An incredible personal Journey...

The History of the Evolution of "Stories of Wolves"        It has been truly an amazing, albeit sometimes also very difficult and at times downright heartbreaking journey. It all started when I was a little girl in Germany and was missing the wolves who had been exterminated from my home country over a hundred years before my birth. Granted there were still lots of remnants of their existence like in the names of towns and villages like Wolfsburg and in the names of athletic teams. But no howling at night and no wolf tracks in the fresh snow of winter. I missed them without ever having known them.    I moved to New Mexico precisely to walk on the same earth as our wild animals and to enjoy the beauty of still relatively untouched wilderness. And I remember how I cried tears of joy when I saw my first real forest 23 years ago that did not just consist of trees useful to the building  industry planted in straight rows with no under growth.    A few years ago, in spite of being shy and introverted I was ready to act. I wanted to do something for the wolves here in in our backyard, in New Mexico and Arizona and pretty soon also in the wilds of  Mexico again. Aid in their recovery somehow. All I knew is that I love them and want them to stay here on this planet with us. And that was all that I needed to know. The rest followed.   I have since met incredibly openhearted people (thank you, danke, gracias, tack, merci, grazie...) as well as people driven by fear and misinformation who have closed off their hearts to the possibility of coexisting with our wild brothers and sisters. I have seen hatred towards the wolves and have heard death threats against the wolves. Cried tears of sorrow over the shooting of yet another wolf whom I had bonded with, heard howling at night under the stars in wolf country and have experienced magical visits from various wolf families. I will never seek them out, rather they come to me...    I have spent my savings to document the stories on film as they were told to me by people trusting me in the face of being disciplined by Western culture that does not value our personal connection to wildness and wild animals and deems our wild ones "useless varmint". What I learned from spending days and days with people is the encouraging fact that many of us have a connection to and an understanding of nature and wild animals and are willing to step out with our love, care and concern for the well-being of our plant and animal nations.    I learned how to edit which was the ultimate sacrifice for me since I do not like to spend months in front of a computer when I can be outside instead. But one day I resolved my inner struggle and I said to the wolves: I will do this for you. I have not regretted that decision one second... In fact, now I am one of those editors who cannot stop and goes on until the wee hours of the morning...   I have bonded even more with the Wolf Nation. And, in the words of a fellow filmmaker who said "You have no choice Elke. I can tell you have to do this" there is no alternative. He is right. I could not not do it... It is impossible now to ever go back to not being awake, aware, present and alive. That is the gift that the wolves have given me. In return, the film is my gift to them...

 

Comments

[Lauramanivong.wordpress.com]

So glad I found your blog! I am an author working on a young adult novel that focuses on the reintroduction of the Mexican Gray. I got to visit Sevilleta in 2010 to see the wolves in their pre-release pens. Amazing!