Thompson, Man., howls into Guinness World Records book

It's not uncommon to hear the howl of a lone wolf out in the wilderness surrounding Thompson, Man., but it's not every day you hear thousands of people trying to imitate that sound all at once.

That's exactly what happened in the northern Manitoba community on Thursday as the city broke the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people howling like a wolf, with 2,033 people participating in the howl.

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Yes, thereis a record for that, and it's one Guinness takes very seriously.

"Guinness has very, very strict conditions to monitor it, scrutinize it, witness it, verify it, videotape it the whole works so you can't just fake this," said Volker Beckmann, a volunteer with Thompson's annual AuroraFest, which organized the record-breaking event.

"The final attempt will need to be a one-minutesolid howl."

The record to beat 803 people howling like a wolf at once was set by a group in Niagara Falls in July. That means Thompson now boasts the world wolf howling champs, subject to Guinness approval.

Thompson, Man., howls into Guinness World Records book. Video submitted by Darnell Nast.

7 years ago

Duration 1:39

On Thursday, the city broke the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people howling like a wolf, with 2,033 people participating in the howl.

Thompson's six elementary schools and high school sent students and staff to help in the effort, Beckmann said on CBC's Radio Noon before the attempt.

"Some people are busing in from 40 miles away in Nelson House," he said.

The Guinness record is suiting for the community,650 kilometres north of Winnipeg, which is the self-declared wolf capital of the world.

Thompson has earned a national reputation for being a prime location for wolf spotting, Beckmann said.

"In Thompson, I mean, we're surrounded by forests and nobody really knows how many wolves there are, but when we began to realize how much interest there was, we started doing a number of wolf initiatives," Beckmannsaid.

The city has a wolf park and they're hosting an international conference on wolves next month, he said.