Wolf Sponsor Photo Program at Wolf Park  

A unique opportunity to have your photograph take with your adoptive wolf! This program is for Wolf Sponsors only, 18 years or older, by appointment and of course wolf willing :-)

For many years Wolf Sponsors have come out to visit their wolves, toting cameras to capture the special moment when they meet their wolf for the first time. Often sponsors request to have Wolf Park's own professional wolf photographer, Monty Sloan, take these photos using the sponsor's camera and film. When Monty is available, he is willing to perform this service at no charge.

Recently a few sponsors have gone a step further and have requested special one-on-one interactions with their wolf while Monty takes pictures using his professional equipment. This allows the sponsors to get better quality photos of themselves being greeted by their wolf. This special program, by appointment only, includes a fee to cover the extra time involved and cost of film.

• During regular visits Monty will continue to take photos at no charge using your camera, when he is available.
• However, to take advantage of this opportunity to get a really nifty bunch of photos taken of you and your wolf, you can make a special arrangement to have a photo session with your wolf, or a stand-in if you wolf is not up to meeting people. All the other rules, including the regular safety rules, of sponsorship apply: you must be 18 years or older, and physically able to endure a rowdy greeting if you have a rowdy wolf. And of course you must dress appropriately to meet a wolf. (This program is not available to regular members, or anyone other than a wolf sponsor.)
• The cost for this special session is $50.00 and will include one roll of 24 exposure color print film* which you will be able to keep and have processed yourself. That means that reprints, and enlargements will be at your leisure. If you want Monty to have the film professionally developed at Colortech, a great lab located here in Lafayette, and mail the prints and the negatives out to you, there will be an extra $15.00 charge to cover costs. If you want more than one roll of film shot you can either bring additional rolls of 35mm film yourself, or Monty can provide film at cost (only a few dollars per roll). Slide film can also be used by prearrangement, or you can bring your own. The fee is due the day of the appointment.

Since this program deals with wild animals in an outdoor environment with notoriously unpredictable weather, we will be quite flexible, and sponsors should be prepared to be flexible as well. This program depends on your wolf and how willing he or she might be to greet. Proxy wolves may be necessary to get a good greeting. The program will also have to be, of course, weather permitting. Rain may cause cancellation. Hot weather may cause the wolf to simply ignore people and not greet, or not greet for very long. In the winter we generally feed the wolves Monday-Wednesday-Friday while in the summer they are generally fed Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday. In general, it is best to visit your wolf on non-feeding days. They are more apt to greet and are definitely less stinky. When making the appointment, it might be a good idea to ask which days they are being fed and avoid those.

As with all sponsor visits, You must be at least 18 years old, able bodied, dressed properly and willing and able to follow instructions to meet a wolf. Wolf Park's primary concern is safety, for both visitors and wolves. First-time sponsors will be shown a series of educational materials -- including video and a slide show -- describing wolf/human interactions, and have a one-on-one question-and-answer session with a staff member before their first visit with a wolf. This "educational interlude" will last approximately one hour.

Sponsors scheduling their first visits should plan their trips with this in mind and allow extra time, and check with the office on when they should arrive to view the materials.

The Park reserves the right to occasionally schedule refresher sessions for sponsors, or schedule viewing of new, pertinent material.

Although you will have the negatives, the images taken by Monty Sloan at Wolf Park are © Monty Sloan & Wolf Park and are for personal use only. Any commercial use of these images must first be arranged through Wolf Park and Monty Sloan.