Jim Dutcher

After an award-winning filmmaking career, Jim Dutcher turned his energies to a life-altering focus: the wolf. Armed with a Forest Service permit, he and his wife Jamie lived in a tented camp bordering Idaho’s Sawtooth Wilderness. For six years, they documented the social hierarchy and behavior of the Sawtooth Pack, wolves they bottle-fed as pups. The Dutchers’ extraordinary experiences with what they discovered to be intelligent and compassionate animals led to three Emmy Award-winning documentaries. Yet with wolves still persecuted by a mostly fearful and misinformed public, the Dutchers knew they needed to do more. In 2005, they founded Living With Wolves. A nonprofit that addresses the complex issues surrounding the historical eradication and Endangered Species reintroduction of wolves, Living With Wolves battles laws that allow the brutal hunting of these beautiful animals.