Interview with Chris Packham on Dogs In The Wild: Meet The Family

The series features astonishing cinematography, together with emotional and immersive storytelling around the remarkable members of one 37-strong family of wild dogs

PHOTO: Red fox (Vulpes vulpes), London

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What made you want to be part of this series? Do you have a personal passion for dogs?

I do and that’s why I was very keen to be part of the series. I like learning about life rather than just seeing it, but dogs are very different. I didn’t have any companion dogs until 1980 when my mother got the first of our miniature poodles, Max. Up until that point I had been clearly focussed on wild animals, but then we fell in love with Max and basically have been with black miniature poodles ever since.

There have been a few gaps, to get over the losses of my dogs in the past, but I don’t imagine a life without those animals being there. They are very much part of my life, and my family unit. They sleep on the bed, we take them out every day, we get preoccupied with their health and happiness. They are massively important and I think that an increasing number of autistic people have companion animals like that and find it really useful to have them helping with their condition.

I form very strong bonds with my dogs, so looking at their wild counterparts throughout this series was a joy. My favourite mammal on earth, aside from our poodles Sid and Nancy, are red foxes. I love foxes, I think they are extraordinarily beautiful and interesting. I get to see them and interact with them as they live amongst us.

Describe any experiences you’ve had working with wild dogs. Are they quite different from domestic dogs?

I have worked with quite a few of the species we see throughout the series, such as wolf, red fox, dhole the Indian dogs, dingos and I have met fennec foxes on one occasion. So yes, quite a lot of them, but I can’t claim to have met all 37 of them.

I have seen Maine wolves in captivity, but not in the wild, which is a bit painful as they are one of my favourite animals. When I first started travelling and I was going to Africa for the first time, I was thinking ‘which species do I most want to see?’ Most people would be thinking lion, leopard, rhino, but for me it was wild dogs. Just by chance, that was what we went to film, and I was so excited to see African wild dogs, actually in the wild. We got really close to them, working with scientists who were fitting collars on them. It was extraordinary and a real privilege.

I knew a group of four wild dogs where the adults had been killed and the pups had been rescued, and they were put back into a huge fenced area the size of a county where they could fend for themselves. I followed the fortunes of those dogs over the years and got to know them as individuals and that was phenomenal.

Were there any standout or memorable sequences in the series for you?

I really liked the Himalayan foxes - they were outstanding. The fennec foxes are just beautiful - and bonkers! That sequence was really nice, and it was heart-breaking to see them being trapped all the time. I didn’t know about that sort of persecution. Then the Maine wolves, the way they walk - they walk like supermodels – was absolutely phenomenal, and the great story about the fruit is really interesting. It is difficult to pick a favourite but if I was pushed, I think it would be the fennec foxes, they are just beautiful.

Did you learn anything new about dogs that you didn’t know before narrating the series?

I didn’t know about the golden jackal’s story. I knew of the golden jackal but I thought it was an Asian species. I didn’t know they have spread out and were also doing so well in mainland Europe, so that was interesting. I was also fascinated to learn that it is not a proactive piece of conservation - they are doing that themselves. They have essentially found a niche and it shows you again how dynamic the natural world is. The broken heart syndrome was also very interesting. When you think about it, for a very closely bonded pack-living animal, it is perhaps not surprising, but the depth of that degree of consciousness, is something we think only humans know about. But I look at my own dogs and I know they have high degrees of consciousness, different from ours but still, high degrees. Afterwards I thought I shouldn’t be surprised about that, I should have predicted that was the case.

What do you believe is so captivating about dogs?

We have been living with dogs as companion animals somewhere between fifteen to thirty thousand years and consequently we have co-evolved with them. We have evolved to live with dogs. We have modified our behaviour and they have modified theirs to make that relationship more functional. If you tame a wolf, for example, it won’t look you in the face because they can’t read a human face. Dogs, on the other hand, will always look you in the face because they are reading your face. There have been some amazing experiments where they the human face has been covered, hiding the nose and mouth, and then the eyes have been covered. The dogs were then tested to see if they can understand our facial expressions. The result was that dogs don’t only recognise us as individuals, they recognise and are reading what we are saying with our faces. We have a really close understanding with them that we don’t have with other species.

