0:00:31 > 0:00:36Coming out West to hunt wolves was an impulse thing.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40I never imagined it would change my life.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46In the autumn of 1893,
0:00:46 > 0:00:52a man called Ernest Thompson Seton came to New Mexico.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55These were the dying days of the old Wild West,
0:00:55 > 0:01:00and Seton's mission was to hunt down the last of the outlaws.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02The outlaw wolves!
0:01:03 > 0:01:08But what began as a two-week job turned into an epic duel.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13A duel that would touch Seton's heart.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19And one, which, in the end,
0:01:19 > 0:01:24helped to change forever America's relationship with its wilderness.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30And it was all because of one remarkable animal.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43WOLF HOWLS
0:01:50 > 0:01:55When I was a boy of ten, I was given this book,
0:01:55 > 0:02:00Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03And it had a huge effect upon me.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Seton was a trapper naturalist
0:02:05 > 0:02:08working on the prairies of North America,
0:02:08 > 0:02:16and his first story is about Lobo, a wolf that he was hired to trap,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19and it shows wolves to be brave,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22fearless, touchingly loyal to one another.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24I've never forgotten it.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The stage for the drama could hardly be wider, or more epic.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48New Mexico, in the American southwest,
0:02:48 > 0:02:53is a land where the rolling prairies meet the foothills of the Rockies.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01By 1893, the year Seton came to hunt wolves,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05this was a land being swept by profound change.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07TRAIN WHISTLE HOOTS
0:03:11 > 0:03:14The modern world was steaming in.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Settlers were arriving by the trainload.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24What had recently been the land of the Apache and the buffalo
0:03:24 > 0:03:26was now the land of opportunity.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Livestock were pouring in.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Ranching was big business.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44But the old West hadn't completely disappeared.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Parts of northern New Mexico were still untamed.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56In the remote Currumpaw Valley, wild wolves still roamed the canyons.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59A vicious war was under way
0:03:59 > 0:04:04to exterminate the last of these cattle killers.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07COW MOOS
0:04:10 > 0:04:12One of these wolves, however,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17seemed to possess an almost supernatural ability to cheat death.
0:04:18 > 0:04:19Hey!
0:04:21 > 0:04:22GUNSHOT
0:04:23 > 0:04:25GUNSHOT
0:04:27 > 0:04:32Seton soon heard about this "super-wolf" from the cowboys.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34He was known as "Lobo"...
0:04:35 > 0:04:38..King of the Currumpaw.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Lobo and his band of outlaws
0:04:43 > 0:04:46were blamed for killing hundreds of cattle,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48and not surprisingly,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52the cattle barons and their cowboys wanted him dead.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59In many ways, Seton was the perfect assassin.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02He'd hunted wolves for bounty money before
0:05:02 > 0:05:06and written a manual for his fellow trappers on how to catch them.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10WOLF SNARLS
0:05:12 > 0:05:16He even claimed that one of his Scottish ancestors had wiped out
0:05:16 > 0:05:19the last remaining wolves in the British Isles.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25But behind the gun lay a more complex character.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Seton was a naturalist who'd grown up in the backwoods of Canada,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36with a real love and fascination for nature.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39He was also an artist,
0:05:39 > 0:05:40trained in Paris and London,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44whose favourite subjects were the wild animals of North America.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58The story of the hunt for Lobo is the story of a divided man.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03On the one hand, a romantic,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07whose heart was with the wilderness and its wild creatures...
0:06:07 > 0:06:09GEESE HONK
0:06:11 > 0:06:14..and on the other, a hired hunter, who, like the cowboys,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18saw wolves as somehow different from the other animals,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22as wanton killers that had to be dealt with.
0:06:23 > 0:06:29I am to get board and lodging, all expenses, and bounty monies,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33in exchange for which I shall rid the cowboys of their demon wolf.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41I think two weeks should be enough to catch the pest.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55HOWLING
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Little did Seton know
0:06:57 > 0:07:00the remarkable wolf he was up against.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02HOWLING
0:07:02 > 0:07:05The wild and romantic story that follows
0:07:05 > 0:07:10is based entirely on the journal that Seton kept at the time,
0:07:10 > 0:07:12and the book he subsequently wrote.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17It is, according to Seton, ALMOST completely true.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22The animals, he later wrote,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26were "real characters who lived the lives I have depicted".
