wolves are the most misunderstood and
persecuted animal in all of North
America so we created an environment
where a pack of wolves could open up
their lives to us and we set out to
capture their intimate behavior to
dispel myths and show a side of wolves
it is often overlooked
this idea of mine documenting wolves
wasn’t supposed to turn out like this
when I took my first steps towards
making a film about the gray wolf I
imagined that this Kris Matic animal
would be just another subject in a
lifelong career of wildlife filmmaking
even as the project unfolded Jamie and I
look forward to future work documenting
other animals of North America and
beyond but something changed we became
spokespeople for this misunderstood
animal so in the beginning this was just
an idea for film a one-hour documentary
for television but as a subject for
filming the Wolves gave us so much more
this is because few other species
exhibit such a wide variety of
appearances and personalities and such
an expressive vocabulary of both body
language and vocalizations the most
misunderstood and persecuted animal in
all of North America can tell a pretty
good story on its own we were privileged
to be accepted as observers this is how
it all came about
our life with Wolves began over 20 years
ago when we started to build a large
enclosure in a remote area of Idaho’s
Sawtooth Mountains now there been other
studies on Loubs and there have been
other films but none had taken such a
long and intimate look at the social
structure of a pack wolves you see are
very elusive they’re extremely afraid of
people and because of this and the fact
that they are so intelligent it is
almost impossible to observe the social
behavior of wolves in the wild for
example if a wolf senses that it’s being
watched it’ll alter its behavior and
most likely depart knowing that wolves
were so sensitive and knowing that they
were also protected as an endangered
species we decided to approach this
project in a unique and unobtrusive way
a woman in Montana had inherited a pack
of wolves that she got from the US Navy
they were experimenting with him
tranquilizer drugs and after the project
they were going to euthanize him so she
took the Wolves he’s seen a film I had
produced about Cougars and thought that
I could do some good for wolves so she
contacted us we raised these wolves as
pups bottle feeding them from the moment
they opened their eyes so that would
trust us completely and regardless
without fear the enclosure which was on
the edge of wilderness with the largest
of its kind and offered a wonderful
mixture of subalpine terrain for six
years we live there with them in a
tented camp within their territory we
became a trusted and familiar presence
in their lives and because of this we
were able to observe them without
changing the way they were we let the
Wolves approach us if they wanted to if
they chose to ignore us we didn’t pursue
they would often make contact by
sniffing and even licking us for a
moment or two as we entered their
territory but we didn’t initiate the
contact wolves greet each other in the
luckily the same way here Jamie joins
the yearlings in a howl the bonds we
formed through these wolves as pups
would last throughout their lives Wolf’s
camp was a forever evolving project and
our resources were decidedly limited he
came from a woodstove shower water from
a nearby creek and melted snow and light
and cooking flame came from candles oil
and propane so here under the looming
peaks of Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains with
a special use permit from the u.s.
Forest Service we created an environment
where a pack of wolves could open up
their lives to us and accept us as just
another part of their world we call them
the Sawtooth pack and we set out to
capture their intimate behavior to
dispel myths and show a side of wolves
it is often overlooked a wolf pack is a
complex social unit an extended family
of parents siblings aunts and uncles
they’re older wolves that need to be
cared for pups that need to be educated
and young adults that are just beginning
to assert themselves all constantly
altering the dynamics of the pack now
the job of maintaining order within the
packs Falls largely to the alphas Kamat
the alpha male of the Sawtooth pack bore
the responsibility for the welfare of
the entire pack acting as its
decision-maker and alert for any signs
of danger Chinook the alpha female was
the dominant female of the pack now
alphas are the leaders of the pack they
maintain stability they’re the most
vigilant and the first to respond to
potential threats to their family late
winter is the breeding season when the
alpha male and female mate and unlike
their domestic dog cousins it occurs
only once a year and on very rare
occasions if the conditions are right
and there’s an abundant amount of prey
others in the pack may be allowed to
breed however in difficult times when
prey is scarce it’s possible for no
breeding to take place at all howling is
something that increases during the
breeding season in the sawtooth pack a
Hal would begin with a long mournful
sound usually from the alpha male
