Keepers at Longleat Safari Park, near Warminster are celebrating the birth of six wolf pups all thanks to a tape.

The wolf pack at Longleat had dwindled over recent years and keepers had become so worried that they resorted to playing tapes of wild Canadian wolves and the howls of a wolf expert to try and stimulate the pack to reproduce.

Deputy head keeper, Ian Turner, said: "The dominant female is no longer able to breed, so we were in real danger of the wolf pack dwindling away.

"We decided to encourage a younger female called Zeva to take her place.

"We played the wolf howling tape and it made them believe the pack was under threat, so Zeva took over as the dominant female."

At birth, the pups were just 15cm long and weighed about 1lb.

They were born at the end of May and are now ready to leave the den to make their first public appearance.

Longleat has had a wolf pack for over 20 years and they are among the most popular species in the park.