Cats don’t do that, only dogs. So that is how evolution has meant we form closer bonds more quickly, and this is inherited and genetic. It is not something the dog is taught as a puppy, it comes programmed because it has been going on for all those thousands of years. The co-evolution between humans and dogs has got to the point where we have formed very strong bonds with them through a mutual understanding.

There was a huge increase in dogs being acquired as pets throughout lockdown. Why do you think the British public love dogs so much?

More people got dogs in lockdown as they had more time, and dogs do take time. You are wholly responsible for their happiness and wellbeing. That means they want to go out, they want to socialise with other dogs, some want to socialise with other people. You have got to get the right food for them, they require vet care from time to time. So this is all a big investment.

As a consequence, it is good to always ask people, when they are thinking of getting a dog, to check out the rescue centres, because unfortunately dogs are still given up for good and bad reasons, Before you think about getting a puppy and rush to the puppy centre, do think about those rescue animals, as we know there has been a significant increase in them post lockdown.

Having a dog also comes with other responsibilities. You have to make sure your dog is properly behaved and doesn’t damage wildlife, people or property. As people say, a dog is not just for Christmas, it is for life. It is a big part of your life, so you need to invest.

Do you have a favourite wild dog species and why?

My favourite is the red fox because they are just beautiful, stunning animals. I run something called fox of the day on my Twitter feed. Every day, we post a picture of a fox that someone sends us. I love foxes and like celebrating them. I don’t like the way they divide us and I don’t like the idea of them being unnecessarily persecuted. I think they should be cherished and I work really hard to make sure people understand what they are really about and understand their behaviour. They are beautiful to look at but they are a wild animal. We don’t have a great wild mammals format in the UK but the mammals people do see here are red foxes or grey squirrels.

What was your favourite wild dog story from the series?

I found that the maned wolves were outstanding and the dhole were interesting as well. They live in a really dangerous place when you realise they are living with bears and tigers and elephants. Their communication was really interesting as well. The jacals, hunting alongside the waterholes, trying to get the doves and the height that they got to was so high, it looked like they were using trampolines!

What do you hope viewers will take away from watching Dogs In The Wild?

As ever with these programmes, what we want to do is generate an affinity for, in this case, wild dogs, but for life generally, and for people to be sufficiently entranced and fascinated that they will do everything they can to protect that wildlife.

As we show in episode three, quite a lot of the species are in trouble through shrinking habitats so they require conservation, and ultimately that is the underlying message in pretty much everything we do now. We are saying, look, it is beautiful and interesting and fascinating, But frankly it is in peril, so please do what you can as we can make a difference. As seen with the broken heart syndrome story, there are people out there who develop the understanding of how to look after these creatures and make sure we can rehabilitate them, so supporting conservation is the ultimate take home.

About

Dogs In the Wild: Meet The Family is the first series to concentrate solely on the family of dogs in the wild that has been produced by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit. Narrated by Chris Packham, this 3 x 60-minute series will feature astonishing cinematography, together with emotional and immersive storytelling around the remarkable members of one 37-strong family of wild dogs.

From the rugged peaks of the Himalayas to the blistering Sahara Desert, wild dogs thrive in the least likely of places. They are the most widespread carnivores on the planet. The latest scientific revelations provide fresh perspectives on characters who constantly surprise us with their diversity and their unusual behaviour. These are the world’s ultimate canids!

Dogs In the Wild: Meet The Family is a BBC Studios Natural History Production for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It was commissioned by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning for Specialist Factual. The Executive Producer is Jo Shinner, the Series Producer is Rowan Crawford and the Commissioning Editor for BBC Natural History is Sreya Biswas.

Dogs In The Wild: Meet the Family will air on Wednesdays at 8pm from 28 December, BBC One and BBC iPlayer

Source BBC One

December 21, 2022 4:11am ET by BBC One  

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