everything else in the forest would fall
silent as other members of the pack
joined in in a course that would swell
to a fabulous soulful frenzy pups are
born as winter gives way to spring in a
litter averaging of four to six they’re
born blind and toothless barely able to
crawl nestled safe in the den their
mother has dug and often this is the
same den the pack is used for
generations pups just seemed to idolize
the adult wolves in just about every way
they walk exactly where the adults walk
they sniff whatever flour the adults
sniff chew whatever bone they chew on
and mimic their every move in this
manner knowledge is passed down from
older wolves to younger wolves as they
assimilate into the adult hierarchy now
the order within a Wolf Pack hierarchy
is constantly reinforced by displays of
dominance and Submission in a complex
language of different forms of
communication vocalizations such as
growls barks yips and whines are equally
as important as the non verbal body
language of baring teeth and warning of
pending aggression or the tucking of a
tail in submission those are just a few
examples of the broad array of
communications that wolves employ to
express and maintain their status but
sadly it’s this body language that is
far too often misunderstood as being
vicious and evil but really it’s only a
language this is motsi the beta wolf the
peacemaker and puppy sitter or guardian
he was extremely crying natured he had
very protective of the pups and highly
respected by all the wolves in mid rank
now the lowest-ranking wolf in the pack
is known as the Omega
in the Sawtooth pack lakota held this
position for many years now the Omega
must constantly submit to his fellow
pack members as he’s often dominated by
them and treated as a scapegoat Lakota
was most often harassed by Amani a
mid-ranking pack member a bit of a bully
group house could be risky times real
ACOTA
here in the center he always kept his
tail tucked his shoulders hunched his
head low his ears back as he tried to
make himself as inconspicuous as
possible but interestingly the Omega was
the instigator of play and by using play
it helped alleviate pack tension
thus filling a very important role to
play within the family group no other
position requires so much diplomacy and
appeasement the better omegas ability is
to coax the others into setting aside
their pack hierarchy for a while the
better his or her life will be this is
why Aachen one of the mid-ranking path
members now the majority of wolves that
make up a pack are neither leader nor
underdog most of these mid ranking
wolves filling this vague area below the
beta and above the Omega the social
position of these wolves is more
difficult to determine through
observation because it’s rather fluid
every wolf in the pack knows its place
and the place of all the other wolves
without the stability of the family the
pack falls apart the darker side of
wolves has always appeared in folklore
fable and even in modern literature and
films misunderstanding breeds fear and
fear can breed hatred European settlers
brought an image of a savage deceitful
sinister creature to the new world and
the myths grew and grew tales like
Little Red Riding Hood were passed down
through generations
fueling terror without even being aware
of it generations of parents have
offered the prime example of the big
bad wolf in singsong fashion to their
children this 1933 sheet music of Walt
Disney’s Three Little Pigs reminds us of
the lovable carefree piglets and the
ravenous wolf lurking in the shadows
today this these fairy tales are
modernized to depict a crafty predator
that kills for the sheer joy of it
because we are unconsciously programmed
to fear the wolf we consider it a
dangerous animal many people still
believe that wolves pose a serious
threat to human life
despite volumes of evidence to the
contrary
wolves are generally afraid of people
and they avoid them along with all wild
animals such as moose bears Cougars
wolves can be dangerous but these events
are exceedingly rare for example over
the past 100 years there have been only
two cases or a wolf reportedly killed a
human being in North America wolves are
not a threat humans we recognize the
face
a broad mask the tapers gracefully into
a long muzzle we’ve looked into their
eyes bright with curiosity we understand
the message they convey through posture
the alertness seen in an expression or
the playfulness of a bell the confidence
or fear betrayed by the animals tail we
can be forgiven for thinking we already
know the wolf for in many ways we
already do genetics leaves little doubt
that domestic dogs our canine companions
are descended directly from wolves the
DNA of any dog is almost exactly the
same as that of the wolf you can see a
lot of your dog in the wolf and a lot of
your wolf and the dog they’re both
social animals and just like elephants
gorillas and whales they educate their
young take care of their injured and
live in family groups in a wolf pack
each wolf devotes itself completely to
the pups that are born to the Alpha pair
making sure that the pups grow up to be
strong and beneficial additions to the
