Wolves at Our Door

They are shadow creatures whose world lies beyond the edges of our own.

Elusive, constantly wary, they loom as symbols of secrecy and menace.

Their very name, wolves, can evoke a sense of dread.

In their songs we hear the untamed call of the wild.

Since our earliest contacts, their true nature has seemed veiled in mystery.

The natives who shared with them the woods and plains of early North America

respected wolves as fellow hunters, whose success,

like that of their own tribes, depended on teamwork.

But to other societies, wolves were an evil lurking in the night.

The bloodthirsty beasts We are back in the depths of our dreams and nightmares.

Suggesting predators not merely strong, but savage.

The question still puzzles us.

Is the wolf a proud animal to be revered?

Or a devil in the dark?

Today, one wolf pack has accepted a human presence and

begun to reveal the secrets of their long, hidden lives.

In contrast to the sinister wolf of fairy tales,

recent studies reveal an animal of great complexity.

Affectionate, playful, and devoted to its companions,

it is the only large predator in North America

The wolf pack, it turns out, is not a random collection

of hunters, but an extended, closely knit family.

Mother and father, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles,

all bound in a life of mutual concern and common purpose.

In a remote area of Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains, One of these studies has

focused for six years on the behavior of a unique

family of wolves known as the sawtooth pack.

To observe animals unapproachable in the wild, the world's largest wolf enclosure

was constructed on the edge of wilderness, providing sufficient freedom for wolves,

and a tented camp for a crew of naturalists and

filmmakers who lived and worked with wolves at their door.

The project grew from filmmaker Jim Dutcher's desire to capture images of life

in a wolf pack, a nearly impossible challenge in the wild.

Wolves are so wary of humans that they're almost never seen in the wild,

let alone photographed.

I realized the only way to film such shy animals was to form a captive pack of

wolves, familiar with people, but left alone to

follow their own natural behavior, their own rules.

It was vital to gain the pack's trust so I could observe and film them in a relaxed,

untroubled state, very different from the behavior of

wolves always on guard around the scent and sight of humans.

While her husband filmed, Jamie Dutcher recorded the intricate language of wolves.

We were extremely touched by the social structure of a wolf family.

When the pack leader howls, it's often a signal for the others to gather around him.

They would pay tribute and respect by whining and licking his face.

With their heads and tails held lower than his, you could see

the strict hierarchy that maintains order within the pack.

Through displays of dominance and submission, wolves

establish a social ranking from top to bottom.

The rules can be tough, but they're a relatively

bloodless way to determine a proper place for each wolf.

It's not all competition, though.

The Dutchers often observe gestures of kindness.

People often misread dominant wolf behavior as fierceness, submission as weakness.

But in fact, such actions secure peace, strengthen bonds, and above all reassure

each wolf that it belongs to this family, This pack.

Such close cooperation can mean the difference between life and death for

animals evolved to survive by hunting as a team.

Whether the prey is a bull elk or only a snowshoe hare, wolves know each other's

skills and pursue with a coordinated strategy.

In the excitement of the hunt, confusion could mean a missed opportunity.

Such cooperation defines a wolf family.

It has been observed that wolves injured in a hunt

are often fed and cared for by the rest of the pack.

The job of maintaining pack order falls largely to the alpha, or leader.

In the sawtooth pack, the alpha is a male called Kamots.

His story began as one of several puppies raised initially in a pen at the camp.

We knew that adult wolves might never trust us, so we

began by bottle feeding pups at the age of two weeks.

By establishing a bond, we hoped that they would accept us

without fear, but we made no attempt to turn them into pets.

From the beginning, little Kamats was the most spirited.

In the first howl, he seemed to us a born alpha.

As the seasons pass, the qualities of leadership emerge more clearly in Kamats.

He moves with a confidence characteristic of alpha wolves.

Tail held high, ears forward, eyes alert.

He is large, approaching 130 pounds, and often

patrols on his own to protect the pack's territory.

The largest undertaking of its kind, situated on forest service land through a

special permit, the project affords the sawtooth pack a kind of paradise existence.

The wolves live in a setting undisturbed by civilization.

But unlike their endangered counterparts in the wild, they roam free of threats

from wolf hunters and trappers, with abundant space to

indulge in the natural inclination of wolves to play.

Encouraged by the well-being of the maturing

wolves, the Dutchess decide three years into

He's going to make all the decisions.

Yeah?

Though the puppies will be kept separate initially to grow accustomed to humans,

Jim introduces them to Kamats and the others.

The pack eagerly inspects two grey pups, a male and a female,

And a more reserved black female, the duchess named Chamook.

Though commonly grey, nearly a third of all wolves are black.

Relentlessly curious, the pups soon overrun the crew's living quarters.

Despite a resemblance to domestic dog puppies, wolf pups display greater

aggression, Revealing the innate wildness that makes wolves inappropriate as pets.

The crew notices that the black pup, Shamuk, explores mostly on her own.

As mischievous as her brother and sister, but more solitary in nature.

