Startled residents were taken aback when wolves at a nearby wildlife park joined in with the one-minute appreciation of NHS workers.

The six-strong wolf pack at Wildwood, in Herne Common, began to howl at 8pm last night as the sounds of clapping and pot rattling filled the sky.

One resident in New Road, which lies behind the park, said: ''It was just absolutely amazing when they started. It it so beautiful and it really felt like they were joining the praise."

While it would be miraculously heartening had the wolves been joining in, the howls - which would have been heard from six miles away - are thought to have been a way of marking territory in wake of the foreign clapping.

"It's likely the wolves thought there was another wolf pack nearby and that they wanted to mark their territory," keeper Sally Holt said.

"A more beautiful, albeit slightly less likely, scenario is that the wolves were inspired by the praise to make their own evening choir.

"While they will hardly have known what they were listening to, it may have prompt them to howl together to strengthen their bonds as a family."

Wildwood’s wolf pack consists of two adults and their four cubs.

Read more: All the latest news from Herne Bay