pack only a deeply social and
family-oriented animal would demonstrate
such devotion to another’s offspring in
the Sawtooth pack two wolves were
especially close motsi the beta wolf on
the left and Lakota the Omega often hung
out together apart from the rest of the
pack motsi genuinely seemed to enjoy
Lakotas company and Lakota normally
shunned or picked upon by the rest of
the pack appeared grateful to have matzi
as a friend
Lakota here in the center receives a
reassuring glance from motsi and at
times motsi would use his size and
status to prevent conflicts and often
Lakota would look to motsi to make sure
that things didn’t get too out of hand
occasionally the pack would become
aggressive with the Omega and these
assaults and Lakota would concern the
beta wolf and frequently motsi would
actually body check the aggressors to
stop the fighting in this case however
Lakota sank to the ground worm crawled
his way out of the frenzy with motsi
Lakota was free to do things that he
wouldn’t dare do around the other wolves
he never would have jumped on another
mid-ranking wolves back to instigate
play no wolf in the pack would have
stood for that sort of audacity from an
Omega motsi on the other hand would just
let it pass not only did these two will
sleep side by side but when motsi went
exploring Lakota often followed one of
the happiest observations that we
experience in all of our time with the
pack was the sight of seeing these two
wolves frolicking together and the look
of absolute pure joy on the face of
Lakota freed for a moment from all of
his burdens wolves are not only social
animals living together as families they
are also a keystone species in that they
help manage and bring stability
two ecosystems in the 1920s wolves were
nearly completely eradicated from the
American West and then realizing that
the wolf was almost extinct in
ecosystems were falling out of balance
the US government captured wolves in
Canada and reintroduced them to
Yellowstone National Park in central
Idaho since reintroduction there have
been many improvements to ecosystems
reported by various scientific studies
for example while the Wolves were absent
for those seventy years or so elk having
few predators to prey upon them would
linger in the riparian areas along the
rivers and streams browsing on and
suppressing the new growth of Willow
Aspen and cottonwood trees today the
fear of wolves has redistributed the elk
they now prefer higher ground in other
places where they feel safer from wolves
meanwhile back along the rivers and
streams since the elk moved on the
vegetation has bounced back until
recently because the elk would eat all
the young saplings the only cottonwood
trees in the entire park were no younger
than 70 years of age trees now stabilize
the banks and provide shade and lowers
the temperature of the water making the
habitat better for trout resulting in
more and bigger fish in Yellowstone the
remains of a kill left behind by the
Wolves provides needed food for other
animals scavengers such as grizzly bears
Wolverines black bears and golden and
bald eagles just to name a very few in
Yellowstone the overpopulation of
coyotes has fallen by half the Wolves
either killed them or chase them away
this has increased the number of rodents
rabbits hares pocket gophers field mice
animals that provide food for struggling
birds of praise owls hawks and eagles
are now doing much better the drop in
the coyote population is also benefited
pronghorn antelope you see coyote
specialize in feeding and young
the lobe fawns and their mothers as they
try to protect their offsprings will do
not on top of all these ecological and
environmental improvements having wolves
back in the park draws 150,000 new
visitors to Yellowstone each year people
that come to the park just to see wolves
this is an increase of 35 million
dollars annually to the local economy so
now I’d like to bring you up to date on
what’s currently happening with wolves
in 2011
wolves were taken off the endangered
species list for the first time ever an
animal was removed from the list of
endangered species by lawmakers not
biologists the US Congress turned over
management of wolves from the federal
government to state governments now
after wolves were so carefully restored
they’re quickly being killed again of
the 1,700 wolves in the West hunters and
trappers have killed almost a thousand
in just the past 17 months the states of
Idaho Wyoming and Montana are determined
to reduce this recovering population of
wolves to a handful of individuals
scattered throughout the vast American
West the Idaho Legislature has now
allowed trappers to use the carcasses of
wolves and even dead wolf pups to bait
traps to bring in more wolves making the
quota of 16 wolves if you both hunt and
trap even easier to obtain using their
social bonds against them it’s just
using what wolves really have that makes
them wonderful wolves Montana currently
has a bill in the works that not only
prevents a buffer zone around
Yellowstone National Park but allows the
use of silencers on rifles to hunt
wolves
this isn’t about hunters putting a mount
on their wall or a rug on their floor