0:07:26 > 0:07:30And yet, Seton made such surprising, almost heroic claims
0:07:30 > 0:07:32about Lobo and his pack
0:07:32 > 0:07:36that we're bound to wonder how much of it we can really believe.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39WOLF HOWLS
0:07:39 > 0:07:43A dread of this Lobo has spread among the ranchmen,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47and now the price set on his head is a thousand dollars,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50a record bounty for a wolf.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54He is my number one target.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Seton had come to New Mexico
0:08:04 > 0:08:07equipped to wage a poison campaign,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10a tried and tested method from his wolf-hunting days in Canada.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16A piece of meat laced with a few drops of strychnine
0:08:16 > 0:08:18makes a good wolf bait.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20The poison causes violent spasms,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23and the victim soon dies of asphyxiation.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29But it's crucial that the bait is free from the taint of metal
0:08:29 > 0:08:30or any trace of human scent,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34or the wolf will get suspicious and avoid it.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45It was late October. Seton set about laying his first baits.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Over the following days,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56he made a series of wide circuits around the plains,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59dropping a piece of poisoned meat every so often,
0:08:59 > 0:09:04taking care not to touch them with his hands or to get off his horse.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Seton, the man who'd written the textbook on how to catch a wolf,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16was confident that his expertly prepared baits
0:09:16 > 0:09:19would soon bring him his thousand-dollar bounty.
0:09:35 > 0:09:41Alongside his hunt for Lobo, Seton also pursued his love of nature,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44taking every chance to learn more
0:09:44 > 0:09:47about the wild inhabitants of the Currumpaw.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51At first, this place seemed uninviting
0:09:51 > 0:09:54compared to the lush prairies of Manitoba,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59but the more I explore, the more I realise it's a paradise.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Every spiny bush is teeming with life,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and every day I make new friends and learn new facts.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15I was amazed to see the prairie chickens still dancing in the fall.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19PRAIRIE CHICKEN CHIRPS
0:10:19 > 0:10:20Provided they're fat and fit,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23they seem to like nothing better than a shimmy.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36They share the plains with hundreds of prairie dogs,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38and as far as I can see,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42these little yap-rats never go more than a hundred yards from home.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Every burrow's a plunge-hole,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48a sheer drop for rapid escape!
0:10:48 > 0:10:49EAGLE CRIES
0:10:49 > 0:10:51PRAIRIE DOGS CHIRP
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Seton the naturalist
0:10:58 > 0:11:01may have been cramming his notebooks with observations,
0:11:01 > 0:11:06but his hunt for Lobo was about to suffer a humiliating setback.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09November 3rd.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11I set out in the afternoon to check my baits,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14and soon picked up Lobo's tracks.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20His monstrous paw print is unmistakable.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24It measures over five inches from claw to heel,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28which must put him at around 150 pounds.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Further ahead, I found that Lobo had come to one of my baits,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41sniffed at it, and then picked it up.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43I galloped on with eager eyes,
0:11:43 > 0:11:45expecting to find him dead within a mile.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50A second bait had been taken, and then a third.
0:11:50 > 0:11:51But though I scanned the brush,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54I saw nothing that looked like a dead wolf.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59At the fourth bait, I discovered that Lobo hadn't really
0:11:59 > 0:12:04taken my baits at all, but had merely carried them in his mouth.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Then, having piled the three baits on top of the fourth,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10he'd scattered filth over them
0:12:10 > 0:12:14to express his utter contempt for my devices.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21Descriptions like this seem far-fetched.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Just how clever are wolves?
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Could Lobo really have played a joke on Seton?
