On the Trail of Wolves

A chance to move to the US Wild West allows TV presenter Philippa Forrester to fulfil a lifelong dream of living among and learning all she can about wolves

When Philippa Forrester and her nature-loving family moved to the wilds of Grand Teton National Park, they quickly learned to love the wildlife of Wyoming and nearby Yellowstone. The sounds of wolves close to their new home fed Philippa’s lifelong fascination with these remarkable animals, but nothing she had learned about wolves from her studies in the UK could have prepared her for the reality of living in wolf country. And as she and her family settled into their new wilder way of life, she discovered many locals are not excited about sharing their land with wolves.

Twenty-five years after wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, wolf packs are spreading into areas where their protection has been removed by the American administration. Without that protection, what is the future for wolves where many people resent that they were ever here at all?

In On the Trail of Wolves, Philippa vividly recounts her adventures living among the grizzlies, elk and wolves in her new home in America’s Wild West and chronicles her journeys further from home to talk to conservationists, rangers, hunters and ranch owners to investigate when and why opinions on wolves became so polarised.