the problem is that several Fish and
Game agencies are enabling those who
hate wolves to do maximum damage
and they’re validating their hate
through ink through an anger through
this policy allowing a single individual
to kill 16 wolves in a season allowing
the use of dead wolves to lure their
family members to a trap allowing the
use of silencers so the loud bang does
not scare off the rest of the pack all
of these things send a message the
message is it’s okay to hate wolves and
please kill lots of them this agenda is
not shared by the majority of Americans
nor is it shared by the majority of
residents in those states driven by a
minority of hunters who kill wolves out
of anger and hatred and by some
agricultural interests this agenda is
based on two false claims that wolves
will kill all the deer and elk that
hunter’s prize and they will destroy the
livelihood of ranchers by eating all
their livestock to the contrary these
claims are just not true
elk and deer populations in Idaho
Montana and Wyoming where wolves do
mostly live are either stable or
increasing and where conflicts with
livestock do exist effective solutions
are available birthing Corral’s with
electrified fencing the use of guard
dogs and rage riders who keep a vigilant
watch over the cattle and sheep are just
a very few examples of things that
really do work an unfortunate
consequence of ranching on the open
range is that livestock frequently die
by any number of natural causes
especially weather exposure disease and
birthing complications livestock losses
to wolves had terms have turned out to
be far less than ever predicted less
than 2% of all livestock deaths are
attributed to wolves and ranchers are
compensated by any loss caused by a wolf
a growing number of ranchers are
embracing innovative suggestions and
solutions including the removal of dead
livestock which have died of natural
instead of leaving the remains behind on
the open range for carnivores to feed on
this helps to reduce the learning of bad
habits not only in wolves but in other
predators as well so to put the
population of recovering wolves into
perspective
Idaho is home to 2,500 mountain lions
20,000 black bears 50,000 coyotes and
103 thousand elk and over a year ago
before the killing began Idaho was home
to only a thousand wolves which has now
been reduced by half we feel that the
most important observation that we
experienced while living with the
Sawtooth pack was to see how these
wolves cared for one another an example
of this behavior revealed itself in the
very first year of the project with a
dark female Omega wolf that we had named
maitake maitake is the word for shadow
in the Blackfoot language and like all
Omega wolves
she was the focus of pack aggression
forced to eat last
and often picked upon as a result of her
omega status maitake would often go off
and be alone in a remote area of the
territory and it was during the time
like this that a mountain lion climbed
over the fence and killed maitake now
the story I’d like to share with you is
not how maitake died but rather how the
pack reacted to her death for the
remainder of that spring and well into
the following summer their behavior
changed and they appeared depressed
hanging their heads they drifted about
their home in a listless manner
now this Jamie had mentioned earlier we
have observed that normally Omega wolves
instigate play in an effort to diffuse
pack tension maitake was good at this
and when she died the other wolves lost
the spirit to play another indication of
their change behavior is the way they
howled howling is an exciting time for
they rally together to celebrate the
Solidarity of their family singing
together as a group the hall was
punctuated with lively hips and lines
after manutaki died their howling
changed for a time no longer a gathering
together it would howl separately and
with very little energy their
vocalizations had a mournful searching
quality to them as if they expected
maitake to return these change behaviors
continued for well over six weeks during
the time with spent with the Sawtooth
pact we watch as the Wolves built their
own society chose their own leader and
settled their differences we’ve
witnessed both physical and vocal
interactions camaraderie the reaction to
death of a pack member the digging of a
den and birth and raising a pups we even
experienced and saw sympathy guilt
sadness and joy new falling snow always
put the wolves in a playful mood the
focus of our project was to examine the
individual relationships that the Wolves
had with one another and it was here
that the more subtle signs of pact unity
revealed themselves rarely to two wolves
pass each other without rubbing
shoulders or exchanging a brief lick
often Jamie and I would see the pack
lying together curled up amongst to each
other the head of one wolf draped over
the shoulder of another in a gesture
that was both assertive yet affectionate
more than anything else this is the
behavior we hope to reveal in our books
films and presentations it is a side of
wolves that people understand the least
we really appreciate you all coming
tonight thank you
