﻿1
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There is a place up north, far north.

2
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A place called Wolf country.

3
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When I heard that
wolves had been removed

4
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from the endangered species list,

5
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after 40 years of protection,
I was surprised.

6
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As I knew we only had
a few thousand wolves

7
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left in the country.

8
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And it troubled me that we were still

9
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so divided in our thinking

10
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about this highly intelligent species.

11
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So I decided to travel to places

12
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where they still could be found

13
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and talk to people who knew
and studied them,

14
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and somehow try to understand why

15
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there were those who still
feared and misunderstood them.

16
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Wow, it's a beautiful day.

17
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And we're headed up
to northern Minnesota

18
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to go see Jim Brandenburg.

19
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Jim Brandenburg has been photographing

20
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and writing about wolves
for over 45 years.

21
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He's known all over the world
for his study of wolves.

22
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This is a really unique area
that we're going to.

23
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It's... it's actually
called wolf country,

24
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and where Jim lives, it borders on
the boundary waters canoe area,

25
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which has a million
acres of pure wilderness.

26
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Being out here, it's very
different from where I grew up.

27
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You can see all kinds of wildlife.

28
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You can see eagles,

29
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and if you're lucky,
you might even see a wolf.

30
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This is northern Minnesota.

31
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It definitely takes
a unique and hearty person

32
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to live out here.

33
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Everybody's up here
for a different reason.

34
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My reason was to be close to the
wilderness and to photograph wolves.

35
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Or to see wolves, I didn't
have to photograph them,

36
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I just want to be around them.

37
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And it evolved, it took me years,

38
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many, many years to get
some decent photographs,

39
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so it wasn't a practical consideration,

40
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it wasn't a job, or a career move

41
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to come up here and photograph wolves,

42
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and do posters and do
books and do movies.

43
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It was just an intuitive
fire inside of me.

44
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I got into photographing
wolves and telling their story

45
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because I thought they were the most
persecuted animal in the world.

46
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More than lions, more than tigers,

47
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I really believe the wolf...
the wolf's reputation

48
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is worst, misplaced reputation
of any animal in the world.

49
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And I thought, there's a story.

50
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1968,

51
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about a mile from here, I
was walking with my camera,

52
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Nikon F manual exposure
with a 300-millimeter lens,

53
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snowshoes, on lake Juan

54
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at the end of the Fernwood
trail, which is right here,

55
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I saw a wolf before it saw me.

56
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I fell down onto the ice and the snow,

57
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crouching, thinking maybe, maybe

58
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I can sneak up on this wolf,

59
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maybe the wolf won't see me.

60
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The wolf kept coming, the wolf saw me,

61
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and it said,
"ah, is that food, is that a beaver?"

62
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"Is that a dead moose?
Is that a dead deer,

63
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is it... what is that thing?"

64
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The wolf started stalking me,
you think I was excited?

65
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That's one of my first
encounters with a wolf,

66
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and I was stalked by a wolf.

67
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I have photographs to prove it.

68
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Not just a story.

69
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I cherish those photographs,

70
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but you should see the look
in that wolf's face

71
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when it finally decided
that I was a human.

72
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That's when I knew that
wolves were slightly

73
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different than what I thought they were.

74
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I could see all the embarrassment

75
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condensed in one expression,
and walking away,

76
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like, "well you fooled me for a second,
but don't tell anybody."

77
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That whole...

78
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the series of photographs is precious,

79
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I never even published it.

80
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Steve Piragis and his wife

81
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have lived up on the edge of
the boundary waters canoe area

82
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for over 35 years,

83
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outside of a town called Ely, Minnesota,

84
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which is the closest town
to wolf country,

85
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with a population of 3,500 people.

86
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They came and fell in love
with the wilderness

87
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and decided to make it
their permanent home.

88
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Now it's their backyard.

89
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They have an outfitting company,

90
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Piragis northwoods company,

91
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where they lead canoe excursions,

92
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including howling for wolves canoe trip.

93
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You know, I mean,
we enjoy that we live in a place

94
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that's wild enough that
we have wild wolves

95
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in our neighborhood,
and we hear 'em howling,

96
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and I mean, I had a great
experience with wolves, myself,

97
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oh, just a half... oh, about
a mile actually, from here,

98
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when I was out on a run,
very unusual opportunity

99
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to see wolves close up.

100
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There was, uh... two adults

101
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and two... two very young pups.

102
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Uh, it was in may, so it was probably...

103
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they were probably
six or eight weeks old,

104
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and they were down in kind
of a hollow in a clear cut,

105
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so I could... as I ran along the road,

106
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I could see these four wolves,

107
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two adults, two pups.

108
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And, uh... they saw me,

109
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and the mom, I assume the mom,

110
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kind of a large Grey wolf,

111
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and the other one's a very dark wolf,

112
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much smaller, um,

113
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the mom kind of scurried
up into the woods

114
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and made a high-pitched caw, a very
high-pitched screaming kind of caw,

115
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and everybody followed her up into
the woods. The babies stopped,

116
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they were just rolling over each other

117
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like two little pups having fun,

118
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and the mom started,
you know, alerting them,

119
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and they walked up into
the woods together.

120
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So I go around the backside of the hill,

121
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and I imitated this little sound,

122
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this... this high-pitched
call that the mom was doing,

123
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and lo and behold, out of the
woods come the two pups.

124
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Like right to me,

125
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right within four feet of me.

126
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And... they... you know, they thought
I was the mom calling to them.

127
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So, uh, I said, wow, this is...

128
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this is pretty neat,

129
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and, uh... within seconds later,

130
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the trees kind of
start shaking down the hill,

131
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and down the hill comes the mom,

132
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making a... a show of it
by shaking the trees.

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Shows up right in front
of me with the two pups,

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looks at me, and runs away.

135
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And I thought, that's fairly unusual

136
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for the mom to run away.

137
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And a couple seconds later,
back she comes,

138
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same thing, trees shaking, you know,

139
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and this time she stands over the pups,

140
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I'm probably 12 feet away at the most.

141
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Stands over the pups,

142
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all of the hackles on the back
of her neck come up,

143
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her head low... lowers down,
she's looking straight at me,

144
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and goes "woof."

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And I said, you know, intellectually,

146
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that was the one time
I was a little afraid

147
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Of wolves.

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The place we meet wolves
for the first time

149
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is in that fantastic story
of little red riding hood.

150
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And it's not a very
complimentary story to wolves,

151
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it in fact is one of the
first fear characters

152
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that we, as children, engage with.

153
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These all relate to some
of the myths around

154
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wolves. And... and they're dangerous,

155
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because they're not accounts
of the actual wolves,

156
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they're not accounts F real, live wolves

157
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and the behaviors that wolves engage in.

158
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My God!

159
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No!

160
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The werewolf, the loup-garou, was...

161
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was a... is a mischievous creature

162
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that will come at night
and steal your shoes.

163
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So you wake up in the
morning, where are my shoes?

164
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Oh, they took it, right,
and so you go into the forest

165
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looking for this creature that is
hiding behind the tree with your shoes.

166
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And all of a sudden,
it became this, you know,

167
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blood-thirsty animal
that will steal your kid,

168
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not your shoes.

169
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The risk of being injured,

170
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or killed by a wolf
is... is... is minuscule.

171
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If you are afraid of a wolf,

172
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your car keys
should be taken away from you,

173
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because you're far more likely
to get in a car wreck,

174
00:10:39,140 --> 00:10:40,975
you shouldn't step in an airplane,

175
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you shouldn't go outside if there's
lightning anywhere nearby,

176
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these are all far, far more common
causes of injury and death.

177
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And so wolves, simply, uh, are
not a threat to human beings,

178
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it's just a... it's a
silly thing to think so.

179
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The wolf made a decision

180
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to join the human family.

181
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Somehow, someway, because they fit in.

182
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Why did the wolf come into the human
family 40... 50... 60,000 years ago,

183
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and the cat didn't, or the horse didn't?

184
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Because it seemed to be a little
more of an easy partnership.

185
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They blended in a little bit better.

186
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That was a decision that the wolf made

187
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for sustainability and survivability.

188
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Do you think there are
more dogs in the world

189
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than wolves right now?

190
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How many millions and millions
of dogs are there in the world?

191
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That's... that's the wolf.

192
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The wolf decided that somehow.

193
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It's clear that the evolution
of the wolf to the dog

194
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has had a huge impact on man.

195
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Think of the many gifts from the wolf.

196
00:11:43,704 --> 00:11:47,375
Seeing eye dogs, service animals,

197
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even companionship.

198
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Scientific studies have even proven

199
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that people live longer that have dogs.

200
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And the wolf is more intelligent,

201
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has advanced senses, and a bigger brain.

202
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We're similar to them,
they're not similar to us.

203
00:12:04,358 --> 00:12:09,430
It's very interesting, because I mean,
we learn our initial programming,

204
00:12:09,463 --> 00:12:11,532
a lot of it, we learn from them.

205
00:12:11,565 --> 00:12:15,036
On average, a wolf walks for
about eight hours of every day,

206
00:12:15,069 --> 00:12:16,437
and they can walk at quite a clip,

207
00:12:16,470 --> 00:12:19,073
they can walk
at four to six Miles an hour,

208
00:12:19,107 --> 00:12:21,976
and so if you wanna know what
it's like to be a wolf, walk.

209
00:12:22,010 --> 00:12:25,713
And just keep walking, and walk and
walk and walk. Walk day after day.

210
00:12:25,746 --> 00:12:29,183
This is a big, big part of what the life
of a wolf is all about, is walking.

211
00:12:29,217 --> 00:12:30,451
It's the simplest thing.

212
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And the next most important thing

213
00:12:32,586 --> 00:12:36,424
is... is also something that's very,
very closely related to humans,

214
00:12:36,457 --> 00:12:38,591
is just that wolves live in
families, they live in packs.

215
00:12:38,592 --> 00:12:40,694
And a pack is basically a family unit,

216
00:12:40,728 --> 00:12:43,697
and while wolves spend about eight
hours of every day walking,

217
00:12:43,731 --> 00:12:47,535
they spend about eight hours of every
day socializing with their pack mates.

218
00:12:47,568 --> 00:12:49,637
And so if you like living
in your family,

219
00:12:49,670 --> 00:12:53,541
and if you like walking, you have a
great deal in common with wolves,

220
00:12:53,574 --> 00:12:56,477
and the next most important
thing to know about wolves

221
00:12:56,510 --> 00:12:58,612
is how it is that they get their food.

222
00:12:58,646 --> 00:13:01,182
They eat things that are
generally bigger than them.

223
00:13:01,215 --> 00:13:03,517
Sometimes up to 10 times their size.

224
00:13:03,551 --> 00:13:06,720
And so wolves capture their
food, whether it's a moose,

225
00:13:06,754 --> 00:13:10,458
or a deer, or an elk, they do it
by killing it with their teeth.

226
00:13:10,491 --> 00:13:14,662
Imagine killing something that's 10
times your size with your teeth,

227
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and that's the only way
you're gonna get to eat.

228
00:13:17,165 --> 00:13:20,734
And so it's incredibly heroic,
it's incredibly dangerous

229
00:13:20,768 --> 00:13:23,237
uh, to be able to get food in this way.

230
00:13:23,271 --> 00:13:28,076
Um, wolf is capable of living
to about 12 years of age,

231
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but their life expectancy
is about four years of age,

232
00:13:31,312 --> 00:13:33,681
and one of the most common
causes of death is starvation,

233
00:13:33,714 --> 00:13:35,649
the inability to get enough food,

234
00:13:35,683 --> 00:13:39,053
and it's just because it's
really hard to kill something

235
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that's 10 times your size
with your teeth.

236
00:13:45,093 --> 00:13:47,628
I grew up in this hunting culture

237
00:13:47,661 --> 00:13:50,164
where you defined
your worth, in some ways,

238
00:13:50,198 --> 00:13:51,598
by how many pheasants you could shoot,

239
00:13:51,599 --> 00:13:54,235
or how many ducks you could get,

240
00:13:54,268 --> 00:13:56,237
and what kind of a trophy you could get.

241
00:13:56,270 --> 00:13:59,107
The biggest buck
with the biggest antlers,

242
00:13:59,140 --> 00:14:01,509
and if you could go shoot a wolf,

243
00:14:01,542 --> 00:14:04,212
pfft, you're a real man.

244
00:14:04,245 --> 00:14:06,147
One day I found myself heading north

245
00:14:06,180 --> 00:14:08,282
with some friends
from Hardwick, Minnesota,

246
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they were probably 10
years older than me,

247
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they were going to go wolf hunting.

248
00:14:14,388 --> 00:14:16,557
Okay, it's not the ultimate animal,

249
00:14:16,590 --> 00:14:18,392
maybe it is back then.

250
00:14:18,426 --> 00:14:20,094
There was a bounty on wolves.

251
00:14:20,128 --> 00:14:22,696
A 50-dollar bounty.
What does that mean?

252
00:14:22,730 --> 00:14:27,301
It means that, culturally, it was
a value to kill them, right?

253
00:14:27,335 --> 00:14:29,670
So us naive prairie kids...

254
00:14:29,703 --> 00:14:33,341
I imagine they were in
their 20s, and I was 15...

255
00:14:33,374 --> 00:14:36,877
let's go up north, go look for
wolves, and go hunt them.

256
00:14:36,910 --> 00:14:40,448
So I had a m-1 carbine,
world war ii vintage

257
00:14:40,481 --> 00:14:44,385
that I got from NRA,
but I was a young boy

258
00:14:44,418 --> 00:14:47,121
expressing my cultural norm,

259
00:14:47,155 --> 00:14:48,588
and if I could go up and kill a wolf,

260
00:14:48,589 --> 00:14:51,325
I would be the hero of my town,

261
00:14:51,359 --> 00:14:54,662
it'd be in the newspaper,
there'd be pictures.

262
00:14:54,695 --> 00:14:56,764
So I went up north with
my friends and looked,

263
00:14:56,797 --> 00:15:00,634
walked through the woods, and... scared.

264
00:15:00,668 --> 00:15:03,704
Scared that I'd see a wolf,
scared that I wouldn't.

265
00:15:03,737 --> 00:15:05,938
I was good shot, and if I saw
one, I might have killed it.

266
00:15:05,939 --> 00:15:08,809
Didn't see one, didn't see any tracks.

267
00:15:11,579 --> 00:15:12,779
To me, the ultimate question is,

268
00:15:12,780 --> 00:15:15,583
why do you kill the things you love?

269
00:15:15,616 --> 00:15:16,683
I think it's a primal thing.

270
00:15:16,684 --> 00:15:19,153
It's a male thing.

271
00:15:19,187 --> 00:15:22,423
Uh, we go back 30,000 years
to the cave paintings

272
00:15:22,456 --> 00:15:25,926
in Glasgow and Southern France.

273
00:15:25,959 --> 00:15:29,463
Picasso said it's the most
beautiful art man's ever created,

274
00:15:29,497 --> 00:15:31,532
we can't even equal that.

275
00:15:31,565 --> 00:15:35,869
They love them, but they killed as
many as they could to eat them.

276
00:15:35,903 --> 00:15:39,440
So it's in our genes, I mean, for
thousands and thousands and thousands

277
00:15:39,473 --> 00:15:42,176
and thousands of years, we hunted.

278
00:15:42,210 --> 00:15:46,914
We forget that sometimes,
I think, in this century.

279
00:15:46,947 --> 00:15:48,682
It wasn't that long ago,

280
00:15:48,716 --> 00:15:52,286
we depended upon
the weapon bow and arrow,

281
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,424
atlatl, spear, gun,

282
00:15:56,457 --> 00:15:59,360
to go out and keep our families alive

283
00:15:59,393 --> 00:16:01,595
and keep ourselves fed.

284
00:16:01,629 --> 00:16:03,364
Well we haven't evolved past that,

285
00:16:03,397 --> 00:16:05,366
we still have that strange
kind of an instinct

286
00:16:05,399 --> 00:16:07,501
we wanna quest, we wanna hunt,

287
00:16:07,535 --> 00:16:10,304
it's very powerful.

288
00:16:10,338 --> 00:16:11,804
Most of the stuff of what we do in life

289
00:16:11,805 --> 00:16:14,808
is a gradual slide into a consciousness,

290
00:16:14,842 --> 00:16:16,544
or a point of view.

291
00:16:16,577 --> 00:16:18,712
Some of us reach those points

292
00:16:18,746 --> 00:16:20,714
where something happens
one day and it changes,

293
00:16:20,748 --> 00:16:23,451
and you meet someone,

294
00:16:23,484 --> 00:16:26,687
you read a book, you watch a movie.

295
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,323
This particular day, I was 14 years old,

296
00:16:29,357 --> 00:16:31,559
up in a state park
near Luverne, Minnesota

297
00:16:31,592 --> 00:16:34,995
where I grew up, and I was a
fox hunter at this point.

298
00:16:35,028 --> 00:16:38,499
I killed fox for a living,
and I liked it.

299
00:16:38,532 --> 00:16:41,369
The most... one of the most
exciting times of my life.

300
00:16:41,402 --> 00:16:43,904
Yet, I love fox.

301
00:16:43,937 --> 00:16:46,006
Outwit them.

302
00:16:46,039 --> 00:16:48,976
Not easy to kill a fox,
they're very smart.

303
00:16:49,009 --> 00:16:52,613
You have to be pretty good
at tracking and watching,

304
00:16:52,646 --> 00:16:54,948
and you have to be a good shot.

305
00:16:54,982 --> 00:16:59,253
But there's a certain point you
evolve somehow, you change.

306
00:16:59,287 --> 00:17:02,456
The camera just happened
to come into my life somehow,

307
00:17:02,490 --> 00:17:05,025
as the artist.

308
00:17:05,058 --> 00:17:07,795
I was up in the blue mountains
with my camera, instead of my gun,

309
00:17:09,497 --> 00:17:11,665
and I saw a fox off in the distance.

310
00:17:11,699 --> 00:17:15,469
Well I learned from an old
friend of mine, Jeff Cooney,

311
00:17:15,503 --> 00:17:18,339
10 years older than me,
that did the same thing,

312
00:17:18,372 --> 00:17:20,541
how to squeak like a mouse

313
00:17:20,574 --> 00:17:22,410
to make the fox think
there's a free meal,

314
00:17:22,443 --> 00:17:24,545
so I hid behind a rock and went...

315
00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:28,482
The fox came running, I peeked up,

316
00:17:28,516 --> 00:17:30,851
just as the fox came within
maybe 10 feet,

317
00:17:30,884 --> 00:17:34,288
made a click with my three-dollar
plastic Argus camera,

318
00:17:34,322 --> 00:17:35,789
I was like, "wow, that's amazing."

319
00:17:35,823 --> 00:17:38,892
Then I got a picture back a week later.

320
00:17:38,926 --> 00:17:42,363
You take it to the drugstore... black
and white film, it's a process,

321
00:17:42,396 --> 00:17:43,563
they come back with a little print,

322
00:17:43,564 --> 00:17:46,800
and magic.

323
00:17:46,834 --> 00:17:48,336
I shot the fox.

324
00:17:48,369 --> 00:17:49,803
I captured, there's my trophy.

325
00:17:49,837 --> 00:17:51,339
There's my bragging point.

326
00:17:51,372 --> 00:17:52,740
I don't have a fox skin,

327
00:17:52,773 --> 00:17:55,709
I have a photograph.
This is even better.

328
00:17:55,743 --> 00:17:59,847
I can put it on the wall
and the fox is still alive.

329
00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:01,749
It didn't take long.

330
00:18:01,782 --> 00:18:07,388
From that moment on,
it was a different story.

331
00:18:07,421 --> 00:18:10,057
And I'm still doing the same thing.

332
00:18:10,090 --> 00:18:12,460
I'm still a hunter.

333
00:18:12,493 --> 00:18:16,630
I'm... I'm still tricking
animals, sneaking up on them.

334
00:18:28,742 --> 00:18:30,978
Jim had met Will Steger in the 80's,

335
00:18:31,011 --> 00:18:35,082
and the two embarked on a well-known
expedition to the north pole.

336
00:18:35,115 --> 00:18:38,419
Jim had heard about the white
wolf not being afraid of man,

337
00:18:38,452 --> 00:18:42,356
and became fascinated with an idea
of a similar mission to the arctic.

338
00:18:42,390 --> 00:18:44,525
And the unique opportunity to document,

339
00:18:44,558 --> 00:18:46,527
and live with wolves in the wild.

340
00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:49,563
Less than 500 Miles from the north pole

341
00:18:49,597 --> 00:18:52,566
lies Canada's most distant frontier,

342
00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:54,868
Ellesmere island.

343
00:18:58,171 --> 00:19:00,541
Only someone with a passion for wolves

344
00:19:00,574 --> 00:19:04,412
would dream of tracking them
into this desolate land.

345
00:19:06,013 --> 00:19:10,083
One such person is
photographer Jim Brandenburg.

346
00:19:10,117 --> 00:19:12,486
Wolves have always
been a favorite animal of mine,

347
00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:14,587
and I suppose one of the reasons
they're my favorite animal

348
00:19:14,588 --> 00:19:16,724
is because they're so intelligent.

349
00:19:16,757 --> 00:19:20,494
That intelligence makes it, uh...
nearly impossible to film them

350
00:19:20,528 --> 00:19:21,729
in a more conventional place,

351
00:19:21,762 --> 00:19:24,565
say in the forested areas.

352
00:19:24,598 --> 00:19:26,867
And for some reason these arctic wolves

353
00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:28,702
have... have got a quality about them

354
00:19:28,736 --> 00:19:30,604
where they tolerated us very well,

355
00:19:30,638 --> 00:19:32,005
and it became clear

356
00:19:32,039 --> 00:19:34,074
that it would make a wonderful story.

357
00:19:41,782 --> 00:19:44,752
In 1986, Jim's white wolf premiered

358
00:19:44,785 --> 00:19:48,956
at the Sundance film festival and
won numerous prestigious awards.

359
00:19:50,724 --> 00:19:53,193
White wolf also became
a best-selling book,

360
00:19:53,226 --> 00:19:54,828
and was the cover story

361
00:19:54,862 --> 00:19:58,632
for the national geographic magazine.

362
00:19:58,666 --> 00:20:00,067
When I was involved in that,

363
00:20:00,100 --> 00:20:02,202
I felt this is the
highlight of my career,

364
00:20:02,235 --> 00:20:03,537
I will never equal it,

365
00:20:03,571 --> 00:20:06,006
except one thing maybe.

366
00:20:06,039 --> 00:20:09,510
If a bunch of aliens had
popped down on my property

367
00:20:09,543 --> 00:20:11,979
and said, "Jim, come with us
on our spaceship,

368
00:20:12,012 --> 00:20:13,681
we're gonna go off to another planet."

369
00:20:13,714 --> 00:20:15,549
I'm... I'm kidding.
It sounds funny,

370
00:20:15,583 --> 00:20:18,552
this is my... this is a
true conception I thought,

371
00:20:18,586 --> 00:20:20,988
when I was in the middle of
the white wolf experience,

372
00:20:21,021 --> 00:20:23,223
I thought, I will never equal this,

373
00:20:23,256 --> 00:20:24,625
and I was right.

374
00:20:24,658 --> 00:20:26,159
I've never equaled it since.

375
00:20:26,193 --> 00:20:30,097
Our tent, in research,

376
00:20:30,130 --> 00:20:34,034
was within a five-minute walk
of the den.

377
00:20:34,067 --> 00:20:36,670
Lived right with them, as a family.

378
00:20:36,704 --> 00:20:38,137
We had problems with the white wolves

379
00:20:38,138 --> 00:20:42,009
coming stealing
our stuff out of the tent.

380
00:20:42,042 --> 00:20:43,877
So, it's very different than here,

381
00:20:43,911 --> 00:20:47,114
the wolves up there were
kind of blase about humans.

382
00:20:47,147 --> 00:20:51,184
To see a wolf here, back
in those days, was rare.

383
00:20:51,218 --> 00:20:53,887
I know people in Ely that
spent a lifetime here

384
00:20:53,921 --> 00:20:56,790
and never saw a wild wolf.

385
00:21:03,196 --> 00:21:06,600
At times, it pays to speak wolf.

386
00:21:18,278 --> 00:21:20,080
The Alpha male, the leader of the pack,

387
00:21:20,113 --> 00:21:22,816
the father of the pups, the boss

388
00:21:22,850 --> 00:21:25,986
injured his paw for about three weeks.

389
00:21:26,019 --> 00:21:28,055
He was injured, couldn't really hunt.

390
00:21:28,088 --> 00:21:30,524
The rest of the pack took care of him.

391
00:21:30,558 --> 00:21:32,159
Saw it, I mean it was clear.

392
00:21:32,192 --> 00:21:35,663
They had babysitters,
scruffy, we called him.

393
00:21:35,696 --> 00:21:37,698
The pack would go off hunting.

394
00:21:37,731 --> 00:21:40,000
Scruffy around the pack
would be very submissive,

395
00:21:40,033 --> 00:21:44,805
and wolves are like humans. And
they beat up one another other,

396
00:21:44,838 --> 00:21:47,675
you see a weak one, that, uh, was the...

397
00:21:47,708 --> 00:21:50,544
the... in every class of 30 kids,

398
00:21:50,578 --> 00:21:52,546
there's always one kid
that everybody picks on.

399
00:21:52,580 --> 00:21:54,782
Not everybody, but, they get picked on.

400
00:21:54,815 --> 00:21:57,217
Wolf pack's the same way.

401
00:21:57,250 --> 00:22:00,320
This scruffy animal we called scruffy,

402
00:22:00,353 --> 00:22:02,556
the rest of the wolves
beat him up all the time.

403
00:22:02,590 --> 00:22:04,758
Constantly were picking
on him, and chewing on him,

404
00:22:04,792 --> 00:22:06,960
well when the rest
of the pack went off hunting,

405
00:22:06,994 --> 00:22:10,964
scruffy was the designated babysitter.
Scruffy did that to the pups.

406
00:22:10,998 --> 00:22:16,904
Scruffy was the big boss and it was very
subtle complex behavior with wolves.

407
00:22:16,937 --> 00:22:20,240
I saw stuff that mimicked
a lot of human behavior.

408
00:22:20,273 --> 00:22:23,777
Aunts and uncles, and children,
and brothers, and sisters

409
00:22:23,811 --> 00:22:25,879
taking care of the pack.

410
00:22:25,913 --> 00:22:30,951
Not just casually,
but very tight family unit.

411
00:22:30,984 --> 00:22:35,823
The very last day, as we packed up,

412
00:22:35,856 --> 00:22:38,626
the den was about seven Miles
away from the landing strip,

413
00:22:38,659 --> 00:22:42,730
a little... it was a very small
remote landing strip, and...

414
00:22:45,398 --> 00:22:47,635
we got in the airplane,
packed the stuff up,

415
00:22:47,668 --> 00:22:52,105
the lump in my throat was as
big as the airplane itself.

416
00:22:52,139 --> 00:22:55,075
I looked out the window, and there was
the family of wolves sitting there,

417
00:22:55,108 --> 00:22:57,745
like they were saying goodbye.

418
00:22:57,778 --> 00:23:01,181
Next to the landing
strip as we taxied off

419
00:23:01,214 --> 00:23:04,017
and took off.

420
00:23:04,051 --> 00:23:09,690
And I think of that as a story
that someone would make up,

421
00:23:09,723 --> 00:23:13,193
but on my mother's grave
it's a true story.

422
00:23:13,226 --> 00:23:15,195
I haven't been back since.

423
00:23:20,133 --> 00:23:24,004
In the words of author Barry Lopez,

424
00:23:24,037 --> 00:23:26,273
"and to approach them slowly in terms

425
00:23:26,306 --> 00:23:31,845
of the Western imagination
is really to deny the animal."

426
00:23:31,879 --> 00:23:34,314
"It behooves us to visit with the people

427
00:23:34,347 --> 00:23:38,218
whom we share a planet,
and an interest in wolves,

428
00:23:38,251 --> 00:23:41,955
but who themselves come
from a different time space,

429
00:23:41,989 --> 00:23:45,392
and who, so far as we know,

430
00:23:45,425 --> 00:23:50,698
are very much closer to the wolf
than we will ever be."

431
00:24:05,813 --> 00:24:08,115
James Taylor called one day,

432
00:24:08,148 --> 00:24:13,854
the singer, wanted me to help
him with an album cover.

433
00:24:13,887 --> 00:24:16,757
He wanted a wolf on the album
cover, and that surprised me.

434
00:24:16,790 --> 00:24:18,325
His album, "never die young."

435
00:24:24,331 --> 00:24:26,166
I didn't think he knew
much about wolves,

436
00:24:26,199 --> 00:24:27,434
but he knew a lot about wolves.

437
00:24:27,467 --> 00:24:29,903
Came up here and saw wolves.

438
00:24:29,937 --> 00:24:33,373
I asked him if he'd do a benefit
concert for wolves, and he said yes.

439
00:24:33,406 --> 00:24:36,143
We did two of them.
One in Minneapolis,

440
00:24:36,176 --> 00:24:38,445
one in Madison, Wisconsin.

441
00:24:38,478 --> 00:24:40,748
Raised some nice money,

442
00:24:40,781 --> 00:24:44,785
some of that money went to
the defenders of wildlife,

443
00:24:44,818 --> 00:24:47,855
defenders of wildlife leveraged
that up into a... a program

444
00:24:47,888 --> 00:24:52,726
to give the ratchers over
on Yellowstone an excuse

445
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:55,829
to allow the reintroduction
of wolves into Yellowstone

446
00:24:55,863 --> 00:25:01,802
by paying for the cows that the wolves
killed off the park properties.

447
00:25:01,835 --> 00:25:04,204
So in a tiny, small way,

448
00:25:04,237 --> 00:25:08,408
James Taylor and I
had a fairly significant role

449
00:25:08,441 --> 00:25:13,280
in opening up that dam to let the
wolf be reintroduced to Yellowstone.

450
00:25:13,313 --> 00:25:17,384
We didn't know if the wolf would
survive in Yellowstone, particularly.

451
00:25:17,417 --> 00:25:19,753
They thrived.

452
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,017
When the wolf returned to Yellowstone,

453
00:25:50,050 --> 00:25:53,320
after an absence of over 65 years,

454
00:25:53,353 --> 00:25:57,090
scientists discovered
an ecological phenomenon

455
00:25:57,124 --> 00:26:00,193
called the trophic cascade.

456
00:26:00,227 --> 00:26:03,831
"Trophic" refers to the
different levels of the food chain,

457
00:26:03,864 --> 00:26:06,967
plant being one, insects the next,

458
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,401
all the way up the ladder.

459
00:26:08,435 --> 00:26:11,004
And the wolf had a cascading effect.

460
00:26:11,038 --> 00:26:14,107
The elk and deer grew stronger,

461
00:26:14,141 --> 00:26:18,011
the aspens and willows flourished,

462
00:26:18,045 --> 00:26:21,849
even the grass grew taller.

463
00:26:21,882 --> 00:26:26,954
And the most fascinating, was
that the rivers were covered,

464
00:26:26,987 --> 00:26:29,556
along with its many inhabitants.

465
00:26:32,525 --> 00:26:35,062
Despite being small in numbers,

466
00:26:35,095 --> 00:26:39,900
this top predator would not
only transform the ecosystem,

467
00:26:39,933 --> 00:26:43,070
but also, its physical geography.

468
00:26:46,439 --> 00:26:51,879
A magical story of ecology and a
missing piece being put back in.

469
00:26:51,912 --> 00:26:54,547
Sometimes I say once you break
something in the environment

470
00:26:54,581 --> 00:26:56,316
you can't fix it.

471
00:26:56,349 --> 00:26:59,086
That's magical.
I'm very proud of that.

472
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,322
And every time you listen
to a James Taylor song,

473
00:27:02,355 --> 00:27:04,291
think of that and thank him.

474
00:27:13,466 --> 00:27:15,102
Good shot.

475
00:27:27,147 --> 00:27:29,449
That's the end of her.

476
00:27:29,482 --> 00:27:34,021
Then, in 2011, something shifted.

477
00:27:34,054 --> 00:27:35,989
Despite a sea-change of attitude

478
00:27:36,023 --> 00:27:38,425
about this iconic species,

479
00:27:38,458 --> 00:27:42,495
president Obama signed off
on de-listing the wolf.

480
00:27:42,529 --> 00:27:45,298
The same year,
state legislatures in the west

481
00:27:45,332 --> 00:27:47,935
pushed through a wolf
hunting and trapping bill

482
00:27:47,968 --> 00:27:52,139
that would put the collared wolves
in Yellowstone in jeopardy.

483
00:27:52,172 --> 00:27:56,143
Soon, gunshots were
reported around the globe,

484
00:27:56,176 --> 00:27:57,911
and millions mourn the death

485
00:27:57,945 --> 00:28:00,647
of the most famous wolf in the world.

486
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:05,485
Researchers knew her
as the Alpha female 832f,

487
00:28:05,518 --> 00:28:09,156
but to many, she was known as 06.

488
00:28:10,623 --> 00:28:12,926
And this is where wolves are revealing

489
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,429
in, in our... in humans,
what might be a great failing.

490
00:28:16,463 --> 00:28:18,465
And, and... the concern
is this basically,

491
00:28:18,498 --> 00:28:22,569
it's just that, as a country
we don't know how to answer

492
00:28:22,602 --> 00:28:25,005
this very simple question, which is,

493
00:28:25,038 --> 00:28:26,606
what is an endangered species?

494
00:28:26,639 --> 00:28:28,976
And there's definitely controversy

495
00:28:29,009 --> 00:28:30,577
about how to interpret that phrase

496
00:28:30,610 --> 00:28:34,281
and what it means,
but whatever it means,

497
00:28:34,314 --> 00:28:37,250
occupying 15% of the historic range

498
00:28:37,284 --> 00:28:40,487
could not possibly count as recovery.

499
00:28:47,260 --> 00:28:49,696
And snaring,
I wasn't even aware of snaring.

500
00:28:49,729 --> 00:28:51,198
I mean, I had heard of it.

501
00:28:51,231 --> 00:28:52,711
I learned about that during this time,

502
00:28:52,732 --> 00:28:57,404
and now I'm just so appalled
that 75% of the wolves

503
00:28:57,437 --> 00:28:59,339
that were killed during
the trapping season

504
00:28:59,372 --> 00:29:01,341
were killed by snaring.

505
00:29:01,374 --> 00:29:04,244
The trap itself is created in such a way

506
00:29:04,277 --> 00:29:08,015
that it will catch any animal
that steps into it.

507
00:29:08,048 --> 00:29:11,618
And that mean... would mean
not only the target animal,

508
00:29:11,651 --> 00:29:13,286
which in this instance
would be the wolf,

509
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:18,091
but any other animal
that steps into that trap.

510
00:29:18,125 --> 00:29:19,492
A beautiful male coyote,

511
00:29:19,526 --> 00:29:21,128
a three-to four-year-old male coyote

512
00:29:21,161 --> 00:29:24,397
was caught in a wildlife services trap.

513
00:29:24,431 --> 00:29:27,667
And it appeared to us that this
animal had been in this trap,

514
00:29:27,700 --> 00:29:31,438
from the extent of
its injuries in the tissue,

515
00:29:31,471 --> 00:29:33,306
for anywhere from a week minimum,

516
00:29:33,340 --> 00:29:35,608
but possibly two weeks.

517
00:29:35,642 --> 00:29:38,478
As we investigated
the situation, looked around,

518
00:29:38,511 --> 00:29:41,114
we found other coyote tracks

519
00:29:41,148 --> 00:29:44,551
within his area, right around
him and in the snow around him.

520
00:29:44,584 --> 00:29:48,055
And what was interesting
is it appeared to us that

521
00:29:48,088 --> 00:29:50,423
possibly his mate, or another coyote,

522
00:29:50,457 --> 00:29:52,392
was actually helping him survive,

523
00:29:52,425 --> 00:29:55,362
was actually protecting him
against other predators,

524
00:29:55,395 --> 00:29:59,399
and probably bringing him food, too.

525
00:29:59,432 --> 00:30:01,568
If the American public saw this

526
00:30:01,601 --> 00:30:05,538
and understood the brutality
and the cruelty of this,

527
00:30:05,572 --> 00:30:09,576
that this program would
be ended very quickly.

528
00:30:09,609 --> 00:30:13,346
I often ask people who abuse animals

529
00:30:13,380 --> 00:30:15,215
and do nasty things to animals,

530
00:30:15,248 --> 00:30:17,550
"would you do it to your dog?"

531
00:30:17,584 --> 00:30:19,786
And some people don't like to hear that

532
00:30:19,819 --> 00:30:22,722
because it puts them
in a very uneasy space.

533
00:30:22,755 --> 00:30:24,657
And, you know, thank goodness,

534
00:30:24,691 --> 00:30:27,694
if I've talked to somebody
who's, you know, trapped a wolf,

535
00:30:27,727 --> 00:30:30,097
shot a wolf, done something harm...

536
00:30:30,130 --> 00:30:34,301
poisoned prairie dogs,
um, harmed coyotes,

537
00:30:34,334 --> 00:30:36,836
and I say well,
"would you do it to you dog?"

538
00:30:36,869 --> 00:30:39,272
They go,
"well no, of course I wouldn't."

539
00:30:39,306 --> 00:30:42,475
And then I'll say, "well how come
you can do it to another animal

540
00:30:42,509 --> 00:30:45,178
who is also sentient and conscious

541
00:30:45,212 --> 00:30:46,546
and feels pain?"

542
00:30:46,579 --> 00:30:49,182
And oftentimes, with a lot of people,

543
00:30:49,216 --> 00:30:50,683
there's a pause.

544
00:30:50,717 --> 00:30:52,719
And it's an important pause, I think,

545
00:30:52,752 --> 00:30:54,821
because they haven't ever put their dog

546
00:30:54,854 --> 00:30:57,690
in the place of those animals.

547
00:31:06,399 --> 00:31:09,569
Following the de-listing
in the Yellowstone area,

548
00:31:09,602 --> 00:31:11,638
the wolf was about to face a new threat

549
00:31:11,671 --> 00:31:14,341
in the Great Lakes region.

550
00:31:14,374 --> 00:31:16,809
Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar

551
00:31:16,843 --> 00:31:19,112
petitioned the interior secretary

552
00:31:19,146 --> 00:31:21,314
for the de-listing of
the wolf in Minnesota,

553
00:31:21,348 --> 00:31:25,152
and were calling for a
state-regulated wolf hunt.

554
00:31:26,919 --> 00:31:28,288
Senator Dibble.

555
00:31:28,321 --> 00:31:29,489
Thank you, Mr. President,

556
00:31:29,522 --> 00:31:31,358
we're not quite done with wolves, sorry.

557
00:31:31,391 --> 00:31:36,696
- Um, I have the a18 amendment.
- Senator dibble offers

558
00:31:36,729 --> 00:31:39,832
the a18 amendment, the secretary
will report the amendment.

559
00:31:39,866 --> 00:31:42,735
Senator dibble moves to
amend house file 2171 as amended

560
00:31:42,769 --> 00:31:46,439
pursuant to rule 45 adopted by
the senate April 17th, 2012,

561
00:31:46,473 --> 00:31:48,741
as follows, page 22 delete section 50,

562
00:31:48,775 --> 00:31:51,811
this is the a18 amendment.

563
00:31:51,844 --> 00:31:53,513
And it was very clear what the intent

564
00:31:53,546 --> 00:31:56,649
of that committee hearing was.

565
00:31:56,683 --> 00:32:01,888
It was to roll out a... a plan to hunt
wolves in the state of Minnesota.

566
00:32:01,921 --> 00:32:05,792
This is even before the
official de-listing occurred.

567
00:32:05,825 --> 00:32:09,262
The first hearing at the
legislature was January...

568
00:32:09,296 --> 00:32:12,899
was a day before the d-listing,
was January 26th.

569
00:32:12,932 --> 00:32:15,602
In the house and in the senate.

570
00:32:15,635 --> 00:32:17,804
The... the rush was on.

571
00:32:17,837 --> 00:32:19,506
The pressure was on.

572
00:32:19,539 --> 00:32:21,908
There was going to be a wolf hunt.

573
00:32:21,941 --> 00:32:24,777
The big agricultural groups,
the big hunting groups

574
00:32:24,811 --> 00:32:28,181
had done their homework,
had effectively lobbied

575
00:32:28,215 --> 00:32:30,717
all the chairs on the committees.

576
00:32:30,750 --> 00:32:33,820
Already had a plan
in place through the DNR

577
00:32:33,853 --> 00:32:37,424
to begin this hunt in 2012.

578
00:32:37,457 --> 00:32:40,493
The bill was rushed through,
it eventually was incorporated

579
00:32:40,527 --> 00:32:43,363
into the game and fish bill, there
was some debate on the floor,

580
00:32:43,396 --> 00:32:45,265
but it was just too late in the process

581
00:32:45,298 --> 00:32:46,766
for us to stop it.

582
00:32:46,799 --> 00:32:50,703
The authority that has been
working on... on wolves

583
00:32:50,737 --> 00:32:52,305
for many, many years,

584
00:32:52,339 --> 00:32:53,773
no... no question about it,

585
00:32:53,806 --> 00:32:56,709
there was no hesitation
on that particular call.

586
00:32:56,743 --> 00:33:00,480
It was asked directly on that
particular conference call

587
00:33:00,513 --> 00:33:02,815
if it is time to manage
wolves in Minnesota

588
00:33:02,849 --> 00:33:05,718
and this man said, "absolutely."

589
00:33:05,752 --> 00:33:07,820
And he said because of
the numbers, number one,

590
00:33:07,854 --> 00:33:09,789
and because the numbers...

591
00:33:09,822 --> 00:33:13,560
If they continue to grow
at the rate they are growing,

592
00:33:13,593 --> 00:33:17,530
they're gonna be causing
problems amongst themselves.

593
00:33:17,564 --> 00:33:20,667
Yes, so recently, the federal
government proposed to delist wolves

594
00:33:20,700 --> 00:33:21,901
throughout the lower 48,

595
00:33:21,934 --> 00:33:24,571
excepting for Mexican wolves.

596
00:33:24,604 --> 00:33:27,038
And whenever the federal government
makes a proposal like that,

597
00:33:27,039 --> 00:33:29,609
it has to go through
a scientific peer review.

598
00:33:29,642 --> 00:33:32,279
And so I was selected
to be a peer reviewer,

599
00:33:32,312 --> 00:33:33,846
along with a couple of others,

600
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,949
and we were selected on the
basis of our credentials,

601
00:33:36,983 --> 00:33:39,552
on the basis of what
we knew about wolves.

602
00:33:39,586 --> 00:33:41,754
It was later discovered, uh...

603
00:33:41,788 --> 00:33:44,624
that myself and these
two colleagues of mine

604
00:33:44,657 --> 00:33:48,828
were not favorably disposed
to this particular proposal

605
00:33:48,861 --> 00:33:50,963
to delist wolves across the country.

606
00:33:50,997 --> 00:33:53,766
And when that was found out,
uh, we were uninvited

607
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,404
to be panelists to review this document.

608
00:33:57,437 --> 00:34:00,773
And that created some controversy for
folks, because of course it's not a...

609
00:34:00,807 --> 00:34:03,310
a very sensible way
to go about a peer review,

610
00:34:03,343 --> 00:34:05,076
to just take people off
because you might not like

611
00:34:05,077 --> 00:34:07,380
the opinion that they would come to.

612
00:34:07,414 --> 00:34:10,049
And, um... and, this
really is just a symptom

613
00:34:10,082 --> 00:34:12,285
of a much bigger trouble uh,
that we have on the planet,

614
00:34:12,319 --> 00:34:15,722
we think that, uh... uh, life is
just full of a bunch of opinions,

615
00:34:15,755 --> 00:34:17,757
and one opinion is the same as another,

616
00:34:17,790 --> 00:34:21,628
and that's not the case. Uh, the thing
that makes a scientific opinion

617
00:34:21,661 --> 00:34:23,496
different from any other kind of opinion

618
00:34:23,530 --> 00:34:25,465
is just how well it's defended.

619
00:34:25,498 --> 00:34:28,535
And so it doesn't matter
what my opinion is,

620
00:34:28,568 --> 00:34:31,371
what matters is how well-reasoned it is,

621
00:34:31,404 --> 00:34:33,573
and how well-defended it is.

622
00:34:33,606 --> 00:34:35,742
Members, it's... it's very easy

623
00:34:35,775 --> 00:34:38,578
for those of you who live around here

624
00:34:38,611 --> 00:34:42,081
and you can watch
wolves on television, and...

625
00:34:42,114 --> 00:34:46,085
and, uh... but it's a lot
different for people

626
00:34:46,118 --> 00:34:48,788
that actually live in wolf country,

627
00:34:48,821 --> 00:34:51,090
where wolves live.

628
00:34:51,123 --> 00:34:54,827
Where parents are afraid
to leave their kids alone

629
00:34:54,861 --> 00:34:58,565
to wait for the school bus.

630
00:34:58,598 --> 00:35:00,733
I know one of the editors
of one of my newspapers

631
00:35:00,767 --> 00:35:03,603
and when she takes a walk at night,

632
00:35:03,636 --> 00:35:06,339
she carries a handgun with her.

633
00:35:08,641 --> 00:35:10,410
Because of wolves.

634
00:35:10,443 --> 00:35:12,512
The decision was made.

635
00:35:12,545 --> 00:35:14,914
And now to take it
away from these people

636
00:35:14,947 --> 00:35:17,384
that are so impassioned about the wolf,

637
00:35:17,417 --> 00:35:19,118
to kill the wolf.

638
00:35:19,151 --> 00:35:24,491
There's... as much passion as
you see to protect the wolf,

639
00:35:24,524 --> 00:35:26,393
there may be more passion,

640
00:35:26,426 --> 00:35:29,128
may be more, to kill the wolf.

641
00:35:29,161 --> 00:35:30,997
There may be.

642
00:35:31,030 --> 00:35:33,533
And it's... it's a laser-seeking,

643
00:35:33,566 --> 00:35:36,969
hot-point on a politician's skin.

644
00:35:37,970 --> 00:35:39,972
And they are just,

645
00:35:40,006 --> 00:35:43,042
it's... it's pathetic.

646
00:35:43,075 --> 00:35:46,045
Members, if you'd really like
to see what the wolves do

647
00:35:46,078 --> 00:35:47,780
in greater Minnesota,

648
00:35:47,814 --> 00:35:50,417
take a look online of the
picture of the young man

649
00:35:50,450 --> 00:35:52,485
that was taken out of his sleeping bag

650
00:35:52,519 --> 00:35:55,121
while he was camping
in northern Minnesota.

651
00:35:55,154 --> 00:35:58,057
And take a look at his skull,

652
00:35:58,090 --> 00:36:00,393
where there's staples,

653
00:36:00,427 --> 00:36:03,696
where the wolf took a big
chunk out of his head.

654
00:36:03,730 --> 00:36:06,032
A wolf attack is incredibly rare.

655
00:36:06,065 --> 00:36:09,536
Matter of fact, there's
only two recorded attacks

656
00:36:09,569 --> 00:36:12,639
in the entire United States
in over a hundred years.

657
00:36:12,672 --> 00:36:15,575
Now, the last one just happened
in Minnesota recently,

658
00:36:15,608 --> 00:36:17,944
and they... they shot
and killed the wolf,

659
00:36:17,977 --> 00:36:19,946
and then they... they
tested him for rabies,

660
00:36:19,979 --> 00:36:21,848
he did not have rabies,
but what he had was

661
00:36:21,881 --> 00:36:23,683
he had an incredibly deformed jaw

662
00:36:23,716 --> 00:36:25,518
which prevented him from hunting.

663
00:36:25,552 --> 00:36:28,054
He had been kicked out of his pack,

664
00:36:28,087 --> 00:36:31,724
and he was doing things
that are not normal

665
00:36:31,758 --> 00:36:34,527
wolf behavior for survival purposes.

666
00:36:34,561 --> 00:36:37,630
Management is very much needed.

667
00:36:37,664 --> 00:36:40,767
I suggest that we let
the DNR do their job,

668
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,704
and for those of us that
live in greater Minnesota,

669
00:36:44,737 --> 00:36:47,006
where we have wolves,

670
00:36:47,039 --> 00:36:49,108
where we see wolves,

671
00:36:49,141 --> 00:36:51,010
they're not just little German Shepherds

672
00:36:51,043 --> 00:36:52,779
that live in your backyard.

673
00:36:52,812 --> 00:36:55,147
They're big wolves,
and they're a problem.

674
00:36:55,181 --> 00:36:57,750
I truly believe
that the problem comes from

675
00:36:57,784 --> 00:36:59,619
too many wolves.

676
00:36:59,652 --> 00:37:03,022
I'm not against the wolf,
the wolf is a beautiful animal

677
00:37:03,055 --> 00:37:05,057
when he's where he belongs.

678
00:37:05,091 --> 00:37:09,496
Um, but he's not that beautiful
when he's in my cow yard.

679
00:37:09,529 --> 00:37:13,800
We, um... I see a lot of
T-shirts around here today

680
00:37:13,833 --> 00:37:16,035
that says, "howling wolves" on it,

681
00:37:16,068 --> 00:37:18,905
um, you know if I'm laying
in my bed in a motel

682
00:37:18,938 --> 00:37:20,873
down here in the cities
and I hear a wolf howl,

683
00:37:20,907 --> 00:37:22,642
that's a beautiful sound,

684
00:37:22,675 --> 00:37:24,844
but when I'm layin' in my bed at home,

685
00:37:24,877 --> 00:37:27,013
and my wife and I hear a wolf howl,

686
00:37:27,046 --> 00:37:29,015
it means we better
hit the floor running,

687
00:37:29,048 --> 00:37:32,552
because he's probably after one
of our livestock in the yard.

688
00:37:32,585 --> 00:37:34,754
The concern that the
farmers have expressed

689
00:37:34,787 --> 00:37:37,256
is that their cattle or livestock

690
00:37:37,289 --> 00:37:39,125
will be taken by wolves.

691
00:37:39,158 --> 00:37:42,995
And as a result of that,
they supported wolf hunts

692
00:37:43,029 --> 00:37:46,499
in this state for many,
many years in Minnesota.

693
00:37:46,533 --> 00:37:48,835
We've gone back and we've reviewed

694
00:37:48,868 --> 00:37:51,871
some of the data on this.

695
00:37:51,904 --> 00:37:56,175
There are 165,000 cows and cattle

696
00:37:56,208 --> 00:37:58,811
in wolf territory
in the state of Minnesota.

697
00:37:58,845 --> 00:38:01,180
And that's the principle farming group

698
00:38:01,213 --> 00:38:03,249
that's concerned about depredation,

699
00:38:03,282 --> 00:38:05,752
or the taking of livestock by wolves.

700
00:38:05,785 --> 00:38:08,555
What we learned last year,
and this is very typical...

701
00:38:08,588 --> 00:38:13,159
in 2012, there were
only 81 verified cases

702
00:38:13,192 --> 00:38:16,763
of livestock losses
in the state of Minnesota.

703
00:38:16,796 --> 00:38:21,000
That's 81 out of 165,000.

704
00:38:21,033 --> 00:38:23,970
Now in our judgment, that doesn't
constitute the basis for a hunt.

705
00:38:24,003 --> 00:38:27,607
We understand farmers
are making a living,

706
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,008
we understand many of these farmers

707
00:38:29,041 --> 00:38:32,278
are using non-lethal
techniques, not all,

708
00:38:32,311 --> 00:38:35,848
we strongly urge the USDA
to work more closely

709
00:38:35,882 --> 00:38:38,785
with these farmers,
and the DNR to ensure

710
00:38:38,818 --> 00:38:42,622
that they're taking all
non-lethal actions possible,

711
00:38:42,655 --> 00:38:46,192
and that could mean different
lighting techniques,

712
00:38:46,225 --> 00:38:48,995
flaggery, which is simply small flags

713
00:38:49,028 --> 00:38:50,763
that seem to discourage wolves,

714
00:38:50,797 --> 00:38:53,633
llamas, guard dogs, burroughs,

715
00:38:53,666 --> 00:38:56,235
we know they work, a lot
of research has been done,

716
00:38:56,268 --> 00:38:57,837
both in Minnesota and Wisconsin,

717
00:38:57,870 --> 00:38:59,138
and out west.

718
00:38:59,171 --> 00:39:00,907
Non-lethal methods are effective,

719
00:39:00,940 --> 00:39:02,775
but when they don't work,

720
00:39:02,809 --> 00:39:04,243
we understand the need at times

721
00:39:04,276 --> 00:39:05,945
to take offending wolves,

722
00:39:05,978 --> 00:39:08,748
but that doesn't constitute
the basis for a hunt.

723
00:39:08,781 --> 00:39:10,650
If you've got a wolf, you know,

724
00:39:10,683 --> 00:39:12,284
moving around your farm land,

725
00:39:12,318 --> 00:39:14,654
you need to do something
to strengthen your boundaries,

726
00:39:14,687 --> 00:39:17,690
and reinforce your territory,
so that wolf knows

727
00:39:17,724 --> 00:39:20,893
when he's transgressing
out of his range.

728
00:39:20,927 --> 00:39:23,362
There's the emotional level,

729
00:39:23,395 --> 00:39:25,665
where when our livestock
get predated on,

730
00:39:25,698 --> 00:39:27,900
that we don't overly react emotionally

731
00:39:27,934 --> 00:39:29,368
out of old stories.

732
00:39:29,401 --> 00:39:31,971
So it's negotiating that space, too.

733
00:39:32,004 --> 00:39:33,139
We got lots of folk who are,

734
00:39:33,172 --> 00:39:34,974
sort of, crazy wolf-lovers,

735
00:39:35,007 --> 00:39:37,644
and don't necessarily
always want to appreciate

736
00:39:37,677 --> 00:39:40,046
the reality of what
wolves mean in the world.

737
00:39:40,079 --> 00:39:43,182
Yes, they predate. They are hunters.
They're carnivores.

738
00:39:43,215 --> 00:39:49,922
I handed out for you a story
from the April 7th, 2012 edition

739
00:39:49,956 --> 00:39:52,090
and so you don't have to read
it, I'll just kind of read you

740
00:39:52,091 --> 00:39:54,994
a few quotes out of it.

741
00:39:55,027 --> 00:39:57,129
I had this constituent,
and this is what it says,

742
00:39:57,163 --> 00:39:59,866
she was pruning some
bushes near her deck,

743
00:39:59,899 --> 00:40:03,235
stood up and turned around, and quote,

744
00:40:03,269 --> 00:40:07,740
"and there was a big,
black wolf baring his teeth,

745
00:40:07,774 --> 00:40:12,211
very close, just a few feet away."

746
00:40:12,244 --> 00:40:14,013
She took a few steps towards the house,

747
00:40:14,046 --> 00:40:16,115
but to her dismay, she saw another wolf

748
00:40:16,148 --> 00:40:19,852
smaller, grey, and mangy-looking
about eight feet away,

749
00:40:19,886 --> 00:40:23,890
between her and the house.

750
00:40:23,923 --> 00:40:27,093
She slowly backed away from
both animals to her truck,

751
00:40:27,126 --> 00:40:28,761
as she unlocked her truck, she said,

752
00:40:28,795 --> 00:40:31,731
"the wolves hunched down
and growled at me."

753
00:40:31,764 --> 00:40:33,733
That's a quote.

754
00:40:33,766 --> 00:40:35,735
When she got into her truck,
she honked the horn,

755
00:40:35,768 --> 00:40:39,005
but the wolves stayed put

756
00:40:39,038 --> 00:40:41,674
and barked at her.

757
00:40:41,708 --> 00:40:43,776
Members, that's a real experience,

758
00:40:43,810 --> 00:40:46,245
that are happening, maybe not every day,

759
00:40:46,278 --> 00:40:48,214
but every week

760
00:40:48,247 --> 00:40:53,119
where wolves really live,
because they're over-populated.

761
00:40:53,152 --> 00:40:55,254
The secretary will take the roll.

762
00:41:04,030 --> 00:41:05,331
That was it, so,

763
00:41:05,364 --> 00:41:06,933
they were done, it was a done deal.

764
00:41:06,966 --> 00:41:08,366
And I wasn't sure
what I was going to do.

765
00:41:08,367 --> 00:41:10,269
I left there and I thought,
oh my goodness,

766
00:41:10,302 --> 00:41:12,872
what is going on? And I
approached the legislature,

767
00:41:12,905 --> 00:41:15,207
his name is representative David dill,

768
00:41:15,241 --> 00:41:17,877
he is a democrat out of crane lake,

769
00:41:17,910 --> 00:41:19,745
and I approached him
in the hall near the elevators

770
00:41:19,746 --> 00:41:21,413
and I said, have you considered

771
00:41:21,447 --> 00:41:23,783
the ecological benefits of the wolf?
You know,

772
00:41:23,816 --> 00:41:25,751
even if you're a hunter,
even if you're an angler,

773
00:41:25,752 --> 00:41:28,287
no matter who you are, whether
you're a wildlife viewer,

774
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:33,893
a hunter, an angler, somebody who
believes in keeping ecology intact,

775
00:41:33,926 --> 00:41:37,196
you have to believe that the wolf
is a necessary part of that.

776
00:41:37,229 --> 00:41:40,867
And he basically said to me,
"oh, nobody's talked about that."

777
00:41:40,900 --> 00:41:42,533
And then he kind of caught
himself, 'cause he realized,

778
00:41:42,534 --> 00:41:45,471
well that's a reason
to have somebody testify.

779
00:41:45,504 --> 00:41:48,040
And he started panicking, seriously.

780
00:41:48,074 --> 00:41:50,176
He was running from the elevator button

781
00:41:50,209 --> 00:41:52,945
when it didn't come right away
to another elevator button,

782
00:41:52,979 --> 00:41:55,748
saying, "there will be
a wolf hunt this year."

783
00:41:55,782 --> 00:41:57,548
And I looked at him, 'cause
he like running away from me,

784
00:41:57,549 --> 00:41:59,185
and I was the only one in the hall,

785
00:41:59,218 --> 00:42:02,789
and I'm a short-statured,
small-statured woman,

786
00:42:02,822 --> 00:42:04,423
and he was much taller, and I said,

787
00:42:04,456 --> 00:42:06,358
I'm not chasing you.

788
00:42:06,392 --> 00:42:07,994
You don't have to run.

789
00:42:08,027 --> 00:42:11,063
But I think he knew that
he was basically facing

790
00:42:11,097 --> 00:42:13,165
what he was gonna face soon.

791
00:42:13,199 --> 00:42:14,767
This year, wolves lost

792
00:42:14,801 --> 00:42:16,936
their endangered species protection.

793
00:42:16,969 --> 00:42:19,038
Wolves keep forests and streams healthy,

794
00:42:19,071 --> 00:42:20,406
they're wilderness allies.

795
00:42:20,439 --> 00:42:22,909
50% of wolf pups die of starvation,

796
00:42:22,942 --> 00:42:24,443
and many wolves are poached.

797
00:42:24,476 --> 00:42:25,978
While Minnesota's original plan

798
00:42:26,012 --> 00:42:27,780
had a five-year waiting period,

799
00:42:27,814 --> 00:42:29,215
a new wolf hunting and trapping bill

800
00:42:29,248 --> 00:42:31,417
is now being passed by the legislature

801
00:42:31,450 --> 00:42:33,319
with no regard to its impact.

802
00:42:33,352 --> 00:42:35,487
We are recklessly
endangering our wolves.

803
00:42:35,521 --> 00:42:38,024
Tell governor Dayton
to stop the wolf hunt.

804
00:42:38,057 --> 00:42:41,193
We are about to lose all that
we worked so hard to save.

805
00:42:41,227 --> 00:42:43,195
Don't silence our wilderness.

806
00:42:54,273 --> 00:42:57,076
Studies suggest that
the wolf became the dog

807
00:42:57,109 --> 00:42:59,211
when wolves began to follow hunters

808
00:42:59,245 --> 00:43:02,281
to scavenge on the kills
that they had left behind.

809
00:43:02,314 --> 00:43:05,184
And in the process, some became isolated

810
00:43:05,217 --> 00:43:09,088
from other wolves, and
migrated along with people.

811
00:43:09,121 --> 00:43:11,523
And over time, the human family

812
00:43:11,557 --> 00:43:13,259
became their pack.

813
00:43:13,292 --> 00:43:15,094
Good girl.

814
00:43:15,127 --> 00:43:17,396
Say goodbye to mama, come up.

815
00:43:18,530 --> 00:43:20,867
I'm gonna miss you.

816
00:43:20,900 --> 00:43:22,869
Be good.

817
00:43:22,902 --> 00:43:25,071
Be a good girl.

818
00:43:25,104 --> 00:43:27,073
Okay.

819
00:43:33,980 --> 00:43:36,348
I think it's safe to say 700, at least,

820
00:43:36,382 --> 00:43:38,150
wolves were killed this season.

821
00:43:38,184 --> 00:43:40,119
So if you look at the rough numbers,

822
00:43:40,152 --> 00:43:43,422
it's about a fourth of the wolves.

823
00:43:43,455 --> 00:43:44,615
- Right? Is that fair?
- Yeah.

824
00:43:44,623 --> 00:43:47,226
A quarter of the wolves.
Yeah.

825
00:43:47,259 --> 00:43:49,428
So, you know, I guess the argument

826
00:43:49,461 --> 00:43:51,630
that a lot of people have
who are concerned about this

827
00:43:51,663 --> 00:43:53,565
is that that's a lot of wolves.

828
00:43:53,599 --> 00:43:56,168
- What...
- and even if it's a thousand,

829
00:43:56,202 --> 00:43:59,138
which would be a third
of the population...

830
00:43:59,171 --> 00:44:02,641
- which it could be.
- That's still within the range of...

831
00:44:02,674 --> 00:44:07,279
of what's been identified as, um...

832
00:44:07,313 --> 00:44:10,016
a number that...
that may be sustainable.

833
00:44:10,049 --> 00:44:13,252
Has anybody ever stud...
studied long-term effects

834
00:44:13,285 --> 00:44:15,487
on wolves and wolf packs when you go in

835
00:44:15,521 --> 00:44:20,192
and you start taking out pack members?

836
00:44:20,226 --> 00:44:26,498
There's been studies looking at...
at wolf pack dynamics, not specifically,

837
00:44:26,532 --> 00:44:30,202
not necessarily, you know,
measuring this influence

838
00:44:30,236 --> 00:44:32,504
of hunting or trapping, but, you know,

839
00:44:32,538 --> 00:44:35,607
through radio-collared
studies of wolves,

840
00:44:35,641 --> 00:44:38,477
there's been, um,

841
00:44:38,510 --> 00:44:40,980
documented, high turn-over rates

842
00:44:41,013 --> 00:44:43,482
in wolf packs.

843
00:44:43,515 --> 00:44:47,453
So there is a high
mortality level there,

844
00:44:47,486 --> 00:44:49,621
there already without
hunting and trapping,

845
00:44:49,655 --> 00:44:51,257
wolves can get hit by cars,

846
00:44:51,290 --> 00:44:53,960
they can get trapped
for depredation control,

847
00:44:53,993 --> 00:44:56,996
they get killed by other wolves,

848
00:44:57,029 --> 00:45:00,466
and there is this

849
00:45:00,499 --> 00:45:04,636
you know, pretty steady change-over
in wolf pack structure.

850
00:45:04,670 --> 00:45:06,505
But I've never...
I've never seen,

851
00:45:06,538 --> 00:45:07,639
and you may have something,

852
00:45:07,673 --> 00:45:09,075
but I've never seen,

853
00:45:09,108 --> 00:45:12,178
you know, long-term research done.

854
00:45:12,211 --> 00:45:14,411
'Cause we're talking statistics,
we're talking... right.

855
00:45:14,413 --> 00:45:16,315
Numbers...

856
00:45:16,348 --> 00:45:18,517
Yeah, I mean it's... and I...

857
00:45:18,550 --> 00:45:21,287
and yeah, there... that has not,

858
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:24,690
like I said, has not been
studied specifically.

859
00:45:24,723 --> 00:45:26,425
Whether or not hunting and trapping

860
00:45:26,458 --> 00:45:30,963
has an influence on the
stability of wolf packs,

861
00:45:30,997 --> 00:45:32,331
population wide,

862
00:45:32,364 --> 00:45:33,966
I mean certainly on an individual level,

863
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:38,704
you're gonna kill a breeding animal,

864
00:45:38,737 --> 00:45:41,107
but there's other animals
in the population

865
00:45:41,140 --> 00:45:42,660
that come in and replace those animals.

866
00:45:45,344 --> 00:45:47,679
The DNR never, um,

867
00:45:47,713 --> 00:45:49,648
brings any attention to that fact that,

868
00:45:49,681 --> 00:45:54,086
you know, it's not just
blatantly killing animals,

869
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:56,088
it's... it's actually wiping out

870
00:45:56,122 --> 00:46:00,259
this very cohesive system
that packs have.

871
00:46:00,292 --> 00:46:02,628
We've lost sight of that
a bit in our thinking

872
00:46:02,661 --> 00:46:05,664
about management
of wildlife and management

873
00:46:05,697 --> 00:46:07,099
of wolves today.

874
00:46:07,133 --> 00:46:09,768
Clearly with the wolf hunt mentality,

875
00:46:09,801 --> 00:46:12,004
and talking to Dan stark at the DNR,

876
00:46:12,038 --> 00:46:13,572
you know, they think about...

877
00:46:13,605 --> 00:46:17,443
they think about the wolves
as, you know, just numbers.

878
00:46:17,476 --> 00:46:19,578
They don't think about them as being

879
00:46:19,611 --> 00:46:23,515
feeling, sentient beings who,

880
00:46:23,549 --> 00:46:27,153
if you take out... certainly if
you take out the top member,

881
00:46:27,186 --> 00:46:30,122
the breeding pair,
it's devastating to the pack,

882
00:46:30,156 --> 00:46:32,724
but even if you take out
other members of the pack,

883
00:46:32,758 --> 00:46:36,095
it's... it's not like you
come in and replace these,

884
00:46:36,128 --> 00:46:38,064
you can't replace a relationship.

885
00:46:38,097 --> 00:46:40,232
You can't... you can't replace the value

886
00:46:40,266 --> 00:46:45,171
that that one wolf has in the pack.

887
00:46:45,204 --> 00:46:48,507
Here is an array of portraits,

888
00:46:48,540 --> 00:46:53,512
wolves from the past
in the neighborhood.

889
00:46:53,545 --> 00:46:55,481
It was a core pack of eight or so,

890
00:46:55,514 --> 00:46:58,217
with 19 wolves that we counted

891
00:46:58,250 --> 00:47:01,120
over the years when this was done.

892
00:47:01,153 --> 00:47:03,222
These I think around 15,

893
00:47:03,255 --> 00:47:06,525
with just personal names
for me to remember.

894
00:47:06,558 --> 00:47:09,328
Broken foot, crooked ear,

895
00:47:09,361 --> 00:47:12,431
blind one-eye, beautiful one,

896
00:47:12,464 --> 00:47:14,166
this one was the papa.

897
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:16,168
This was the Alpha male that was shot

898
00:47:16,202 --> 00:47:19,738
before the hunting
started, illegal hunting,

899
00:47:19,771 --> 00:47:22,674
it was shot illegally not far from here.

900
00:47:22,708 --> 00:47:27,446
I was very familiar with 19 wolves

901
00:47:27,479 --> 00:47:29,481
here on Ravenwood, one year,

902
00:47:29,515 --> 00:47:31,083
when they were really doing well.

903
00:47:31,117 --> 00:47:33,085
Lots of deer around.

904
00:47:33,119 --> 00:47:35,854
I photographed each one,
gave each one a name,

905
00:47:35,887 --> 00:47:37,323
had a little portrait of each one

906
00:47:37,356 --> 00:47:39,825
with a little name underneath.

907
00:47:39,858 --> 00:47:42,094
The Alpha male was killed by a hunter

908
00:47:42,128 --> 00:47:43,662
less than a mile from here.

909
00:47:43,695 --> 00:47:45,264
I know who did it.

910
00:47:45,297 --> 00:47:46,865
I asked them to be careful,

911
00:47:46,898 --> 00:47:49,201
I talked to them before the hunt.

912
00:47:49,235 --> 00:47:51,703
They were setting up their hunting camp,

913
00:47:51,737 --> 00:47:55,307
I said, please be careful, there
are a lot of wolves here,

914
00:47:55,341 --> 00:47:56,842
I know it's tempting.

915
00:47:56,875 --> 00:48:01,447
This is long before the wolf hunt.

916
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:03,682
It's hard to talk about this.

917
00:48:03,715 --> 00:48:05,617
This was about three years ago.

918
00:48:05,651 --> 00:48:10,256
And, uh... we found that, uh...
the Alpha male, blackie,

919
00:48:10,289 --> 00:48:13,392
was killed of this pack,

920
00:48:13,425 --> 00:48:14,825
the wolf I'd been
photographing and watching

921
00:48:14,826 --> 00:48:18,397
for three, four years.

922
00:48:22,168 --> 00:48:25,904
Biggest footprint I've ever seen on
a wolf. Interesting looking wolf.

923
00:48:25,937 --> 00:48:28,540
He was pure black,
and I watched him turn grey.

924
00:48:40,819 --> 00:48:43,289
But he'd been radio-collared.

925
00:48:43,322 --> 00:48:47,559
The hunter didn't want
anyone to find out

926
00:48:47,593 --> 00:48:49,395
where he killed the wolf,

927
00:48:49,428 --> 00:48:51,697
so he snipped off the radio
collar and dropped it off

928
00:48:51,730 --> 00:48:54,900
near Ely to throw off the signal.

929
00:48:54,933 --> 00:48:57,269
I know, basically, who did it.

930
00:48:57,303 --> 00:48:59,371
Uh, changed my life,

931
00:48:59,405 --> 00:49:02,674
changed the wolf... the wolf pack
was totally different after that,

932
00:49:02,708 --> 00:49:04,710
totally, they seemed to disperse.

933
00:49:04,743 --> 00:49:06,578
Everything was different.

934
00:49:06,612 --> 00:49:09,215
I couldn't make hide nor hair of it.

935
00:49:09,248 --> 00:49:11,450
They... they disappeared.

936
00:49:11,483 --> 00:49:13,319
Uh, everything changed.

937
00:49:13,352 --> 00:49:14,653
I changed.

938
00:49:50,922 --> 00:49:53,725
I have not really photographed
wolves since then.

939
00:49:53,759 --> 00:49:55,661
It broke my heart.

940
00:49:55,694 --> 00:49:57,696
It really destroyed me, in some sense.

941
00:49:57,729 --> 00:49:59,798
I've not been the same.

942
00:49:59,831 --> 00:50:02,968
It... it broke... it drove me to tears.

943
00:50:18,950 --> 00:50:21,787
Stop the hunt!

944
00:50:21,820 --> 00:50:24,690
Stop the hunt!

945
00:50:24,723 --> 00:50:27,359
Stop the hunt!

946
00:50:27,393 --> 00:50:29,961
Stop the hunt!

947
00:50:29,995 --> 00:50:33,699
Stop the hunt!

948
00:50:33,732 --> 00:50:36,868
We know in Minnesota the one
survey that was conducted

949
00:50:36,902 --> 00:50:38,637
by the department of natural resources

950
00:50:38,670 --> 00:50:40,439
before the hunt began.

951
00:50:40,472 --> 00:50:44,009
In that single survey,
79% of the respondents

952
00:50:44,042 --> 00:50:46,812
opposed the season, yet
they went ahead with it.

953
00:50:46,845 --> 00:50:49,881
Stop the hunt!

954
00:51:48,707 --> 00:51:51,510
Minnesota is special.

955
00:51:51,543 --> 00:51:55,747
We are special here because
we have always had wolves.

956
00:51:55,781 --> 00:51:57,949
When they were down in 1970,

957
00:51:57,983 --> 00:52:00,085
the endangered threatened species act,

958
00:52:00,118 --> 00:52:02,521
in my opinion, was written
with the wolf in mind.

959
00:52:02,554 --> 00:52:04,590
And we were the only state that had 'em,

960
00:52:04,623 --> 00:52:07,859
and the reason we had 'em, wasn't
'cause of anything we've done,

961
00:52:07,893 --> 00:52:10,496
it was because we had wild lands

962
00:52:10,529 --> 00:52:12,364
where they could find refuge.

963
00:52:12,398 --> 00:52:14,500
You know who I feel like
I'm fighting to protect

964
00:52:14,533 --> 00:52:16,635
the environment from?
The DNR!

965
00:52:20,071 --> 00:52:22,441
Hello, this is Jane Goodall.

966
00:52:22,474 --> 00:52:24,776
I really wish I could be in Minnesota

967
00:52:24,810 --> 00:52:28,947
to greet you in person,
but I am thinking of you.

968
00:52:28,980 --> 00:52:31,850
There you are, gathered
to make your views known

969
00:52:31,883 --> 00:52:34,886
to those who have the power
of making decisions.

970
00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:37,389
They're absolutely neat, your wolves.

971
00:52:37,423 --> 00:52:41,059
The only population
in the lower 48 states

972
00:52:41,092 --> 00:52:43,462
that wasn't exterminated.

973
00:52:43,495 --> 00:52:46,498
I personally have
a real love for wolves.

974
00:52:46,532 --> 00:52:49,901
They show all the characteristics
of loyalty and courage

975
00:52:49,935 --> 00:52:52,904
that we admire in our own domestic dogs.

976
00:52:52,938 --> 00:52:56,675
They have similar emotions,
such as contentment and fear.

977
00:52:56,708 --> 00:52:58,910
They know suffering and pain.

978
00:52:58,944 --> 00:53:01,747
It's time that recreational
hunting of wolves

979
00:53:01,780 --> 00:53:05,451
and other forms of
persecution came to an end.

980
00:53:05,484 --> 00:53:07,052
And you, in Minnesota,

981
00:53:07,085 --> 00:53:10,121
by insisting on a just
wolf-management plan,

982
00:53:10,155 --> 00:53:11,657
can lead the way.

983
00:53:32,578 --> 00:53:34,613
I would not kill a wolf.

984
00:53:34,646 --> 00:53:37,683
I know that, because
he's here for a reason,

985
00:53:37,716 --> 00:53:39,451
just like I am.

986
00:53:39,485 --> 00:53:42,053
We all are here for a reason.

987
00:53:42,087 --> 00:53:44,690
But we need to acknowledge that.

988
00:53:44,723 --> 00:53:46,524
And then we went to
the fond de lac reservation

989
00:53:46,525 --> 00:53:49,961
and we had a ceremony honoring the wolf.

990
00:53:49,995 --> 00:53:51,963
Um, it... actually,

991
00:53:51,997 --> 00:53:54,099
that was extremely moving.

992
00:53:54,132 --> 00:53:56,635
Um, it was sad to me, because the...

993
00:53:56,668 --> 00:53:58,670
the Ojibwe culture
really values the wolf,

994
00:53:58,704 --> 00:54:00,639
and the people there, um...

995
00:54:00,672 --> 00:54:02,941
they were talking about how
the wolf would hide in caves,

996
00:54:02,974 --> 00:54:05,744
the wolf would escape. They were...
they were trying to think

997
00:54:05,777 --> 00:54:07,512
of any way that they could
cope with the fact

998
00:54:07,513 --> 00:54:09,047
that these wolves were gonna be killed.

999
00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:11,983
By the time we drove back
to the twin cities that day,

1000
00:54:12,017 --> 00:54:13,685
November 3rd, 2012,

1001
00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:16,488
we'd already had seven wolves killed.

1002
00:54:23,762 --> 00:54:26,231
I think it was Edward Abby
said something about

1003
00:54:26,264 --> 00:54:27,999
if we destroy the last
of the wilderness,

1004
00:54:28,033 --> 00:54:29,701
I mean, we destroy the very,

1005
00:54:29,735 --> 00:54:31,202
we're threatening the very idea

1006
00:54:31,236 --> 00:54:33,104
of freedom itself.

1007
00:54:33,138 --> 00:54:34,806
It's what makes us a people.

1008
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:37,609
It's not just some
abstract thing out there

1009
00:54:37,643 --> 00:54:39,611
for recreation to go visit in a canoe,

1010
00:54:39,645 --> 00:54:41,547
or backpacking or something,

1011
00:54:41,580 --> 00:54:42,848
it's what we are as a people.

1012
00:54:42,881 --> 00:54:44,282
And we need to hang on to it,

1013
00:54:44,315 --> 00:54:46,885
we've got to fight corporations.

1014
00:54:46,918 --> 00:54:49,655
We've got to fight this
recreation industrial complex

1015
00:54:49,688 --> 00:54:53,291
that's threatening these precious
wild lands that are so diverse.

1016
00:54:53,324 --> 00:54:58,697
The foundation that... that
supports our being here today

1017
00:54:58,730 --> 00:55:00,766
is all the micro-organisms in the soil

1018
00:55:00,799 --> 00:55:03,301
and the plants and the
animals that walk on it,

1019
00:55:03,334 --> 00:55:05,771
the animals that swim
and the animals that fly.

1020
00:55:05,804 --> 00:55:08,640
We're all intertwined,
it's that great web of life.

1021
00:55:08,674 --> 00:55:10,909
In Mahingan, the wolf, he's our brother,

1022
00:55:10,942 --> 00:55:12,077
he's right there with us.

1023
00:55:12,110 --> 00:55:14,946
We walk the earth with him.

1024
00:55:14,980 --> 00:55:17,215
I found that there are
many indigenous cultures

1025
00:55:17,248 --> 00:55:21,152
in the world that have
always revered the wolf.

1026
00:55:21,186 --> 00:55:24,289
I interviewed chi-Mahingan,
which means "big wolf"

1027
00:55:24,322 --> 00:55:26,224
from the red lake nation.

1028
00:55:26,257 --> 00:55:28,026
For the Ojibwe people,

1029
00:55:28,059 --> 00:55:30,829
there's no separation
between the wolf and them.

1030
00:55:30,862 --> 00:55:35,601
The wolf holds the medicine
and teaches humility.

1031
00:55:35,634 --> 00:55:37,903
You know, one of the first
designs that was created

1032
00:55:37,936 --> 00:55:40,606
was a circle.

1033
00:55:40,639 --> 00:55:43,241
And everything after that
was placed inside the circle.

1034
00:55:45,376 --> 00:55:49,047
And therefore, everything
moves in the circle.

1035
00:55:53,151 --> 00:55:57,055
Even the human,
from childhood to childhood,

1036
00:55:57,088 --> 00:55:59,057
the seasons go in circle.

1037
00:56:01,226 --> 00:56:04,830
All the stars, the sun,
the moon, the earth,

1038
00:56:04,863 --> 00:56:06,598
it always moves in a circle.

1039
00:56:10,902 --> 00:56:14,205
And what that creates
is what they call a rhythm.

1040
00:56:14,239 --> 00:56:16,574
There's a universal rhythm.

1041
00:56:19,845 --> 00:56:22,981
And I... and I kinda joke
about that, too, you know,

1042
00:56:23,014 --> 00:56:24,650
saying everything tries to be round,

1043
00:56:24,683 --> 00:56:27,052
they say everything a Indian
does tries to be round.

1044
00:56:27,085 --> 00:56:28,954
I try to be round.

1045
00:56:30,656 --> 00:56:32,624
They are, traditionally
Indians are round.

1046
00:56:32,658 --> 00:56:33,625
You have continuity.

1047
00:56:35,193 --> 00:56:38,129
Today they told the animals

1048
00:56:38,163 --> 00:56:40,165
to take care of their brother,

1049
00:56:40,198 --> 00:56:42,400
the human being.

1050
00:56:42,433 --> 00:56:43,802
Otherwise,

1051
00:56:43,835 --> 00:56:47,973
the human being would not have survived.

1052
00:56:49,975 --> 00:56:55,413
The animal people, yes,
we will watch our brother.

1053
00:56:55,446 --> 00:56:59,350
We will give them our hide,
we will give them our flesh.

1054
00:56:59,384 --> 00:57:01,920
We'll give them our bones
so they can live.

1055
00:57:04,055 --> 00:57:06,892
So we know that, said the animal people.

1056
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:12,998
And today we're gonna pay
the animal people,

1057
00:57:13,031 --> 00:57:15,166
especially the wolf,
we're gonna pay him back

1058
00:57:15,200 --> 00:57:17,335
by killing him.

1059
00:57:18,804 --> 00:57:20,438
Medicine,

1060
00:57:20,471 --> 00:57:22,808
when I think of...

1061
00:57:25,744 --> 00:57:27,946
The role it has in bringing us back

1062
00:57:27,979 --> 00:57:31,783
to our own center of integrity,

1063
00:57:31,817 --> 00:57:33,752
which means wholeness, basically.

1064
00:57:33,785 --> 00:57:35,721
Where our own regenerative health powers

1065
00:57:35,754 --> 00:57:38,389
can find their balance again.

1066
00:57:38,423 --> 00:57:42,728
In that sense, medicine is a catalyst.

1067
00:57:42,761 --> 00:57:45,163
And I see the wolf,

1068
00:57:47,966 --> 00:57:50,769
in a sense, one can say
the wolf is medicine.

1069
00:57:54,039 --> 00:57:55,941
But then that raises,
for me, another question,

1070
00:57:55,974 --> 00:57:58,209
which is, well what are we ailing from?

1071
00:57:58,243 --> 00:58:00,011
What is the ailment?

1072
00:58:00,045 --> 00:58:02,247
And I think when one
looks around the lands,

1073
00:58:02,280 --> 00:58:04,082
across the world, there is one,

1074
00:58:04,115 --> 00:58:05,951
in this time we live in,

1075
00:58:05,984 --> 00:58:07,452
the ailment that we...

1076
00:58:07,485 --> 00:58:11,022
we struggle with, is fear.

1077
00:58:11,056 --> 00:58:14,192
It is fear of the enemy. It is fear of
the neighbor. It is fear of the self.

1078
00:58:14,225 --> 00:58:15,861
It is fear of power.
It is fear of love.

1079
00:58:15,894 --> 00:58:17,763
It is fear of so many things.

1080
00:58:17,796 --> 00:58:20,331
Fear of the loss of livelihood,

1081
00:58:20,365 --> 00:58:23,735
in the case of those living
directly with wolves,

1082
00:58:23,769 --> 00:58:25,135
and all these fear elements, for me,

1083
00:58:25,136 --> 00:58:28,506
are directly embodied by the wolf.

1084
00:58:28,539 --> 00:58:31,042
The wolf is a great mirror towards us.

1085
00:58:31,076 --> 00:58:32,443
We have so many similarities,

1086
00:58:32,477 --> 00:58:35,881
and as you talk about
in that Ojibwe myth,

1087
00:58:37,949 --> 00:58:40,318
the wolf is, in a sense, our partner,

1088
00:58:40,351 --> 00:58:43,521
and our brother, and was in the past.

1089
00:58:43,554 --> 00:58:46,024
And I think going forward, there is,

1090
00:58:46,057 --> 00:58:49,127
if one looks at the wolf
as a medicine in that sense,

1091
00:58:49,160 --> 00:58:51,429
there's really much that we can learn,

1092
00:58:51,462 --> 00:58:53,464
in our current society, from the wolf.

1093
00:58:57,302 --> 00:58:58,870
Inspired by the idea

1094
00:58:58,904 --> 00:59:02,007
of the wolf as a symbol of medicine,

1095
00:59:02,040 --> 00:59:03,975
I decided to go to California

1096
00:59:04,009 --> 00:59:06,211
and spend time with the group
that is doing something

1097
00:59:06,244 --> 00:59:11,349
very unique with wolves,
wolf-dogs and people.

1098
00:59:15,854 --> 00:59:17,388
That was nice.

1099
00:59:19,958 --> 00:59:23,094
Thank you, wow, I feel special.

1100
00:59:23,128 --> 00:59:26,431
A wolf rehabilitation center
in Acton, California

1101
00:59:26,464 --> 00:59:29,567
that believes strongly
that the wolf has great value

1102
00:59:29,600 --> 00:59:32,503
and is a teacher that we can learn from.

1103
00:59:33,604 --> 00:59:35,874
And we're at a wolf hike they do.

1104
00:59:35,907 --> 00:59:39,510
Each month, they'll take people
to see their wolves and wolf-dogs

1105
00:59:39,544 --> 00:59:41,546
and teach them about wolves.

1106
00:59:41,579 --> 00:59:44,883
They rehabilitate these animals,

1107
00:59:44,916 --> 00:59:47,819
and then they work with people
and inner-city youths,

1108
00:59:47,853 --> 00:59:52,457
and people with PTSD, it's quite
extraordinary what they do.

1109
00:59:52,490 --> 00:59:55,360
We have the kids come in, they're
coming from all different backgrounds,

1110
00:59:55,393 --> 00:59:57,863
most of them are at-risk youth

1111
00:59:57,896 --> 01:00:00,031
coming from inner-city situations.

1112
01:00:00,065 --> 01:00:02,500
They've come from gang violence

1113
01:00:02,533 --> 01:00:06,604
and that kind of a thing, and
they come in with their walls up,

1114
01:00:06,637 --> 01:00:09,140
always needing to protect
themselves, make sure they're safe,

1115
01:00:09,174 --> 01:00:11,541
they come in, they've got their
attitude, they've got their swagger

1116
01:00:11,542 --> 01:00:13,344
goin' on, and you know,
they're like comin' in

1117
01:00:13,378 --> 01:00:16,181
and they're like, "whatever,
what do you got to teach me?"

1118
01:00:16,214 --> 01:00:18,149
And they come in,
they got their, you know,

1119
01:00:18,183 --> 01:00:19,450
earphones in and stuff, we go,

1120
01:00:19,484 --> 01:00:21,386
"take your earphones out," you know,

1121
01:00:21,419 --> 01:00:23,254
"hand 'em over,"

1122
01:00:23,288 --> 01:00:25,556
"you're gonna stand here,
you're gonna sit here

1123
01:00:25,590 --> 01:00:28,059
and we're gonna make a circle."

1124
01:00:28,093 --> 01:00:30,495
"And we're just gonna
get really present."

1125
01:00:30,528 --> 01:00:33,965
"And the minute that
they all truly drop in,

1126
01:00:33,999 --> 01:00:37,002
and let go of that stuff
and center themselves,

1127
01:00:37,035 --> 01:00:40,105
the pack will actually begin to howl."

1128
01:00:49,214 --> 01:00:51,282
And this has happened numerous times,

1129
01:00:51,316 --> 01:00:56,054
and every single time the kids go...

1130
01:00:56,087 --> 01:00:58,256
"Oh my God!"

1131
01:00:58,289 --> 01:00:59,423
And for the rest of the program

1132
01:00:59,424 --> 01:01:00,992
they're putty in our hands,

1133
01:01:01,026 --> 01:01:02,227
it's incredible.

1134
01:01:10,235 --> 01:01:13,304
Oh, what a vicious wolf,

1135
01:01:15,106 --> 01:01:16,374
yes you are.

1136
01:01:18,243 --> 01:01:19,544
Yes you are.

1137
01:01:19,577 --> 01:01:22,047
You're a big vicious wolf.

1138
01:01:22,080 --> 01:01:25,116
Yes.

1139
01:01:27,318 --> 01:01:29,520
And inevitably, they'll pick one or two

1140
01:01:29,554 --> 01:01:32,357
particular wolves that they really feel

1141
01:01:32,390 --> 01:01:34,625
a connection with because of the story.

1142
01:01:34,659 --> 01:01:36,995
Then when they finally
get to meet that wolf,

1143
01:01:37,028 --> 01:01:38,629
and they get to sit with that wolf,

1144
01:01:38,663 --> 01:01:42,600
and they get to look into
the eyes of that wolf,

1145
01:01:42,633 --> 01:01:45,570
looking into the eyes of a wolf

1146
01:01:45,603 --> 01:01:50,341
it's like you're really
seeing your own soul.

1147
01:01:50,375 --> 01:01:52,610
And that is incredibly healing.

1148
01:01:52,643 --> 01:01:55,146
You take a look at this, its posture,

1149
01:01:55,180 --> 01:01:58,516
and how big it is, and you would
automatically be scared of it,

1150
01:01:58,549 --> 01:02:01,552
but in reality it's just...
just a loving creature,

1151
01:02:01,586 --> 01:02:06,624
it just... it just wants to be loved
like anybody and anything else,

1152
01:02:06,657 --> 01:02:08,059
it just wants to be loved.

1153
01:02:08,093 --> 01:02:09,427
It wants to be...

1154
01:02:10,561 --> 01:02:12,163
The de-listing of wolves.

1155
01:02:13,698 --> 01:02:17,135
You just have to... you
just have to really just...

1156
01:02:23,374 --> 01:02:25,243
You just really just...

1157
01:02:26,611 --> 01:02:28,346
have to really...

1158
01:02:28,379 --> 01:02:29,714
if you really wanna help...

1159
01:02:34,285 --> 01:02:36,654
That's love right there.

1160
01:03:22,333 --> 01:03:24,169
Get my psychiatrist.

1161
01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:32,610
This is where I come, specifically,

1162
01:03:32,643 --> 01:03:35,646
besides the walking, is quite nice,

1163
01:03:35,680 --> 01:03:38,049
where things do feel better.

1164
01:03:38,083 --> 01:03:41,186
When I think about
crisis-es in the world,

1165
01:03:41,219 --> 01:03:43,288
crisis-es happening around me,

1166
01:03:43,321 --> 01:03:45,223
especially with the wolves,

1167
01:03:45,256 --> 01:03:46,391
I feel better here.

1168
01:03:46,424 --> 01:03:49,194
And it helps me.

1169
01:03:49,227 --> 01:03:50,761
It's a time of re-evaluation.

1170
01:03:50,795 --> 01:03:52,797
That's what the wolves taught me.

1171
01:03:52,830 --> 01:03:55,166
In an odd way, right?

1172
01:03:55,200 --> 01:03:56,701
In a very odd way,

1173
01:03:56,734 --> 01:04:00,105
this whole wolf hunt
has made me confront things

1174
01:04:00,138 --> 01:04:01,806
that I don't have answers for.

1175
01:04:01,839 --> 01:04:03,608
My investment and telling the story,

1176
01:04:03,641 --> 01:04:05,776
and seeing it was maybe wasted.

1177
01:04:05,810 --> 01:04:09,414
There's a lesson there,
I have to get beyond that.

1178
01:04:09,447 --> 01:04:11,282
I have to think about that a little bit,

1179
01:04:11,316 --> 01:04:12,683
I'm pretty angry.

1180
01:04:12,717 --> 01:04:14,385
Anger is not a solution,

1181
01:04:14,419 --> 01:04:16,621
and something you shouldn't
carry around with you.

1182
01:04:16,654 --> 01:04:18,523
I've been gone a lot because of that,

1183
01:04:18,556 --> 01:04:22,093
choose to, certainly
during the hunting season.

1184
01:04:22,127 --> 01:04:24,695
The pups are born,
there was a den nearby,

1185
01:04:24,729 --> 01:04:28,399
there were pups born, they're out there.

1186
01:04:28,433 --> 01:04:32,303
Uh, I'll think,
well, like the first hunt,

1187
01:04:32,337 --> 01:04:35,373
the last wolf
I photographed was blondie.

1188
01:04:35,406 --> 01:04:38,209
That was a wolf that was
shot, and she was a pup.

1189
01:04:38,243 --> 01:04:40,545
She was nine months old.

1190
01:04:40,578 --> 01:04:42,347
I'm afraid to bond to these animals.

1191
01:04:42,380 --> 01:04:43,881
I've bonded to every, I knew,

1192
01:04:43,914 --> 01:04:46,484
I've probably known 30, or 40 wolves

1193
01:04:46,517 --> 01:04:49,820
like friends, over the years,

1194
01:04:49,854 --> 01:04:51,489
and I'm afraid to do that now.

1195
01:04:51,522 --> 01:04:52,690
It's been a couple years now

1196
01:04:52,723 --> 01:04:55,092
and it's not getting any better.

1197
01:04:56,527 --> 01:04:58,429
No.

1198
01:05:07,705 --> 01:05:09,607
I came back to Minnesota

1199
01:05:09,640 --> 01:05:11,776
for one last interview with Jim

1200
01:05:11,809 --> 01:05:15,780
before I was to wrap up the film.

1201
01:05:15,813 --> 01:05:17,582
But with another wolf hunt
on the horizon,

1202
01:05:17,615 --> 01:05:20,751
it was a bit of a somber reunion.

1203
01:05:20,785 --> 01:05:23,221
But just as we were about to pack up,

1204
01:05:23,254 --> 01:05:26,924
Jim, with his unique ability
for resilience,

1205
01:05:26,957 --> 01:05:29,927
said he had something
he wanted to show us.

1206
01:05:29,960 --> 01:05:32,163
Something he had just found

1207
01:05:32,197 --> 01:05:33,831
that he hadn't
shared with anyone before.

1208
01:05:35,833 --> 01:05:38,403
And I wondered in that moment

1209
01:05:38,436 --> 01:05:41,339
if Jim, too, was looking for some hope.

1210
01:05:48,379 --> 01:05:50,848
I can't explain it,
it happens to me a lot.

1211
01:05:50,881 --> 01:05:52,950
I don't know what it is.

1212
01:05:52,983 --> 01:05:55,720
It isn't psychic, it's something else.

1213
01:05:55,753 --> 01:05:57,955
Just curiosity, because I'm so curious,

1214
01:05:57,988 --> 01:06:00,558
I eventually ran into
something interesting.

1215
01:06:00,591 --> 01:06:03,461
I don't think this den
necessarily pulled me

1216
01:06:03,494 --> 01:06:07,298
psychically, like "come see us, Jim,"

1217
01:06:07,332 --> 01:06:08,899
but it almost feels like that because

1218
01:06:08,933 --> 01:06:10,668
it's happened to me enough times,

1219
01:06:10,701 --> 01:06:12,537
and especially here.

1220
01:06:12,570 --> 01:06:14,439
So just up around the corner,

1221
01:06:14,472 --> 01:06:16,741
I looked down and I saw the
grass was all matted down,

1222
01:06:16,774 --> 01:06:18,375
I thought, someone
came here for a picnic.

1223
01:06:18,376 --> 01:06:20,345
Except nobody comes here.

1224
01:06:20,378 --> 01:06:22,547
It was very unnatural looking,

1225
01:06:22,580 --> 01:06:24,349
so I just took... followed the trail up

1226
01:06:24,382 --> 01:06:27,818
and looked a little bit further,

1227
01:06:27,852 --> 01:06:32,223
and saw chewings on the tree.

1228
01:06:32,257 --> 01:06:34,325
I thought beaver?
No.

1229
01:06:34,359 --> 01:06:36,527
Den.

1230
01:06:36,561 --> 01:06:38,263
Wolf den?
Too fantastic.

1231
01:06:38,296 --> 01:06:41,232
Maybe fox or coyote.

1232
01:06:41,266 --> 01:06:42,967
Came up,

1233
01:06:44,535 --> 01:06:47,238
saw this,

1234
01:06:49,006 --> 01:06:51,476
virtually the minute I saw this den

1235
01:06:51,509 --> 01:06:55,380
within the minute, almost 15 seconds,

1236
01:06:55,413 --> 01:06:59,450
I was standing on a very
supple twig, branch,

1237
01:06:59,484 --> 01:07:02,753
it let loose as I started
walking toward the entrance,

1238
01:07:02,787 --> 01:07:06,624
just to look, I mean, I was 30, 40 feet.

1239
01:07:06,657 --> 01:07:09,660
Snapped me in the eye and it felt
like a hammer hit me on the head.

1240
01:07:09,694 --> 01:07:12,697
So you've got the mixture of exaltation

1241
01:07:12,730 --> 01:07:15,566
of seeing a wolf den,

1242
01:07:15,600 --> 01:07:17,835
the same time
getting spanked in the eye.

1243
01:07:17,868 --> 01:07:19,404
Just about knocked me out,

1244
01:07:19,437 --> 01:07:23,007
I knew I had a pretty
serious eye injury,

1245
01:07:23,040 --> 01:07:26,010
and it just came to me, you're
not supposed to be here.

1246
01:07:26,043 --> 01:07:28,646
I wouldn't have stayed here anyway,

1247
01:07:28,679 --> 01:07:30,615
'cause you can't be around wolf dens

1248
01:07:30,648 --> 01:07:31,982
without them possibly moving,

1249
01:07:32,016 --> 01:07:35,420
and I wanted to get out of here quick.

1250
01:07:35,453 --> 01:07:39,424
But the eye being injured by this twig

1251
01:07:39,457 --> 01:07:41,526
was too much to comprehend.

1252
01:07:41,559 --> 01:07:43,361
And I didn't know what to think,

1253
01:07:43,394 --> 01:07:45,363
except, is this another message?

1254
01:07:45,396 --> 01:07:48,032
Is this, come look at,
come, here's the den,

1255
01:07:48,065 --> 01:07:49,634
but don't come in.

1256
01:08:05,550 --> 01:08:08,586
As an investigative reporter as
I am, you wanna get the story,

1257
01:08:08,619 --> 01:08:10,888
you wanna tell every bit of the story,

1258
01:08:10,921 --> 01:08:12,657
but I'd done that in the arctic,

1259
01:08:12,690 --> 01:08:14,425
crawled into the den in the arctic,

1260
01:08:14,459 --> 01:08:16,761
and the wolves stayed there
the whole summer.

1261
01:08:16,794 --> 01:08:18,863
They didn't move the den,
they didn't leave.

1262
01:08:18,896 --> 01:08:20,129
But they were like family to me,

1263
01:08:20,130 --> 01:08:21,766
they trusted me.

1264
01:08:21,799 --> 01:08:23,534
These wolves don't trust me.

1265
01:08:23,568 --> 01:08:25,336
I haven't seen them with my eyes.

1266
01:08:25,370 --> 01:08:27,405
I've not seen the mother or father,

1267
01:08:27,438 --> 01:08:28,939
I don't know who these wolves are.

1268
01:08:28,973 --> 01:08:30,575
I've seen them on the trail cam,

1269
01:08:30,608 --> 01:08:32,041
but I've never seen them with my eye,

1270
01:08:32,042 --> 01:08:33,778
haven't heard them howl.

1271
01:08:33,811 --> 01:08:37,782
So it's haunting,
it's nearly haunting to me.

1272
01:08:37,815 --> 01:08:41,419
So it's like finding

1273
01:08:41,452 --> 01:08:43,521
a treasure under your bed

1274
01:08:43,554 --> 01:08:45,523
that was always there,

1275
01:08:45,556 --> 01:08:47,692
I'm trying to think of another analogy,

1276
01:08:47,725 --> 01:08:51,529
in your cupboard,
you find a stack of gold,

1277
01:08:51,562 --> 01:08:55,400
or a Rembrandt painting.

1278
01:08:55,433 --> 01:08:57,368
And I didn't know what to do with it,

1279
01:08:57,402 --> 01:08:59,003
except just get out of there quickly.

1280
01:08:59,036 --> 01:09:02,039
'Cause I know if I stayed,
they'd move the pups.

1281
01:09:04,809 --> 01:09:06,076
Did you hear that?

1282
01:09:12,583 --> 01:09:15,686
What I've learned in life,
I'm almost 70 years old now,

1283
01:09:15,720 --> 01:09:18,121
and I've learned that you really have
to come in through the back door

1284
01:09:18,122 --> 01:09:19,724
to change people's attitudes.

1285
01:09:19,757 --> 01:09:21,892
You can't confront it head on,

1286
01:09:21,926 --> 01:09:23,828
and convince someone to stop drinking,

1287
01:09:23,861 --> 01:09:26,764
stop smoking, stop speeding,

1288
01:09:26,797 --> 01:09:28,966
stop killing wolves.

1289
01:09:28,999 --> 01:09:31,736
You... have to somehow
come in the back door.

1290
01:09:31,769 --> 01:09:33,738
When I met you,

1291
01:09:33,771 --> 01:09:36,674
you're the only person I've worked with.

1292
01:09:36,707 --> 01:09:38,108
Uh, why?

1293
01:09:38,142 --> 01:09:40,645
I don't... I just had
an intuition that you,

1294
01:09:40,678 --> 01:09:44,982
and your message, and your
movie could make a difference.

1295
01:09:45,015 --> 01:09:47,518
So find that back door. I don't
know what that back door is.

1296
01:09:47,552 --> 01:09:50,054
That's what I thought I've
been doing my whole life.

1297
01:09:50,087 --> 01:09:51,789
I'm not sure.

1298
01:09:51,822 --> 01:09:55,025
I get a lot of beautiful letters.

1299
01:09:55,059 --> 01:09:56,927
I don't know.

1300
01:09:56,961 --> 01:09:59,564
It's easy to be discouraged.

1301
01:09:59,597 --> 01:10:02,667
But I have to think that there's hope...
here's hope.

1302
01:10:02,700 --> 01:10:05,736
We'll see, we'll see.

1303
01:10:13,744 --> 01:10:17,114
Then, the news came.

1304
01:10:17,147 --> 01:10:20,885
On December 21st, 2014,

1305
01:10:20,918 --> 01:10:24,589
a federal judge threw out the
Obama administration decision

1306
01:10:24,622 --> 01:10:28,459
to remove the grey wolf population
in the Great Lakes region

1307
01:10:28,493 --> 01:10:30,628
from the endangered species list.

1308
01:10:30,661 --> 01:10:33,731
A decision that would ban further
wolf hunting and trapping

1309
01:10:33,764 --> 01:10:39,770
in the three states, Wisconsin,
Michigan, and Minnesota.

1310
01:10:39,804 --> 01:10:41,939
U.S. district judge, Beryl Howell

1311
01:10:41,972 --> 01:10:45,643
ruled the removal was
arbitrary and capricious,

1312
01:10:45,676 --> 01:10:49,580
and violated the federal
endangered species act.

1313
01:10:49,614 --> 01:10:51,616
She concludes,

1314
01:10:51,649 --> 01:10:54,652
"at times a court must lean
forward from the bench

1315
01:10:54,685 --> 01:10:56,587
"to let an agency know,

1316
01:10:56,621 --> 01:11:01,191
"in no uncertain terms,
that enough is enough.

1317
01:11:01,225 --> 01:11:04,495
And this, is one of those times."

