Winchester Wolves Again Stars Of Documentary Emmy Winner To Premiere New Work At Nez Perce Center

The Winchester wolf center’s 11-member pack will soon be getting another burst of national publicity.

Jim Dutcher of Ketchum, Idaho, the Emmy-winning filmmaker who spent six years living with and filming the pack, will premier his new film, “Wolves at Our Door,” Thursday evening at the Nez Perce National Historical Park’s visitor center in Spalding.

Dutcher filmed the pack in an enclosure near Stanley to produce “Wolf: Return of the Legend,” which was broadcast earlier by ABC-TV.

“Wolves at Our Door” was produced by Dutcher for the Discovery Channel. The one-hour film is scheduled to debut on the cable network Oct. 27.

The wolf center in Winchester is operated by the Wolf Education and Research Center and the Nez Perce Tribe. It is open daily during the summer.

The film will help explain the role the pack plays in teaching the public about wolves, Dutcher said.

“I think it will do well for the wolves, wolf center and the Nez Perce Tribe and how it’s using science,” he said.

The film includes Carla HighEagle, a Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee member, and Rudy Shabala, the tribe’s Young Horseman Project coordinator.

The tribe is jointly overseeing a federal recovery project to restore wolves in central Idaho. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began the project in 1995 after capturing gray wolves in Canada for release.

At least 29 of the 35 wolves released that winter and in early 1996 are still alive. This spring six pairs of wolves produced pups, bringing Idaho’s total in the wild to about 65 animals.

The 11 wolves in the Winchester wolf center will not be released. Center officials say the captive pack’s role in restoring the animals is the chance they give the public to see wolves up close.