Oh
persecuted animal in all of North
America so we created an environment
where a pack of wolves could open up
their lives to us and we set out to
capture their intimate behavior to
dispel myths and show a side of wolves
it is often overlooked
this idea of mine documenting wolves
wasn’t supposed to turn out like this
when I took my first steps towards
making a film about the gray wolf I
imagined that this Kris Matic animal
would be just another subject in a
lifelong career of wildlife filmmaking
even as the project unfolded Jamie and I
look forward to future work documenting
other animals of North America and
beyond but something changed we became
spokespeople for this misunderstood
animal so in the beginning this was just
an idea for film a one-hour documentary
for television but as a subject for
filming the Wolves gave us so much more
this is because few other species
exhibit such a wide variety of
appearances and personalities and such
an expressive vocabulary of both body
language and vocalizations the most
misunderstood and persecuted animal in
all of North America can tell a pretty
good story on its own we were privileged
to be accepted as observers this is how
it all came about
our life with Wolves began over 20 years
ago when we started to build a large
enclosure in a remote area of Idaho’s
Sawtooth Mountains now there been other
studies on Loubs and there have been
other films but none had taken such a
long and intimate look at the social
structure of a pack wolves you see are
very elusive they’re extremely afraid of
people and because of this and the fact
that they are so intelligent it is
almost impossible to observe the social
behavior of wolves in the wild for
example if a wolf senses that it’s being
watched it’ll alter its behavior and
most likely depart knowing that wolves
were so sensitive and knowing that they
were also protected as an endangered
species we decided to approach this
project in a unique and unobtrusive way
a woman in Montana had inherited a pack
of wolves that she got from the US Navy
they were experimenting with him
tranquilizer drugs and after the project
they were going to euthanize him so she
took the Wolves he’s seen a film I had
produced about Cougars and thought that
I could do some good for wolves so she
contacted us we raised these wolves as
pups bottle feeding them from the moment
they opened their eyes so that would
trust us completely and regardless
without fear the enclosure which was on
the edge of wilderness with the largest
of its kind and offered a wonderful
mixture of subalpine terrain for six
years we live there with them in a
tented camp within their territory we
became a trusted and familiar presence
in their lives and because of this we
were able to observe them without
changing the way they were we let the
Wolves approach us if they wanted to if
they chose to ignore us we didn’t pursue
they would often make contact by
sniffing and even licking us for a
moment or two as we entered their
territory but we didn’t initiate the
contact wolves greet each other in the
luckily the same way here Jamie joins
the yearlings in a howl the bonds we
formed through these wolves as pups
would last throughout their lives Wolf’s
camp was a forever evolving project and
our resources were decidedly limited he
came from a woodstove shower water from
a nearby creek and melted snow and light
and cooking flame came from candles oil
and propane so here under the looming
peaks of Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains with
a special use permit from the u.s.
Forest Service we created an environment
where a pack of wolves could open up
their lives to us and accept us as just
another part of their world we call them
the Sawtooth pack and we set out to
capture their intimate behavior to
dispel myths and show a side of wolves
it is often overlooked a wolf pack is a
complex social unit an extended family
of parents siblings aunts and uncles
they’re older wolves that need to be
cared for pups that need to be educated
and young adults that are just beginning
to assert themselves all constantly
altering the dynamics of the pack now
the job of maintaining order within the
packs Falls largely to the alphas Kamat
the alpha male of the Sawtooth pack bore
the responsibility for the welfare of
the entire pack acting as its
decision-maker and alert for any signs
of danger Chinook the alpha female was
the dominant female of the pack now
alphas are the leaders of the pack they
maintain stability they’re the most
vigilant and the first to respond to
potential threats to their family late
winter is the breeding season when the
alpha male and female mate and unlike
their domestic dog cousins it occurs
only once a year and on very rare
occasions if the conditions are right
and there’s an abundant amount of prey
others in the pack may be allowed to
breed however in difficult times when
prey is scarce it’s possible for no
breeding to take place at all howling is
something that increases during the
breeding season in the sawtooth pack a
Hal would begin with a long mournful
sound usually from the alpha male
everything else in the forest would fall
