Ahead of the DVD release of New Moon - the second in the Twilight saga - the film was given a premiere for an audience of wolves.

These four-legged "Twi-hards" at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire watched their movie counterparts at an open-air screening by film company E1 Entertainment.

The vampire versus werewolf hit - starring Kristen Stewart, Brit star Robert Pattinson and US talent Taylor Lautner - was shown on a 16 square metre screen in one of the country's only wolf enclosures.

The film - out on DVD and Blu-ray - is tipped to be one of the biggest home movie releases of the year among the legion of fans who have been gripped by the Stephenie Meyer novels and their movie adaptations.

Ian Turner, deputy head warden at Longleat, said: "We've certainly never had a request like this before, so we were very intrigued to find out how the wolves would react to seeing their counterparts on screen.

"While they weren't so interested in the romance, the scenes of the wolves certainly got their attention and prompted a series of howls as the film went on."

Martin Gough, of distributor E1 Entertainment, said: "Whilst Twilight was all about the vampires, New Moon develops a new love interest for Bella and in doing so introduces a range of characters that are all werewolves.

"Whilst we're used to deafening screams for Robert Pattinson, it's a nice change to hear howls of approval for the rest of the cast, including the screen wolves themselves."