The Right To Be Wild - Documentary

Critically Endangered Mexican Wolves - Lobos
Contrubutions needed.

Now more than ever these very rare endangered wolves need your help. Please donate to help us improve this documentary about Mexican wolves, known as Lobo's, and to get the word out.

Great success. We had a full house at most of our screenings in New Mexico and Arizona. The audience’s loved the film and gave us terrific feedback. We still need your contributions because we are now doing more editing to get the film length down a bit, and to enhance the sound and improve the on-screen text.

This Endangered Species, the Mexican Gray Wolf, also called LOBO, desperately needs your help.

Mexican wolf pups - Photo courtesy USFWS

The 2018 management plan, influenced more by political pressure than by sound biology, is threatening to undo all of the progress that has been made to recovery this magnificent animal.

Recent favorable court decisions may have given us a window of opportunity, but your help is needed now to continue this momentum. 

We need your help now to tell this important and compelling story.  Please share this link with others.

Your contribution will help us get this tale of hope and determination, driven by science, into theaters, and into the public’s view. We believe that only by informing people will they be able to influence the wildlife managers and government officials to do the right thing.

We wish to thank all contributors from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you.
By making a contribution you will be part of making a difference. You will be helping to save the magnificent Lobo.

About the film.
In the Mountains of Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico, lives a very rare and endangered canid, the Mexican Gray Wolf also called Lobo.

Unlike any other, its story is unique.

The Right To Be Wild is a beautiful full-length documentary. It is a tale of Hope, Struggle, Survival, Science and Determination

In the early 1970's, the Lobo were believed to be completely gone from the wild, in the United States.
However, a new era dawned for the Lobo when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, together with the Mexican Government, began a new and daring operation to try to save the Lobo from extinction.

When only ONE female, ten years old and later called Nina, and four males, were found in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, extinction was nearly a fact; they were the last known wolves to room in the wild.

In this documentary you will be able to; see rare footage of Nina and other Lobo's, dramatic video from a helicopter cruising just above the treetops looking for wolves, tracking wolves on the ground, eco tours through wolf country, learn the history of the Lobos and how they bounced back from the brink of extinction.

You will also learn about the Lobo as a keystone species, and it's importance to the eco system. 

Hear from the people who have dedicated their lives to save the lobo; activists, teachers and students, every day citizens, and state and federal agency biologists.

Today the Lobo faces yet another threat of extinction. Why? Limited genetic diversity and reduced habitat.

What does the future hold for the Lobo of the Southwest?

Will the mountains be able to hear the howl of the Lobo, forever echoing in the wild?

Will these amazing people be able to save the majestic lobo from extinction? Will they they forever have the Right to Be Wild? 

Donate now.

Image of Nina: the last wild female Mexican Wolf. Photo courtesy of Emily Renn: Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project.

As of Jan. 2018, there were only 114 Mexican wolves counted in the wild, a number that is still far too small after nearly 20 years of recovery and reintroduction work.

The Lobo desperately needs public support, your support. This is vital to the Mexican wolf recovery effort. 

With your help, we believe we can change the faltering return of this magnificent and beautiful animal by educating people with this documentary.

PLEASE MAKE A CONTRIBUTION AND SHARE THIS LINK WITH OTHERS.

About the Film Maker.
Katja Torneman is the Producer, Director, Director of Photography, Editor and Writer of "The Right To Be Wild", the story of the Mexican Gray Wolf.

Katja climbing in Chamonix France. 

Katja is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. In 2013, she was honored with the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence for best children's film, "Anna, Emma and the Condors". The film has been screened in festivals around the world and received numerous awards. It is currently airing on the PBS series Natural Heroes. 

Katja is originally from Sweden, and is now a U.S. citizen. Katja left Sweden in 1982 to live in Chamonix, France, where she started climbing in the Alps and skied professionally. In 1986, she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the U.S. where she climbed "The Nose" on El Capitan in Yosemite. She climbed professionally around the world during the 80′s and 90′s. Katja also worked as a freelance photographer. Her photos and stories were published in magazines in Sweden, Spain and England.

During her travels, Katja's passion for animals brought her to care for those animals that were abandoned, sick, hungry and injured, and to get them medical care and find them homes. She also saw the need to raise awareness for issues such as climate change and endangered species recovery. Katja also worked on climbing films and commercial films.

While living in the U.S. with her two dogs, Thelma and Louise, she studied documentary filmmaking at Zaki Gordon Film Institute, Sedona, AZ, and studied sports injury treatment in Oregon. Katja is inspired by the art and communication that can be made through film and photography.

Katja believes that the most important result of documentary filmmaking is to raise awareness and create positive change for the environment and wildlife, save endangered species, and help street dogs and cats. 

Tom Buckley is Co-Producer and Adviser on the documentary "The Right to be Wild". 

Tom Buckley with his two dogs Lilly and Willow at the Rio Grande Gorge, New Mexico.

Tom has been working on wildlife conservation since 1986, and wolf recovery since 1997. He has been involved with the Mexican wolf recovery program since 2009, after moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tom has worked for Defenders of Wildlife, and recently retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Our goals for this film.
We hope to show this documentary at film festivals around the world, have it distributed in the education market, and air on TV. Many film festivals are already showing interest.

We believe that as more people that see this film,  awareness and interest in joining the important Mexican wolf conservation effort will grow. Public support is essential for success.

What we need to achieve our goal and how the money will be used.
$10,000 will enable us to pay overhead costs, specifically for the following tasks:
*Premiere - Film Festivals submission costs.
*Hire a professional editor to make the official trailer for the film. 
*Provide additional professional color correction and audio correction on the film.
*Cover travel and lodging cost to attend film festivals to promote and represent the film.
*Networking and outreach to potential   donors/investors.
*Marketing costs (posters, flyers, etc.).
*DVD's and the artwork cover for the DVDs. 

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Some of you might want to contribute and for whatever reason can't do so at this time. We understand. But that doesn't mean you can't support us. Here are some ways:
• Ask folks to get the word out and share this campaign.
• Use the GoFundMe share tools!