silent as other members of the pack
joined in in a course that would swell
to a fabulous soulful frenzy pups are
born as winter gives way to spring in a
litter averaging of four to six they’re
born blind and toothless barely able to
crawl nestled safe in the den their
mother has dug and often this is the
same den the pack is used for
generations pups just seemed to idolize
the adult wolves in just about every way
they walk exactly where the adults walk
they sniff whatever flour the adults
sniff chew whatever bone they chew on
and mimic their every move in this
manner knowledge is passed down from
older wolves to younger wolves as they
assimilate into the adult hierarchy now
the order within a Wolf Pack hierarchy
is constantly reinforced by displays of
dominance and Submission in a complex
language of different forms of
communication vocalizations such as
growls barks yips and whines are equally
as important as the non verbal body
language of baring teeth and warning of
pending aggression or the tucking of a
tail in submission those are just a few
examples of the broad array of
communications that wolves employ to
express and maintain their status but
sadly it’s this body language that is
far too often misunderstood as being
vicious and evil but really it’s only a
language this is motsi the beta wolf the
peacemaker and puppy sitter or guardian
he was extremely crying natured he had
very protective of the pups and highly
respected by all the wolves in mid rank
now the lowest-ranking wolf in the pack
is known as the Omega
in the Sawtooth pack lakota held this
position for many years now the Omega
must constantly submit to his fellow
pack members as he’s often dominated by
them and treated as a scapegoat Lakota
was most often harassed by Amani a
mid-ranking pack member a bit of a bully
group house could be risky times real
ACOTA
here in the center he always kept his
tail tucked his shoulders hunched his
head low his ears back as he tried to
make himself as inconspicuous as
possible but interestingly the Omega was
the instigator of play and by using play
it helped alleviate pack tension
thus filling a very important role to
play within the family group no other
position requires so much diplomacy and
appeasement the better omegas ability is
to coax the others into setting aside
their pack hierarchy for a while the
better his or her life will be this is
why Aachen one of the mid-ranking path
members now the majority of wolves that
make up a pack are neither leader nor
underdog most of these mid ranking
wolves filling this vague area below the
beta and above the Omega the social
position of these wolves is more
difficult to determine through
observation because it’s rather fluid
every wolf in the pack knows its place
and the place of all the other wolves
without the stability of the family the
pack falls apart the darker side of
wolves has always appeared in folklore
fable and even in modern literature and
films misunderstanding breeds fear and
fear can breed hatred European settlers
brought an image of a savage deceitful
sinister creature to the new world and
the myths grew and grew tales like
Little Red Riding Hood were passed down
through generations
fueling terror without even being aware
of it generations of parents have
offered the prime example of the big
bad wolf in singsong fashion to their
children this 1933 sheet music of Walt
Disney’s Three Little Pigs reminds us of
the lovable carefree piglets and the
ravenous wolf lurking in the shadows
today this these fairy tales are
modernized to depict a crafty predator
that kills for the sheer joy of it
because we are unconsciously programmed
to fear the wolf we consider it a
dangerous animal many people still
believe that wolves pose a serious
threat to human life
despite volumes of evidence to the
contrary
wolves are generally afraid of people
and they avoid them along with all wild
animals such as moose bears Cougars
wolves can be dangerous but these events
are exceedingly rare for example over
the past 100 years there have been only
two cases or a wolf reportedly killed a
human being in North America wolves are
not a threat humans we recognize the
face
a broad mask the tapers gracefully into
a long muzzle we’ve looked into their
eyes bright with curiosity we understand
the message they convey through posture
the alertness seen in an expression or
the playfulness of a bell the confidence
or fear betrayed by the animals tail we
can be forgiven for thinking we already
know the wolf for in many ways we
already do genetics leaves little doubt
that domestic dogs our canine companions
are descended directly from wolves the
DNA of any dog is almost exactly the
same as that of the wolf you can see a
lot of your dog in the wolf and a lot of
your wolf and the dog they’re both
social animals and just like elephants
gorillas and whales they educate their
young take care of their injured and
live in family groups in a wolf pack
each wolf devotes itself completely to
the pups that are born to the Alpha pair
making sure that the pups grow up to be
strong and beneficial additions to the
pack only a deeply social and
