Wolves at Our Door

Wolves are rarely observed, making them one of the world’s least understood animals, and sadly, one of the most persecuted. Jim and Jamie Dutcher set out to deepen our understanding of this secretive canid, investigating the inner workings of a wolf pack by living in the midst of one. As wildlife documentary filmmakers, their goal was to observe the wolf, not as scientists but as social partners privy to their intimate family life. At the time they began their project, wolves had been systematically eradicated in most of the United States; so, there were very few to be found in the wild. They knew it was essential to gain their trust, but they didn’t want to habituate a wild wolf pack during filmmaking. If the wolves were to lose their instinctual fear of people, they would be that much more vulnerable should the next human they encountered be pointing a rifle instead of a camera.

Beneath the towering peaks of the spectacular Sawtooth Mountains in central Idaho, Jim and Jamie established a remote outpost where the wolves could roam and explore while accepting them as just another part of their world. In the face of wildfires and subzero temperatures, marauding mountain lions and hostile anti-wolf antagonists, Jim and Jamie devoted six years to capturing the wolves’ lives on film. They watched in amazement as the pack matured from pups to adults, selected their leaders, mourned the dead, settled familial disputes, educated the young, and cared for their ailing pack members. What they witnessed was beyond their greatest expectations, and this book transports the reader into the previously unseen world of the wolf as they experienced it.

Packed with 160 color photographs—many of them never-before-published—this revised and expanded edition of the now classic book, Wolves at Our Door, brings to life Jim and Jamie’s experience with the Sawtooth Pack. Starting with the genesis of the project, the book reveals the behind-the-scenes drama that caused a three-year film project to morph into a six-year adventure—an adventure that would completely change the course of their lives. Reading like a novel, the real-life plot weaves a tale rife with roadblocks and tragedy, politics and drama, wonder and enchantment, love and heartache. 

As companions on the journey, readers will find stories that surprise and delight as they discover that devotion to family, curiosity, and the need for play are just a few of the things that are as integral to wolves as to people. It's also a story of trust in which the wolves graciously allow these human observers to cross the species barrier and live side-by-side in a way no one has done before. The gripping narrative and stunning photos offer a semblance of that magical encounter people crave: gazing into the eyes of a wild animal. 

Brought together by a devotion to wildlife, Jim and Jamie Dutcher have been involved with wolves for more than 30 years and are widely recognized as two of America’s most knowledgeable experts on wolf behavior. To study and film the now-famous Sawtooth Pack, the couple lived among wolves for six years in a tented camp in the snowcapped mountains of Idaho. Their extraordinary experience led to the creation of three prime-time Emmy award winning documentaries, eight books about wolves, a wolf photographic museum, a nonprofit organization to protect wolves and a life forever changed.

Jim Dutcher began his career in 1962 as an underwater cinematographer and then as a wildlife film producer for National Geographic. Combining extraordinary camera work and the trust he gains from his subjects, Jim’s films have taken audiences into places never before filmed: inside beaver lodges, down burrows to observe wolf pups and into the life of a mother mountain lion as she cares for her newborn kittens. 

His work includes the National Geographic special A Rocky Mountain Beaver Pond, and ABC World of Discovery’s two highest-rated films, Cougar: Ghost of the Rockies and Wolf: Return of a Legend. In 1991, Jim received the prestigious Wrangler Award for his cougar documentary from Oklahoma’s National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1995, the Governor of Idaho appointed Jim as a member of the Idaho Wolf Management Committee, where he served until 2001. As part of the wolf reintroduction initiative at Yellowstone National Park, Jim served as a consultant for the design of the pack holding enclosures and as a specialist in the handling of the reintroduced wolves brought from Canada.

Jamie Dutcher began her career as an animal keeper and veterinary technician at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. She contributed her knowledge of animal husbandry and medical care to the film projects, and recorded the vocalizations of the Sawtooth Pack, winning a prime-time Emmy. Working together, Jim and Jamie created two of Discovery Channel’s highest rated wildlife films, Wolves at Our Door and Living with Wolves. The Dutchers also led three National Geographic expeditions to Alaska, working with revered wolf biologist Dr. Gordon Haber, observing pack hunting techniques and the culture of shared knowledge within individual wolf families. 

In 2005, the Dutchers put down their filmmaking equipment to focus their efforts on untangling the negative myths surrounding the misunderstood wolf. Together, they founded the nonprofit organization Living with Wolves. The Dutchers have given over 350 wolf-related interviews world-wide including NPR, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Dateline NBC, 48 Hours, Morning Joe, Fox News, ABC Australia, The New York Times, Sky News London, People Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, BBC News London and PBS News Hour.

The Dutchers have given a wide range of multi-media presentations globally, including the National Geographic speaker series, Nat Geo Live! Their venues include: The California Academy of Science, Harvard University, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, Jordan’s King’s Academy, London’s Natural History Museum and 200 others.

Educational outreach has been the cornerstone of the Dutchers’ mission. Here was an animal that was feared and hated for centuries, and yet they were able to witness friendship, kindness, empathy, apology, and grief. "By capturing their family life on film" says Jamie, "we were able to dispel myths and show a side of wolves that most people have never seen." This commitment to education also carries through to their published work. Their eight books they expand on their experiences and further their mission to reshape public perception of wolves.

To round out their accomplishments, working with the National Geographic Society and Senator John Kerry, the Dutchers produced a traveling photographic exhibit that originally was displayed in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. That first exhibit gave rise to several others that were displayed in notable venues around the country, including Chicago’s Field Museum, the Detroit Zoo, the Southern Ute Tribal Museum in Durango Colorado, the Aspen Colorado Airport, and beyond.  

The Dutchers’ latest incarnation of the photographic exhibit landed a permanent home when they opened The Living with Wolves Museum in their hometown of Ketchum, Idaho in 2023. This new space is dedicated to helping visitors get a better understanding of the true nature of wolves, dispelling myth and misconception, non-lethal solutions for livestock/predator conflict and how wolves are a keystone species, making ecosystems healthier.

In 2005, Jim and Jamie turned decades of firsthand experience with wolves into a larger mission, founding Living with Wolves, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting wolves and helping people better understand their true nature and important role in the natural world. What began with the story of the Sawtooth Pack has grown into a broad program of education, outreach and conservation. Today, Living with Wolves reaches people through educational programs and resources, books and films, museum exhibits, public presentations, advocacy and action campaigns, while also supporting scientific research and promoting practical, non-lethal solutions that allow people, livestock and wolves to coexist.

At the heart of this work is the lesson Jim and Jamie first learned by living alongside wolves: that understanding can replace fear. More than three decades after their journey began, they continue to share what the Sawtooth Pack taught them, working to move wolves beyond centuries of myth and misconception and toward a future in which they are respected and understood.