Original subtitles

What's going on, Coyote Pack?

Tonight, we're on location in Colorado

testing out one of FLIR thermal imaging cameras.

Tonight, Mario is going to run the camera.

And I'm going to play the role of Sasquatch.

Now tomorrow night, we're going to take

the camera to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center.

We're going to get into an enclosure with wolves

and see how their heat signatures show up at night.

So if you guys are ready, let's head off into the darkness

and get this adventure started.

I've always wanted to play a Sasquatch.

This is the perfect opportunity.

Well, you're doing a pretty good job so far.

I'll tell you what, this outfit is pretty warm.

OK, this looks pretty good.

Right here?

Yeah, this is nice and flat.

All right.

So how does this system work?

It's picking up heat signatures from objects.

So every object gives off a certain amount of heat,

whether it's not much at all, which will be in the blues.

Yeah.

To the extreme warmth

of heat in the whites and reds.

OK.

So what I'll do is head down this pathway a little bit.

Let me when I'm out of the shot.

And then I'll try to sneak in.

And we'll see if you can detect me

moving through the environment.

OK, sounds good.

Here we go.

It's time to flip back into Sasquatch mode.

I'm recording.

Sasquatch lurks through the shadowy night searching

for berries and baby chipmunks.

What's that?

The camera's definitely detecting Coyote.

Looks like a camera.

Thermal imaging camera.

You can see that he is significantly

warmer than his surroundings.

He's trying to hide behind that tree,

but you can definitely see him.

No problem at all.

How are you doing there?

Is that a good Sasquatch impression?

Yeah, pretty good.

Semi-biped, semi-quadruped.

So what do you think?

I think I've got the hang of this.

Are you excited?

Yeah, let's put this thing to the test.

Seeing animals at night

can be incredibly difficult, especially when moving

about with a camera crew.

So we are heading to the Wolf Center

where we will be given the chance to get

into an enclosure with wolves.

These predators are fairly active at night

and should give us a fantastic subject matter

to capture on the FLIR camera.

It's a little eerie.

Yeah.

Even though these are captive wolves,

they're still wild in that they have their instincts.

Well, it'll be interesting to see how they

behave with us going into the enclosure at night

with this camera.

You know, seeing us during the day is one thing,

but seeing us at night is a completely different scenario.

Granted, they do have great vision at night,

but this is not in their normal realm of daily activities,

so anything could happen.

I see him up on the hillside.

OK, where do you think is a good spot?

I think if we go right up here along this edge line just

below the trees, we'll be able to shoot up at an angle.

OK.

This is cool.

I'm not sure that you can see it on this camera,

but in the silhouette just against the almost completely

night sky, you can see the silhouettes of the wolves

moving amongst the trees.

Oh, that's an eerie feeling right there.

OK, so we've got the FLIR camera up and running.

We are looking for wolf heat signatures.

And you can see how much heat has been absorbed in the trees.

Is that a wolf's head right there?

That's a wolf's.

As you can see, that's almost white.

Yeah.

So that's the warmest temperature.

And it's so dark with all these lights off.

I can't see where the wolves are.

We've got a little bit of light coming

off the camera, a little bit of light coming off these screens.

I mean, there could be a wolf right behind you right now,

and you would never even know it.

Right now we're on the black-hot setting,

which is really interesting.

It looks black and white, but it's really

showing up the wolves well.

That wolf is looking straight at us.

That's cool.

And you can see it's curious.

It's getting a little bit closer.

Coming down towards us.

Whoa, that's cool.

It almost looks like it's floating over the snow.

OK, so we tested out this mode.

Let's cut that clip and switch to a different color palette.

OK, let's go to maybe the classic rainbow?

OK.

OK, we're rolling.

Look at that heat signature.

During the cold months, their winter coat grows in.

They've got those outer guard hairs.

And then a downy or underlayer that keeps their body warm.

And now we're seeing with the fur is

just a reddish heat signature.

But it's the face the legs and the paws that are giving

off the most amount of heat.

Which makes sense because that's where the most

heat is escaping through the legs, which

actually had the thinnest layer of fur and kind

of the head region.

So the core of the wolf is actually really warm.

And it's not escaping through that fur.

Mm-hmm.

We threw some small treats out there.

Little bits of meat to get them closer to the cameras.

So let's see what happens if I slowly move out

in front of the camera to see if you can get my heat signature

and the wolf's heat signature at the same time.

OK.

So I'm going to very slowly crawl

out of my hands and knees.

OK, can you see me?

Yeah, yeah, I can see you,

and I can see the wolf in the background.

But you got one on the right side behind you,

and one on your left side.

Whoo, that is an eerie feeling.

I'm trying to see if I can actually

see them with my eyes moving.

Now I see them without any light.

I can just see those silhouettes up on the ridgeline.

Wow, that's close.

I can only imagine what it would be

like to be lost out in the wilderness at night

and be surrounded by wolves.

That's this scenario right here.

All right, I'm going to try a different color.

I'm going to go up against that tree.

Be careful.

Now if I was out in the wild

and I was lost at night surrounded by wolves,

this is probably what I would do.