family-oriented animal would demonstrate
such devotion to another’s offspring in
the Sawtooth pack two wolves were
especially close motsi the beta wolf on
the left and Lakota the Omega often hung
out together apart from the rest of the
pack motsi genuinely seemed to enjoy
Lakotas company and Lakota normally
shunned or picked upon by the rest of
the pack appeared grateful to have matzi
as a friend
Lakota here in the center receives a
reassuring glance from motsi and at
times motsi would use his size and
status to prevent conflicts and often
Lakota would look to motsi to make sure
that things didn’t get too out of hand
occasionally the pack would become
aggressive with the Omega and these
assaults and Lakota would concern the
beta wolf and frequently motsi would
actually body check the aggressors to
stop the fighting in this case however
Lakota sank to the ground worm crawled
his way out of the frenzy with motsi
Lakota was free to do things that he
wouldn’t dare do around the other wolves
he never would have jumped on another
mid-ranking wolves back to instigate
play no wolf in the pack would have
stood for that sort of audacity from an
Omega motsi on the other hand would just
let it pass not only did these two will
sleep side by side but when motsi went
exploring Lakota often followed one of
the happiest observations that we
experience in all of our time with the
pack was the sight of seeing these two
wolves frolicking together and the look
of absolute pure joy on the face of
Lakota freed for a moment from all of
his burdens wolves are not only social
animals living together as families they
are also a keystone species in that they
help manage and bring stability
two ecosystems in the 1920s wolves were
nearly completely eradicated from the
American West and then realizing that
the wolf was almost extinct in
ecosystems were falling out of balance
the US government captured wolves in
Canada and reintroduced them to
Yellowstone National Park in central
Idaho since reintroduction there have
been many improvements to ecosystems
reported by various scientific studies
for example while the Wolves were absent
for those seventy years or so elk having
few predators to prey upon them would
linger in the riparian areas along the
rivers and streams browsing on and
suppressing the new growth of Willow
Aspen and cottonwood trees today the
fear of wolves has redistributed the elk
they now prefer higher ground in other
places where they feel safer from wolves
meanwhile back along the rivers and
streams since the elk moved on the
vegetation has bounced back until
recently because the elk would eat all
the young saplings the only cottonwood
trees in the entire park were no younger
than 70 years of age trees now stabilize
the banks and provide shade and lowers
the temperature of the water making the
habitat better for trout resulting in
more and bigger fish in Yellowstone the
remains of a kill left behind by the
Wolves provides needed food for other
animals scavengers such as grizzly bears
Wolverines black bears and golden and
bald eagles just to name a very few in
Yellowstone the overpopulation of
coyotes has fallen by half the Wolves
either killed them or chase them away
this has increased the number of rodents
rabbits hares pocket gophers field mice
animals that provide food for struggling
birds of praise owls hawks and eagles
are now doing much better the drop in
the coyote population is also benefited
pronghorn antelope you see coyote
specialize in feeding and young
the lobe fawns and their mothers as they
try to protect their offsprings will do
not on top of all these ecological and
environmental improvements having wolves
back in the park draws 150,000 new
visitors to Yellowstone each year people
that come to the park just to see wolves
this is an increase of 35 million
dollars annually to the local economy so
now I’d like to bring you up to date on
what’s currently happening with wolves
in 2011
wolves were taken off the endangered
species list for the first time ever an
animal was removed from the list of
endangered species by lawmakers not
biologists the US Congress turned over
management of wolves from the federal
government to state governments now
after wolves were so carefully restored
they’re quickly being killed again of
the 1,700 wolves in the West hunters and
trappers have killed almost a thousand
in just the past 17 months the states of
Idaho Wyoming and Montana are determined
to reduce this recovering population of
wolves to a handful of individuals
scattered throughout the vast American
West the Idaho Legislature has now
allowed trappers to use the carcasses of
wolves and even dead wolf pups to bait
traps to bring in more wolves making the
quota of 16 wolves if you both hunt and
trap even easier to obtain using their
social bonds against them it’s just
using what wolves really have that makes
them wonderful wolves Montana currently
has a bill in the works that not only
prevents a buffer zone around
Yellowstone National Park but allows the
use of silencers on rifles to hunt
wolves
this isn’t about hunters putting a mount
on their wall or a rug on their floor
the problem is that several Fish and