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Since Seton's time,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34we've learnt a lot more about wolf behaviour.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Today, Yellowstone National Park supports a thriving population
0:12:38 > 0:12:43of wild wolves, which are closely monitored by scientists.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49With over 20 years' experience of tracking and studying wolves,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Doug Smith is one of the world's leading experts,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56and uniquely qualified to assess what Seton wrote.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03Seton was imputing these powers of ridicule to the wolves
0:13:03 > 0:13:05that really are beyond them.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Wolves really don't care about us.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10But it's well known among wolf biologists
0:13:10 > 0:13:16that when you trap and catch wolves a lot they get educated.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19You teach them how to avoid you catching them.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22The wolves that were left were getting educated
0:13:22 > 0:13:24by the traps and the guns and the poison
0:13:24 > 0:13:27that people were using to kill them.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30What Seton encountered, in some ways,
0:13:30 > 0:13:31was the best of the best.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34WOLF GROWLS
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Seton had come to New Mexico as a hired gun to do a dirty job,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54expecting to stay for a couple of weeks.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56But Lobo continued to elude him,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59and as the weeks stretched into months,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03the untamed beauty of the land began to cast its spell.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06He was falling in love with the West.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16He was also learning of the old days, when the wild game abounded,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and the wilderness was unspoiled.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21I can usually reckon on seeing
0:14:21 > 0:14:24a dozen or more pronghorn on the plains.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28But everyone says that these bands are nothing compared with
0:14:28 > 0:14:30the huge herds of days gone by.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34This land is vast.
0:14:34 > 0:14:35But beyond these horizons,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39America is busy growing like an ugly, overfed brat,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43too healthy to slow down, too young and ambitious to care about
0:14:43 > 0:14:46what it destroys along the way.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51In the Currumpaw, Seton had plenty of time
0:14:51 > 0:14:55to think about America's dwindling wildlife.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00Only a few years earlier, there had still been buffalo on the plains.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05One of the cowboys saw a small herd
0:15:05 > 0:15:08not far from here in '88, just five winters back.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15These would have been the very last survivors in the entire Southwest.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24For tens of thousands of years, wolves had survived
0:15:24 > 0:15:28by hunting one of North America's most formidable prey species.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35They'd pitted their wits against the sheer size and ferocity
0:15:35 > 0:15:36of the buffalo.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41This required teamwork.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43It was little wonder that wolves had evolved
0:15:43 > 0:15:47into such highly intelligent animals with intimate family bonds.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54After the buffalo, a cow was a piece of cake.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59The wolf problem clearly
0:15:59 > 0:16:01is something that we have created.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06First we annihilated the great herds of buffalo
0:16:06 > 0:16:08that the wolves depended on for food,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11then we filled the prairies with our defenceless cattle.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17I am told that Lobo's band alone kills a cow every day.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19COW MOOS PANICKEDLY
0:16:19 > 0:16:21COWS MOO
0:16:24 > 0:16:29Lobo's pack could slice through livestock
0:16:29 > 0:16:31like a knife through butter.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Wolves probably could have killed as much livestock as Seton described.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40The livestock was vulnerable and helpless.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43We bred their natural defences out of them,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47and wolves are intelligent and they had figured that out.
0:16:48 > 0:16:54So wolves have a mentality, really, of, "kill everything you can".
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Seton still had a job to do
0:16:57 > 0:17:01and after the failure of his poisoned baits,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03he now brought out a new weapon.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09The double-spring, steel, wolf trap.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Perhaps a more muscular approach would defeat the wily Lobo.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Darien Brown lives today just a few miles north of the Currumpaw,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25on a ranch where Seton is known to have stayed.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29In fact, some of Seton's actual traps were left here
0:17:29 > 0:17:33with Darien's grandfather, in this very barn.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Number 4½ wolf trap.
0:17:35 > 0:17:41This is one of the actual traps that Seton used to try to catch Lobo.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46These traps are designed to grab and hold their victims,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48rather than kill them.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50I'm gonna put some soft dirt in here
0:17:50 > 0:17:52so the trap will set just right.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57And all the time, keep in mind,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01this is a real trap that'd catch me as well as any animal.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04The wolf will actually put his foot on this.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06It's what triggers it to go off.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Now, I want to keep an open area under...
0:18:09 > 0:18:12..the trap pan so that when the animal steps on it,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14it'll actually spring the trap.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16If you had dirt underneath it,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20it wouldn't go off, it'd just sit there.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Now, a real key element is to make this
0:18:23 > 0:18:27about as natural with the ground around it as you can.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32OK, nothing exposed.
0:18:35 > 0:18:36Now we have the trap set,
0:18:36 > 0:18:40and though it's over 100 years old, it still functions perfectly.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51It's just designed to catch it.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55They can still get blood circulation to their foot.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00This is also hooked to a drag.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03As it goes along the ground it'll get caught in a cactus or a tree
0:19:03 > 0:19:05or anything along the way.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08It slows them up enough, it leaves a mark on the ground
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and then you can follow the animal.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20December 13th.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24This afternoon I went up the west canyon with rancher Bill Allen
0:19:24 > 0:19:28and we put out a dozen traps along one of Lobo's trails,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31always taking care to cover our scent and tracks.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Catching Lobo was becoming an obsession.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Seton simply didn't see wolves the way he saw other wild creatures.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45Unlike wolves, which were killers,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48animals like elk didn't threaten anyone's livelihood.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51ELK CRIES
0:19:51 > 0:19:54On the contrary, like the buffalo and the pronghorn,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56elk were now themselves in decline,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59the victims of over-hunting by man.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06Seton's love affair with New Mexico was deepening by the day.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10In fact, his concern for all of North America's wildlife
0:20:10 > 0:20:13was very likely awakening.
0:20:14 > 0:20:21But when it came to wolves, Seton was still thinking in the old way.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Throughout history, we have demonised wolves,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28seen them as wanton, bloodthirsty killers,
0:20:28 > 0:20:30almost the embodiment of evil.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33WOLVES SNARL AND GROWL
0:20:35 > 0:20:36Thursday, December 14th.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41I rode out to check my traps and soon came upon Lobo's trail.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45In the dust I could read the whole story
0:20:45 > 0:20:47of his doings the previous night.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51He'd run along through the scrub for a few hundred yards,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54then turned towards my traps.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58But upon reaching the first one, he'd scratched up stones and earth
0:20:58 > 0:21:01till he'd sprung the trap and made it safe.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06Continuing along the trail, Seton discovered that Lobo
0:21:06 > 0:21:10had disarmed over a dozen of his traps in the same way.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16How could he have seen through Seton's clever plan so easily?
0:21:16 > 0:21:20Wolves are very, very observant of their environment.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24They pay attention to a degree that people have a hard time fathoming.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26They're just extremely attentive
0:21:26 > 0:21:30to every little thing in their environment.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32They knew Seton was after 'em,
0:21:32 > 0:21:33and his other cowboys,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37and so they became very attuned to his tricks.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41And once they learn about traps, about steel,
0:21:41 > 0:21:43they become hyper-observant.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45That's all they're doin'.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49The wily wolf had outwitted Seton once again.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54It was going to be a long winter.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Week after week, I vary my methods and redouble my precautions,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09yet there is only defeat after defeat.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14The cowboys complain bitterly of their losses,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and each night Old Lobo mocks me with his triumphant howl.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19LOBO HOWLS
0:22:19 > 0:22:23December 24th. Went in the afternoon to trail wolves.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Saw only coyotes and jack rabbits...
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Wolves have killed three cattle and a colt...
0:22:28 > 0:22:34Christmas Day, 1893. Found many wolf tracks today but caught nothing...
0:22:36 > 0:22:40January 5th. Bitterly cold. Baits untouched...
0:22:40 > 0:22:43January 13th. Got nothing and saw nothing...
0:22:43 > 0:22:48Today I have ridden without rest or stop between 35 and 40 miles...
0:22:48 > 0:22:50WOLVES HOWL
0:22:50 > 0:22:54I am facing total humiliation.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59GEESE HONK
0:23:10 > 0:23:15After months of failure, Seton must have been at his wits' end.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18He hadn't even clapped eyes on Lobo.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22What he desperately needed was a lucky break.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28And eventually, that's exactly what he got.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32I camped out above the creek,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35close to where the snow geese and cranes are wintering.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38They spend the nights huddled together in the marsh,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41beyond the reach of the coyotes and the wolves.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46GEESE HONK
0:24:01 > 0:24:03It was the commotion of the geese
0:24:03 > 0:24:06that led me to the clue I so badly needed.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23I recognised Lobo's mark instantly...
0:24:24 > 0:24:27..and then noticed a second set of tracks,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29always, it seemed, running out in front.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Wherever these smaller tracks led,
0:24:32 > 0:24:37Old Lobo was sure to follow, leaping and rolling in the mud.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Suddenly I realised what was going on.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53The old marauder was in love.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00WOLVES GROWL PLAYFULLY
0:25:02 > 0:25:07Seton knew immediately that the she-wolf was his big chance.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11A cynical new plan formed in his mind.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16During the breeding season, which, apparently,
0:25:16 > 0:25:18a lot of his story took place,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21that male's tending that female extremely closely.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26He rarely leaves her side during that time period.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31I chase wolves with a helicopter. It doesn't hurt them, we have to do it.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34But when we move in on 'em it's during the mating season
0:25:34 > 0:25:37and you can always tell who's the breeding pair
0:25:37 > 0:25:39because they will not separate.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43And so they're moving around in their own little orbit of two,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47and the rest of the pack breaks up and goes every which way.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50That male wolf, the alpha male,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53sticks right with that female.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03I soon learnt more about Lobo's mate from the shepherds.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05They call her Blanca because of her white coat
0:26:05 > 0:26:09and they say she leads Lobo a merry dance.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12This tallies with the tracks I saw at the creek,
0:26:12 > 0:26:14and has suggested a way to catch her.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16See if that's the right side...
0:26:16 > 0:26:19That's good, that's good, right there...
0:26:19 > 0:26:24Cunningly, Seton first placed traps rather obviously around a dead cow,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27guessing that Lobo would stop and try to disarm them.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31While he was thus diverted, Seton hoped that Lobo's mate, Blanca,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34would run on to investigate the head of the cow,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37which Seton had cut off and put to one side.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43It could only be approached through a narrow passage between rocks,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47and it was here that Seton planted several of his best traps,
0:26:47 > 0:26:52properly deodorised, and concealed with the utmost care.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Wednesday January 24th.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12This evening I am more excited,
0:27:12 > 0:27:17and yet more anxious, than I have been in three long months.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Try as I might, I cannot get to sleep.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25SHE-WOLF PANTS
0:27:45 > 0:27:48SHE-WOLF SNIFFS
0:27:57 > 0:28:00SHE-WOLF HOWLS
0:28:06 > 0:28:09SHE-WOLF HOWLS IN PAIN
0:28:25 > 0:28:29The following morning, Seton went up the canyon,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33hoping that at last he had struck a blow against Lobo.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39He was in luck. Blanca had walked right into his trap.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44BLANCA HOWLS
0:28:44 > 0:28:48According to Seton, Lobo remained close by,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51reluctant to leave his mate.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54BLANCA GROWLS
0:28:54 > 0:28:58But it would have been suicide to stay and face the men's guns.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00BLANCA GROWLS
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Seton would later recoil from what he called
0:29:03 > 0:29:06"the inevitable tragedy" that followed.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11But the plain fact is, he was here to do a job.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14He was here to kill wolves.
0:29:16 > 0:29:17BLANCA GROWLS
0:29:24 > 0:29:27SOFT, HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Success at last.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Seton had claimed his first scalp.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50And yet now, with Blanca dead, Lobo was about to touch Seton's heart,
0:29:50 > 0:29:54and change forever the way he saw wolves.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59The King of the Currumpaw had lost his mate.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09DISTANT HOWLING
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Tonight I heard Lobo up in the canyon,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22and there was an unmistakable note of sorrow in his voice.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29It was no longer the loud, defiant howl I had heard so often,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32but a long, plaintive wail.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38LOBO HOWLS
0:30:39 > 0:30:43"Blanca! Blanca!", he seemed to call.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48It was sadder than I could possibly have imagined.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54I think there is an emotional attachment between wolves in a pack.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56Certainly among a mated pair.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01And the example I use is, here in Yellowstone a wolf died,
0:31:01 > 0:31:04a female wolf, she was the alpha,
0:31:04 > 0:31:05very similar to Blanca.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09She was killed by another pack and the alpha male,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12pardon my way of putting it, seemed to mourn.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17He howled for two days after, more than anybody had seen him howl
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and he wailed and he wailed and he wailed.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28A little bit of what Seton described, in his story,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31we've seen here in the wilds of Yellowstone.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Seton had brought Blanca's body back to his cabin,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37but the last thing he expected
0:31:37 > 0:31:41was for Lobo to throw caution to the wind and come looking for her.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54CLATTERING
0:32:08 > 0:32:10HE PANTS
0:32:10 > 0:32:12GUNSHOT
0:32:14 > 0:32:19Not once has he shown himself in all the months I've pursued him,
0:32:19 > 0:32:24yet now he scorns his own safety to find his beloved Blanca.
0:32:26 > 0:32:27HE SIGHS
0:32:27 > 0:32:31We can only guess what doubts were creeping into Seton's mind.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35But it was too late to stop now.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Seton had to strike fast, while Lobo's guard was down.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49He gathered in all his traps, 130 in all,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52and set them on every approach to his cabin.
0:32:52 > 0:32:58Last of all, he used Blanca's scent as a lure to draw Lobo in.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11Seton set out the next morning with confidence.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14Every outlaw tale has its showdown
0:33:14 > 0:33:20and for Seton and Lobo, the fateful day was January 31st 1894.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34His plan had worked.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47The first thing Seton did...
0:33:49 > 0:33:50..was take a photograph.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57It's an astonishing record that survives to this day.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Old Lobo, the King of the Currumpaw,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05is clearly visible, caught in four traps, one on each leg.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09That's what it had taken to stop this incredible wolf.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21Seton had won.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25After the long chase, he finally had Lobo at his mercy.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34But face to face with his adversary,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37Seton's resolve faltered.
0:34:42 > 0:34:48Perhaps killing Lobo no longer felt like a victory, but a crime.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51Perhaps, in his eyes,
0:34:51 > 0:34:56Lobo was no longer vermin, but a creature with dignity,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00courageous, loyal, and loving.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12Until now, Seton had seen wolves simply as indiscriminate killers.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15But they were obviously much more than that.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21They were the very embodiment of America's vanishing wilderness.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32It's as if the conflict within Seton
0:35:32 > 0:35:36between the hunter and the naturalist was finally resolved.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44He decided to take Lobo back alive.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52Sadly, it was too late.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Lobo made no resistance to me.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00He never once looked at me,
0:36:00 > 0:36:04but acted as though he was alone on the plains.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14His eyes were fixed on the far rolling mesas,
0:36:14 > 0:36:20his passing kingdom, where his famous band was now scattered.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24When the sun went down, he was still gazing out across the prairie,
0:36:24 > 0:36:30but within a few hours the old king-wolf was dead.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38We know that an eagle robbed of his freedom,
0:36:38 > 0:36:44a lion shorn of his strength, a dove bereft of his mate, all die,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47it is said, of a broken heart.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52And so it was with Old Lobo, the King of the Currumpaw.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59It was Lobo's loyalty to Blanca that had been his downfall,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03and now Seton took Lobo to be with her again.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16Seton profoundly regretted what he had done.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18He never killed another wolf.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24When I read Seton's story, to a certain degree I filtered through
0:37:24 > 0:37:26a lot of his flowery language.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I looked at it through a biological lens.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34Is what these wolves were doing, given the context of the time,
0:37:34 > 0:37:41which was no to little natural prey, a laser focus on killing livestock,
0:37:41 > 0:37:46an incredible ability to avoid traps and guns and poisons,
0:37:46 > 0:37:49is all that possible? Absolutely.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52Do wolves have an incredibly strong attachment
0:37:52 > 0:37:54between a mated pair?
0:37:54 > 0:37:55Absolutely.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05Lobo, the last outlaw wolf of New Mexico, was dead.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09The Currumpaw Valley had been silenced.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11It was "job done".
0:38:13 > 0:38:17By 1894, it seemed that virtually all of America's wilderness
0:38:17 > 0:38:22was destined to be cleaned up, civilised, and made safe.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Seton had come here in the twilight years of the Wild West,
0:38:34 > 0:38:39just as the sun was setting on a magnificent, untamed world.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43And he had played his part in its destruction.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50If we're inclined to judge Seton harshly, we should remember that
0:38:50 > 0:38:53in the 1890s, wolves were cattle killers
0:38:53 > 0:38:58and could ruin the livelihood of the pioneer ranchers and the cowboys.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02But that was not the end of Lobo's impact on the world of men.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04In fact, it was just the beginning.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09What happened next, to Seton and the story he wrote about Lobo,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11would have a profound effect
0:39:11 > 0:39:15on the relationship between Americans and their wilderness.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18TRAIN WHISTLE HOOTS
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Seton returned east, deeply affected by
0:39:26 > 0:39:27his Western adventure,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30and determined to record what had happened.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36In the story he wrote, he boldly cast himself as the villain
0:39:36 > 0:39:38and the wolf as the hero.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40WOLF HOWLS
0:39:40 > 0:39:45His book, Wild Animals I Have Known, was an immediate worldwide hit.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Virtually overnight, it propelled Seton from a little-known naturalist
0:39:50 > 0:39:52into a major celebrity.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56But what really mattered to Seton now
0:39:56 > 0:40:00was saving America's wilderness, before it was too late.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05Historian David Witt thinks the turning point can be traced back
0:40:05 > 0:40:08to a single word in Seton's journal.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13He has this last word in the entry, "Why?"
0:40:13 > 0:40:16And it's a very big "why". It was even written in large letters.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21I thought maybe he was putting down that "why", asking,
0:40:21 > 0:40:22"Why did the animal die?"
0:40:22 > 0:40:24because he follows up with a couple of notes
0:40:24 > 0:40:27about the physical condition of the animal.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29But I think that the "why" was much bigger than that.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33It really was a "why" asking, "Why are we doing this?
0:40:33 > 0:40:35"What is our relationship to nature?
0:40:35 > 0:40:38"Why are we destroying it like this?"
0:40:39 > 0:40:42At a time when few people questioned the destruction of nature,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Seton spoke up for the wilderness.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48His views about the value of the wild
0:40:48 > 0:40:51found favour with politicians like Teddy Roosevelt
0:40:51 > 0:40:54and helped to turn the tide of public opinion.
0:40:57 > 0:41:03Seton used his influence to push for the creation of more national parks.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06Thousands of ordinary Americans
0:41:06 > 0:41:09became aware of their spectacular natural heritage.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15So Seton took a leading role
0:41:15 > 0:41:17in what became the conservation movement,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20and eventually the environmental movement.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23He was talking about our relationship, not only to animals,
0:41:23 > 0:41:24but to all of nature.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26He was doing it in a very ecological way.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29He was certainly one of the first ecologists.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Seton also lobbied for hunting restrictions
0:41:32 > 0:41:34and anti-poaching measures,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37and was instrumental in pushing through radical new laws
0:41:37 > 0:41:39to protect migrating birds.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45He did lobby for environmental legislation, including the first
0:41:45 > 0:41:51wildlife legislation that protected migratory animals.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55And because of Seton, they lobbied Congress and expanded
0:41:55 > 0:42:00federal government authority to the interstate control of wildlife.
0:42:00 > 0:42:06It was a major increase in federal government authority, and it laid
0:42:06 > 0:42:10the groundwork for every single piece of environmental legislation
0:42:10 > 0:42:12that has come after that time.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16And it wasn't just a question of SAVING the wilderness.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19Seton felt that people had to experience it
0:42:19 > 0:42:21in order to care about it,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24that it should be a part of everyone's upbringing.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Inspired by the values of Native American culture,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30he founded the Woodcraft Indians,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33an organisation that taught children many of the skills
0:42:33 > 0:42:37needed for outdoor life, along with a respect for nature.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41Many of these ideas were later adopted
0:42:41 > 0:42:45as the basis for the Boy Scouts in England, and Seton himself
0:42:45 > 0:42:49was a founding father of the Boy Scouts of America.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53By the early years of the 20th century,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56the United States led the world in the conservation of nature
0:42:56 > 0:42:58and tens of thousands of children
0:42:58 > 0:43:01were heading off to camp in the woods and the mountains.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08Seton had been a prime mover in all of this
0:43:08 > 0:43:13and it had all started back in the Currumpaw, in the autumn of 1893,
0:43:13 > 0:43:18when he'd set out to kill an outlaw wolf called Lobo.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24But what about wolves?
0:43:24 > 0:43:29Was the new, nature-loving America ready to embrace its old enemy?
0:43:29 > 0:43:33For decades, Seton was virtually alone
0:43:33 > 0:43:37in his desire to protect wolves alongside the other wild animals.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42It's taken a long time for the rest of America to catch up.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46As head of the wolf reintroduction program in Yellowstone,
0:43:46 > 0:43:51Doug Smith sees his job as trying to complete what Seton began.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53The change of heart to wolves
0:43:53 > 0:43:55has only been going for about 30 or 40 years.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59I mean, literally, in the United States in the 1960s,
0:43:59 > 0:44:01most people still thought wolves were bad
0:44:01 > 0:44:03and I think what we had
0:44:03 > 0:44:05is an awakening to a new environmental movement,
0:44:05 > 0:44:08and that killing all these predators,
0:44:08 > 0:44:10wolves and other carnivores,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13without question for so long...
0:44:13 > 0:44:17I think the light bulb went on in people's heads as..."Why?"
0:44:18 > 0:44:21But I need to be very clear.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23There is still a large group of people
0:44:23 > 0:44:26who retain the old view of wolves.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29I know people who have come up to me and said,
0:44:29 > 0:44:35"My grandfather killed off this animal to make life here easier,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37"and you're bringing it back."
0:44:37 > 0:44:41So attitudes have changed, but the old attitudes still exist
0:44:41 > 0:44:46and so now we're at this very polarised bashing of heads
0:44:46 > 0:44:49about how to...live in this world
0:44:49 > 0:44:54because some people feel predators like wolves have no place, still,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56as many people felt in Seton's time.
0:44:56 > 0:44:57But others are saying,
0:44:57 > 0:45:01"Hey, we made a mistake, and we need to bring wolves back."
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Seton has had a tremendous impact on where we are today,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12in terms of respecting nature.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15And I think enough people, at least in North America,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17Canadians and Americans,
0:45:17 > 0:45:22recognise that we have maybe overstretched our reach,
0:45:22 > 0:45:24in terms of what we've taken.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33Like many a good tale from the Wild West,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37Lobo's story is a mixture of myth and truth.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41On the one hand, we know that Seton could exaggerate.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45The reward on Lobo's head was NOT a thousand dollars,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47but a mere 12,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51and we know from Seton's diary that Lobo was not a monster
0:45:51 > 0:45:55of 150 pounds, but an averaged-sized wolf.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59On the other hand, there's a lot of truth in the story.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03Many of the traps that Seton used are still there, in New Mexico.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08There's Seton's photograph of Lobo in one of those traps.
0:46:08 > 0:46:09And we have this.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15It's the skull of one of the wolves
0:46:15 > 0:46:16that Seton killed,
0:46:16 > 0:46:21with Seton's own label still attached.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23And the museum that owns it
0:46:23 > 0:46:24thinks it may well be
0:46:24 > 0:46:26the skull of Blanca.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33Whatever the truth,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36the important thing about this story is that it depicted wolves
0:46:36 > 0:46:39in a more realistic and more sympathetic way
0:46:39 > 0:46:42than anything that had been written before.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45The duel between Seton and Lobo
0:46:45 > 0:46:48may have ended in sad deaths,
0:46:48 > 0:46:50but it also breathed new life
0:46:50 > 0:46:55into the Americans' appreciation of the wilderness.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57WOLF HOWLS
0:47:01 > 0:47:07In later life, Seton returned to live in his beloved New Mexico.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11I have been much criticised,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13firstly for killing Blanca and Lobo
0:47:13 > 0:47:18but chiefly for telling of it, to the distress of many tender hearts.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21To this I reply,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25in what frame of mind are my readers left with regard to the wolf?
0:47:26 > 0:47:29Are their sympathies quickened toward the man who killed him
0:47:29 > 0:47:34or toward the noble creature who died as he lived,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38dignified, fearless, and steadfast?
0:47:40 > 0:47:43Right up to his death in 1946,
0:47:43 > 0:47:48Seton continued to reflect on the wolf that changed his life.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54Ever since Lobo, my sincerest wish has been to impress upon people
0:47:54 > 0:47:57that each of our native wild creatures
0:47:57 > 0:48:02is in itself a precious heritage that we have no right to destroy
0:48:02 > 0:48:05or put beyond the reach of our children.