Hide on the back side of a tree like this

and just peer around the edge.

And even in a wild scenario like that,

wolves would definitely keep their distance.

They're naturally cautious animals.

The odds of me being attacked are pretty much zero.

That's pretty cool, though.

It's a pretty cool feeling to be like,

OK, I'm pressed up against a tree,

staying as still as I can, and there's

wolves walking right behind me.

You guys want to see if I howl if they'll howl back?

They're looking at you.

That's pretty cool.

Oh, how cool was that?

Entering a wolf enclosure to capture their heat

signatures on camera.

And then getting the wolves surrounding us

to howl out into the night.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Whoo!

That was awesome.

The art of filming wildlife takes an incredible amount

of patience, even when working with animals that

are being raised in captivity.

And whether you're filming wolves or your friendly,

neighborhood Sasquatch, when it comes to filming at night,

the FLIR camera systems allow for unique approach

when it comes to seeing animals moving about in the dark.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land known

as Colorado, a beautiful animal roamed

the countryside, where day in and day out,

it balanced the ecosystem.

Traveling in packs, these predators move with stealth,

darting in and out of the shadows

as they stalk the seemingly endless

herds of deer, elk, and bison.

The unbroken wilderness stretched further

than the raven could fly.

And as alphas took claim over territories of their own,

it seemed this way of life would last forever.

It was good to be a wolf.

Then through a series of unfortunate events,

the westward expansion of pioneers,

the decimation of native species like buffalo,

and the introduction of domestic animals like cattle

life for a wolf changed.

All of a sudden, everyone was afraid of the big, bad wolf.

Humans quickly decided that wolves

were bloodthirsty, villainous killers that must be destroyed.

And this inaccurate narrative cast a long, dark shadow

that these animals could not control,

could not rewrite, and could not escape.

According to Parks and Wildlife, the last gray wolves

were eradicated from Colorado in the late 1930s

and have not roamed this wilderness since.

Today is a new day.

And with our help, that is going to change.

As a child, I would dream of wolves often,

with the vision that I would one day witness a pack running

swiftly through a dense forest on the hunt

and in hot pursuit of their next meal.

It's a dream that has yet to come true.

And for many years, the "Brave Wilderness" team and I

have been trying to capture a meaningful episode

that centers around the plight of these incredible canids.

The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center is located roughly

two hours outside of Denver.

All of their animals are rescues.

And their mission is to educate the public

about the ecological importance of wolves, coyotes, and foxes.

I'm really excited.

This is going to be the first time in my life

that I've entered an enclosure with wolves.

I'm going to get to meet the wolves at some point.

And then the ultimate payoff will

be us actually feeding some of the wolves a deer carcass.

Several days ago, Darlene and her team

acquired a deer that was hit by a car.

And we're going to get the chance

to place that carcass in an enclosure, enter it, and watch

and film these wolves actually do what it is that they do.

Wolves eating, this is going to be an epic day.

Today, I will be working with Founder

and CEO Darlene Kobobel.

Early in her life, Darlene was terrified

of wolves due to their misrepresentation

in popular culture.

Are you a good girl?

My love for wolves started a long time ago

actually by rescuing a wolf dog from a shelter that

was going to be euthanized.

And when I rescued her, she actually

became my inspiration of wanting to be a voice for wolves.

This has been a long journey to get to this point here.

My heart and soul goes into wanting

to be a voice for wolves.

And I'm excited about one day getting

them back out into the wild.

Through this relationship,

Darlene overcame her fears and recognized

that her path in life was to not only rescue wolves

but to help others see them in a positive light.

My goal is to do the same.

I have no fear around wolves.

I'm genuinely excited to work with these animals.

And I definitely want to make a good first impression.

To prepare for this moment, Darlene

suggested that I get to know some of the Center's

other ambassadors.

So in the days leading up to my wolf encounter,

I was given the chance to work with a pair

of red foxes, where I witnessed their clever tactics

for outwitting a human.

Hi, how are you?

Look at this.

The same cleverness that would be exemplified by a wolf.

That's cool. Right?

Oh.

All right, there he goes, he's got my glove.

Let's see what happens.

No, no, no.

Look who got the glove back.

I got it.

After that, Darlene introduced me to a coyote.

Posturing and tone play a crucial role

in deciding an animal's acceptance of humans.

And in just a matter of minutes, I

was able to earn the coyote's trust.

Ah, this is amazing!

Amazing!

I thought it was going to take so much longer

for him to get comfortable.

He must know that I'm one of his friendly cousins.

This was a huge step for me and demonstrates

that even a timid animal felt comfortable in my presence.

By successfully interacting with these smaller canids,

Darlene is now confident that I am ready to advance

to the next level.

Entering an enclosure with wolves.

The wolf is considered to be one of the most

intelligent and resilient animals on the planet.

So how is it that they are struggling to avoid extinction?

The answer is simple, humans.

Wolf populations have declined due to no weakness of their own

but, instead, these animals have been the victim

of ruthless persecution.

To date across the world, wolves have

been eradicated from almost all of their original range.

In the United States alone, they now only occupy

10% of their former range.

Overhunting for the fur trade, eradication

by ranchers who were protecting their livestock,

and deforestation are just a few examples of what have driven

wolves toward extinction.

So here's what's happening.

This is the first time a film crew

has ever gone in with a roadkill deer to film wolves.

The two wolves, whose enclosure we're entering,

are actually the wildest wolves on the property.

So we're trying to make sure we're taking all

the proper safety precautions before going

through with this exercise.

As you can see, we have a mule deer here in this wheelbarrow.

The deer was struck by a car.

And this is great.

This is part great enrichment for the wolves.

This is completely natural food for them to be eating.

But, like I said, this is the first time anyone

will have entered an enclosure with these wolves

to do a filming like this, so we've got to make

sure we get everything right.

This is going to be wild.

All right, here we go, Ready?

I'm turning into the first gate here.

This is it.

All right, Darlene, I'll have you open the gate.

I'm going to need to try to move as quick as I can to get

the carcass up on the hillside before the wolves converge in

on it.

So you have Raksha here.

He's probably going to be your one

that's going to take it quicker than her

because she's up at the top.

So he's one that we'll have to watch out for.

The male.

Great.

Here we go.

Pulling a mule deer carcass into an enclosure of wolves.

All right, let's go.

I'm bringing it up.

Dinner's served boys and girls.

OK.

Now what we want to do is just stay a safe distance back.

And the wolves are coming straight in for the carcass.

Here we go.

Don't want to make them feel as if they're

being challenged at all.

Look at that.

This wolf is so incredibly powerful.

This is a small deer, right?

A single wolf can pull a 150-pound deer

up a hill like this.

OK, as the wolves begin to pull it,

we can slowly follow it to get closer.

And you can see, the male, the alpha male,

is very much going to be the first one to feed.

In the pack mentality, it's always

the alphas that are going to be the first one to feast.

You have the female, she's the black one, running

up in the background there.

They're a little cautious at the moment

because we have cameras in the enclosure.

I see you, big boy.

You're good.

That's for you.

Enjoy, that's dinner.

That's all you.

That's pretty nerve-racking, right there.

OK.

Beautiful.

Let's see where the wolf takes the carcass.

And then we can set up and determine

how we're going to film this.

OK, I see you.

I'm going to move down slowly like this.

First order of business for a wolf

is to start removing that hair.

They will eat some of the hair.

It works as fiber through their system

to remove any bone particles or parasites within the organs.

You can see, as the alpha male, he's

taking charge of the situation.

The female, she's very skittish right now.

She notices that there's other people within the enclosure.

But as she gets more comfortable,

she'll come down and also start feeding.

When a pack of wolves makes a kill,

whether it's a deer, an elk, or a moose,

they need to try to consume the meat as quickly as possible.

There are many other vandals that

will come in and steal a kill.

Wolves in the northernmost range of their territory

have to face things like grizzly bears and wolverines.

Even something as small as a wolverine

will come in and chase an entire pack of wolves off of its kill.

So they want to eat as quickly as they possibly can.

And then rip stuff apart.

And then take it away, and stash it.

I see you.

That's my gift from me to you.

Enjoy that deer.

He's just kind of testing the limits right now, right?

Walking away making sure, OK, you're not going

to get any closer, are you?

This is my deer.

You think you're going to get closer?

I'll show you what a wolf can do to a coyote.

So we've backed off even further from the carcass,

which has opened up that level of comfort for the female.

She's come down now.

And she's just eating some of the scraps.

Some interesting little behavior there.

A female came in, and she was like, I'm

going to start eating.

You can see the alpha male is definitely taking

control of the situation.

By displaying his teeth and snapping,

it may look as if Raksha is being overly

aggressive toward Chakra.

But he's not.

He is visually saying, let me have my fill.

You will get your turn.

This is common, everyday behavior for wolves.

And despite the fact that it looks scary,

it really shouldn't be.

Wow, I have been witness to some pretty cool animal encounters,

but I don't think anything tops getting to feed

wolves a real deer carcass.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure.

What if I told you that everything you thought

you knew, that everything you feared about wolves

was nothing more than a poorly written narrative

constructed over 100 years ago?

Think about that.

What if the story has been wrong the entire time?

Consider this, of the 100 million cattle raised

in the United States every year, do you know

how many fall prey to wolves?

0.01%.

Do you want to know how many humans have been killed

by wolves in the past century?

Two.

This planet needs wolves more than any of us

will ever understand.

And most of us will never do a single thing

to edit the wrongful narrative that has been written.

Are you afraid of the big bad wolf?

If so, go and visit the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center.

I challenge you to face your fears.

And, I promise, you will walk away with a newfound respect

and a feeling in your heart that can

only be achieved once you've looked into the eyes of a wolf.

As a child, I dreamed of one day encountering wolves

in the wild.

And it's a dream I hope comes true in Colorado.

If you live in this beautifully wild state,

please support Bill 107, as this initiative

will allow for the reintroduction of wolves

into the wild.

It will put paws on the ground by 2023.

We can't rewrite the past, but for the love of wolves,

we can change their future.