Okay you guys, maybe this will keep you out of trouble.

Come on.

As if foreshadowing the more severe competition to come, the puppies clash

over a food bowl as if it were a fresh kill.

Before joining the adult pack, the puppies are

moved into a fenced area surrounding the tents.

They begin to establish their own hierarchy.

But the adult wolves ensure that the skirmishes remain

harmless and a warning arises if things escalate.

Pups now almost seven weeks old begin to learn from their own kind.

The individual personalities now emerging will soon determine their roles in the

One role in the pack is not sought, but endured.

The pack Omega, lowest in rank, must constantly yield to the others,

who often treat it as a scapegoat.

In the sawtooth pack, the Omega has long been Lakota, the brother of Kamats,

the leader.

Omegas serve a useful function, often being the leader of the pack.

Jim and his mother are trying to calm down and defusing tension by initiating play.

But theirs is a difficult existence at the fringes of pack society.

After weeks had passed, Jim decides the time has come to release the pups,

now three months old, into the pack.

Pups and adults alike seem to sense It seems that something is different this day.

Befitting his authority, Kamats is the first to inspect his new charges.

Instincts govern.

The pups yield immediately, presenting their

vulnerable undersides as a sign of complete submission.

Any concern over acceptance of the pups quickly vanishes.

The entire pack seems exhilarated by their arrival.

Adult wolves love young puppies and devote themselves to protecting, teaching and

nurturing them in the first months of life.

But as they mature, the pups will have to

establish their own position in the pack hierarchy.

For the newcomers, social ranking may already be underway.

While the gray pups integrate well with the pack, the black pup, Chamook,

plays by herself.

Within a month, a harsh aspect of pack life is revealed during feeding.

Though the pack can hunt small game, the

Dutchers supplement these meals with roadkill.

Deer, elk, and antelope.

Now three and a half months and 40 pounds, the gray

pups meet no resistance as they join the feast.

But the black pup, Chamook, stops short, seeming to sense that she's unwelcome.

Tension prevails around a kill.

Tails tucked in apprehension, even the gray pups keep a wary eye

And all keep an eye on Kamats, the alpha, who wields absolute authority,

dictating who will eat and when.

Such dominance by a strong leader establishes order in the pack,

and submission, in turn, ensures harmony and stability,

enabling the group to survive as a well-knit unit.

Hoping to eat, Chamook approaches.

An alpha seems to have favorites in the pack.

No one knows why.

And the favorites can change.

But for now, Chamook is not among them.

In contrast, one adult devotes himself to looking after the pups.

Matsi, second in command as the beta wolf,

serves as the pack's puppy sitter and peacemaker.

Perhaps accumulating allies for a future role as alpha, but also benevolent in

nature, Matsi seems genuinely concerned for each youngster.

Eventually, Chumuk will be allowed to eat, but her rejection bodes well for another.

Years back in submission, Lakota the Omega seeks

acceptance from Kamats as if lobbying for a new position.

If the black pup Chamook should become an Omega, the

hostility directed at Lakota could diminish somewhat.

As the months pass, the growing pups seem completely integrated into pack life.

The vitality of the pack pleases Jim Dutcher, but he faces another concern.

Though a foundation he created ensures the pack's

future care, the permit for this land will soon expire.

He must find the pack a new home.

Questions over the future of the Sawtooth Pack draw a visitor from across the state.

To the northwest of the project lie the traditional homelands of the Nez Perce

tribe, A once powerful Indian nation that long ago befriended Lewis and Clark.

Today a member of the tribe pays a visit to

animals held in great esteem by the Nez Perce.

Tribal council member Carla High Eagle tells Jim that

her ancestors considered wolves to be animal brothers.

The present leaders of the Nez Perce want to learn more about the sawtooth pack.

Dutcher hopes the tribe might offer the wolves a permanent home similar to this

one, on their reservation in northern Idaho.

None of them will come to us if we ask them to.

Everything is on their terms.

And this is the Omega?

Yeah, and he's at the bottom of the pack, where Kamat is the leader.

Even though we have names for these wolves, they don't respond to their names.

I don't think they even know their names.

Intent on finding the pack a lasting home, Dutcher is encouraged.

The deliberations will take time, but the Nez Perce will

consider leasing land as a permanent home for the pack.

The snows of one winter seem quickly followed by the snows of the next.

As nearly two years pass, the pups turn to

full-sized pack members, still habitually playful.

Chamook, alone as a pup, is now increasingly eager to join in the play.

Chumuk's changing role seems due to encouragement by the caretaker,

Matsi, both supervisor and participant in the games.

While Lakota, the Omega, remains cautious and apart.

Chumuk may We yet avoid the lonely role of an Omega.

For wolves, as for humans, childhoods are long.

In the constant exchanges of play, lifelong bonds are formed between

individuals, and the entire family is strengthened.

For the Dutchers, life with a wolf pack imposes continual challenges.

Winters in the Sawtooth Mountains can amass 200 inches of snow or more.

They pass months bundled in layers of clothing, engaged in endless chores,