The wolf relocation programs have had a mixed record, the Dutchers think. Around Yellowstone National Park, they've been enormously successful. ("It's fantastic," says Jamie, "people have a place to see wolves and not interfere with them.") In Idaho, perhaps less so.
Their Sawtooth wolf pack is no more. After filming, the Dutchers knew the wolves were too accustomed to humans to survive in the wild. They relocated the pack to a wolf center in northern Idaho. Because wolves live only about 10 years, just a few of the animals survive today. It is, the Dutchers say, hard to visit them. But it's even worse to think that as the West fills with people, the call of the wolf will be harder to hear.
"We tried to move on to different subjects," Jamie says. "But we always kept circling back to the wolves. You have to wonder: Is there no room for an animal like a wolf here? And that is a very sad thought."
Info: Go to www.mountaineersbooks.org for the book Living with Wolves (The Mountaineers Books, 2005; $35); visit www.discovery.com for the Living with Wolves DVD ($15).
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