Siberian peoples - the last hunters of the tundra of the Ngonnasan tribie of the Taimyr Peninsula, as well at the last Eskimos of Asia, the Inuit on the Tschuktchen Peninsula. For years he and his wife lived them , made films and wrote books about them. During several research expeditions to the North-Siberian tundra he studied the adaptive social strategies of the native people to life in their cold environments. In Europe he followed the recent expansion of wolves.

Erik Zimen wrote additional books for adults and children about animals and humans, which were illustrated in part by his wife. Two classics must be mentioned: "Der Wolf" and "Der Hund". ( The Wolf and The Dog).

In !987 he left the university to have more time for travel. From then on he lived with his wife Mona, four children and various animals on his eco-farm in Lower Bavaria. Here the Zimens conducted seminars and nature walks, as well as a children's project. Together with Michael Grewe, a well-known dog therapist, he founded CANIS in 2002, a Center of Kynology, which offered many advanced programs centered around dogs, as well as a two year course for beginning dog trainers and therapists. Here, Erik, the wolf researcher, offered Seminars and practica about the behavior of wolves and dogs.

With Erik Zimen, Germany, indeed the world, lost not only one of its premiere wolf researchers, but also a biologist who was always open to many sides of an argument and opinions concerning wolves. Frequently when sceptics about wolves and friends of wolves clashed, it was Zimen, in his game warden's uniform and with his hunting dog, who built a bridge to the hunters, and where he pleaded for an understanding of the wolf.

I, Elli Radinger, met Erik for the first time in 1991, when I asked him to become an advisor to the "Gesellschaft zum Schutz der Wölfe e.V."( Society for the Protection of the Wolf), of which I was the president at the time. Although he was at first skeptical about the "Wolf Club", as he called it with a twinkle in his eyes, he as immediately ready to help. Although we did not always agree about the training of dogs, he was always relaxed, kind and full of wisdom throughout our discussions. Our thoughts are with Mona and their children.

Erik Zimen, devoted friend to wolves, dogs and all animals, including humans, has passed away Monday, at 3 PM on 19. May 2003 in the presence of his family and friends He suffered from a brain tumor, was treated and felt better. He made plans to visit Wolf Park with a group and to visit Yellowstone National Park this coming Fall. It was not to be. We have lost a great wolf researcher, ethologist and friend, and the animals have lost an effective spokesman for their needs. His family has lost a husband and father. We share their loss and grief with them.

When we were at conferences, people distinguished us by referring to him as "der Kleine Erik" and to me as "der Grosse Erich". We were both inspired by Konrad Lorenz. We were both ethologists, and we both studied wolves in captivity - from pups we had hand raised from the time when they were a few days old. We lived with them. All of our wolves had names, not numbers. We both had dogs. We cared about the welfare of wolves in captivity and about wolves in the wild. On my first visit the wolf enclosure in the Bavarian National Forest in Southern Germany, We took Näschen, the alpha male, and Anka, the alpha female, on a walk through the park. His Münsterländer hunting dog and constant companions was with us. We had climbed into the large, wooded wolf enclosure from the observation platform. The dog, whose name I do not recall, jumped down first. All the wolves came over and submitted to him. He had known them from the time Erik hand raised them. From then on Erik and I met at conferences, shared experiences, information, and kept in touch from time to time.

Rudolf Schenkel had published the first behavior patterns of wolves in 1947 based on his observations of the wolves in the Basel Zoo. Erik had expanded the ethogram in his Ph.D. dissertation "Wölfe und Königspudel". And Pat Goodmann and I had further expanded the ethogram. In 2002 Jessica Willard augmented it with photos by Monty Sloan, so that we now have an illustrated ethogram. This is an example of evolution at work in science.

Some years ago, independently of each other, Erik and I went to visit Konrad Lorenz and told him about our work with wolves. Lorenz was always interested in them, and he kept abreast with our work, as we did with his work on waterfowl and fish.

Although we did not see each other frequently through the years, we kept in touch. For me he was a soul mate. His ideas were always stimulating, and we respected each others' occasional differences in the interpretations of certain behaviors. Erik made a real difference in this world through his scientific work, his films and his education programs to the general public. He followed Lorenz' example of bringing science to the people, beyond the halls of academia.

We have lost a charming, mischievous, outrageous, delightful, and creative colleague. The time I spent with him hopping around N. Europe in his tiny Cessna 150 was one of the great adventures of my life. Listening to him rail against Germany when were in Germany and become Germany's staunchist advocate the moment we set foot in Sweden, listening him insisting on English when a German air controller lapsed into German--and stubbornly answer an English-speaking Swedish air controller in German . . . well, that was Erik. Even though I hadn't spoken to him in over 20 years, I heard his voice whenever I read passages in his book, and that voice is now silent. I had looked forward to renewing our acquaintance when he visited Wolf Park this year. His passing saddens me immensely. I shall raise a toast to him tonight--with an Italian wine . . . his favorite.