Game agencies are enabling those who
hate wolves to do maximum damage
and they’re validating their hate
through ink through an anger through
this policy allowing a single individual
to kill 16 wolves in a season allowing
the use of dead wolves to lure their
family members to a trap allowing the
use of silencers so the loud bang does
not scare off the rest of the pack all
of these things send a message the
message is it’s okay to hate wolves and
please kill lots of them this agenda is
not shared by the majority of Americans
nor is it shared by the majority of
residents in those states driven by a
minority of hunters who kill wolves out
of anger and hatred and by some
agricultural interests this agenda is
based on two false claims that wolves
will kill all the deer and elk that
hunter’s prize and they will destroy the
livelihood of ranchers by eating all
their livestock to the contrary these
claims are just not true
elk and deer populations in Idaho
Montana and Wyoming where wolves do
mostly live are either stable or
increasing and where conflicts with
livestock do exist effective solutions
are available birthing Corral’s with
electrified fencing the use of guard
dogs and rage riders who keep a vigilant
watch over the cattle and sheep are just
a very few examples of things that
really do work an unfortunate
consequence of ranching on the open
range is that livestock frequently die
by any number of natural causes
especially weather exposure disease and
birthing complications livestock losses
to wolves had terms have turned out to
be far less than ever predicted less
than 2% of all livestock deaths are
attributed to wolves and ranchers are
compensated by any loss caused by a wolf
a growing number of ranchers are
embracing innovative suggestions and
solutions including the removal of dead
livestock which have died of natural
instead of leaving the remains behind on
the open range for carnivores to feed on
this helps to reduce the learning of bad
habits not only in wolves but in other
predators as well so to put the
population of recovering wolves into
perspective
Idaho is home to 2,500 mountain lions
20,000 black bears 50,000 coyotes and
103 thousand elk and over a year ago
before the killing began Idaho was home
to only a thousand wolves which has now
been reduced by half we feel that the
most important observation that we
experienced while living with the
Sawtooth pack was to see how these
wolves cared for one another an example
of this behavior revealed itself in the
very first year of the project with a
dark female Omega wolf that we had named
maitake maitake is the word for shadow
in the Blackfoot language and like all
Omega wolves
she was the focus of pack aggression
forced to eat last
and often picked upon as a result of her
omega status maitake would often go off
and be alone in a remote area of the
territory and it was during the time
like this that a mountain lion climbed
over the fence and killed maitake now
the story I’d like to share with you is
not how maitake died but rather how the
pack reacted to her death for the
remainder of that spring and well into
the following summer their behavior
changed and they appeared depressed
hanging their heads they drifted about
their home in a listless manner
now this Jamie had mentioned earlier we
have observed that normally Omega wolves
instigate play in an effort to diffuse
pack tension maitake was good at this
and when she died the other wolves lost
the spirit to play another indication of
their change behavior is the way they
howled howling is an exciting time for
they rally together to celebrate the
Solidarity of their family singing
together as a group the hall was
punctuated with lively hips and lines
after manutaki died their howling
changed for a time no longer a gathering
together it would howl separately and
with very little energy their
vocalizations had a mournful searching
quality to them as if they expected
maitake to return these change behaviors
continued for well over six weeks during
the time with spent with the Sawtooth
pact we watch as the Wolves built their
own society chose their own leader and
settled their differences we’ve
witnessed both physical and vocal
interactions camaraderie the reaction to
death of a pack member the digging of a
den and birth and raising a pups we even
experienced and saw sympathy guilt
sadness and joy new falling snow always
put the wolves in a playful mood the
focus of our project was to examine the
individual relationships that the Wolves
had with one another and it was here
that the more subtle signs of pact unity
revealed themselves rarely to two wolves
pass each other without rubbing
shoulders or exchanging a brief lick
often Jamie and I would see the pack
lying together curled up amongst to each
other the head of one wolf draped over
the shoulder of another in a gesture
that was both assertive yet affectionate
more than anything else this is the
behavior we hope to reveal in our books
films and presentations it is a side of
wolves that people understand the least
we really appreciate you all coming
tonight thank you
Oh
Please follow and like us: