Authors: Wolves are misunderstood

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, June 22, 2005

”Living With Wolves” pays homage to this complex and highly social creature.

A companion to the Discovery Channel documentary, ”Living With Wolves” is a sumptuously photographed volume that includes a 60-minute CD of wolf vocalizations.

Written by award-winning filmmakers Jim and Jamie Dutcher, the book documents the couple’s half dozen years observing Idaho’s Sawtooth pack. The result is an intimate three-dimensional portrait of the often misunderstood animal.

”Believing them vicious, North Americans have killed almost two million of them – and yet, wolves living in the wild have killed none of us,” said Jim Dutcher. ”People understand that wolves are predators, but many still do not know the gentle side of wolves. These people never saw wolves’ intelligence and compassion – with all the adults sharing in watching, teaching and caring for pups. … Our ultimate vision has been to educate people about wolves, to change attitudes and shatter the misconceptions and myths of them as evil, bloodthirsty enemies of humans.”

Jim Dutcher is an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer and filmmaker. Jamie Dutcher, his wife and co-producer, won an Emmy for sound mixing for her collected sounds of the Sawtooth pack. They created the documentary ”Wolves at Our Door,” as well as ”Living With Wolves.”

Published by The Mountaineers Books, ”Living With Wolves” is a 176-page oversized hard cover with 120 color photographs. It retails for $34.95.

Contact: 206-223-6303 or www.mountaineersbooks.org.