Twenty years with wolves: The Last Howl is now on The Green Channel

On September 4, President Trump signed an executive order directing the US Interior Department to decide whether gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves should come off the federal endangered species list.

Five days later, a Canadian film about two brothers who spent twenty years with wolves starts streaming on The Green Channel.

The film is The Last Howl, and its producer and director, Matthew Todd Paproski, is not treating the timing as a coincidence. “It is timely with Trump initiating delisting wolves the same week we release a Canadian film on them,” he says. “We appeal to the world to watch our film to get a better perspective on these controversial predators!”

Twenty years, and not the film they set out to make

In 2004, Matt Paproski and his younger brother Troy began raising wolves. They had no idea they were starting something that would take twenty years to finish.

Then Troy had a stroke. It put him in a wheelchair and forced him off the project.

Four years passed. Matt carried on alone, through government scrutiny and financial hardship, held to the work by his bond with the animals. He started again with a second pup, Aurora, rescued from a fur farm, and later added a black male named Timber. What followed was two decades of cross-country educational tours, a world record and a long search for somewhere the wolves could live out their lives.

Troy came back for the home stretch. The brothers appear together in the finished film, interviewing experts on conservation, wolf culling and wildlife abuse.

Paproski calls it “a unique story meshing the importance of both wildlife conservation and inclusiveness of people with disabilities.”

Our acquisitions executive Emily Chan watched it before we brought it onto the platform. Her verdict: “Amazing, striking, emotional, heartfelt.”

The soundtrack is a story on its own

Los Lobos gave the film its theme song, Will the Wolf Survive. Blue Öyster Cult contributed a previously unreleased acoustic version of Don’t Fear the Reaper. The original score is by Ron Riddle, who drummed for Blue Öyster Cult from 1987 to 1991 and has spent the years since scoring television for Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic and Disney. Riddle’s prog-rock band Happy the Man contributes tracks too.

That is an unusual amount of musical firepower for an independent Alberta documentary. It fits, though. Nothing about this film happened the easy way.

A filmmaker with a strange resume

Before he made films, Matt Paproski was a military officer, a firefighter, an actor and a journalist.

His screen work includes the TV specials Fire Attack, First Response and Cougar Crossings. Fire Attack was hosted by William Shatner. Cougar Crossings used music by David Bowie. He hosted Wildlife Wranglers, the series that aired across Canada, Europe, Russia, Africa, Israel and the Middle East, and he has directed documentaries, corporate films, tourism films and music videos.

He is based in Drumheller, Alberta, where he runs Starland Studios, a construction company and an animal sanctuary that also carries the Wildlife Wranglers name.

Where the film has played

The Last Howl had its world premiere at the Calgary Justice Film Festival in 2025. “Having a world premiere at Calgary Justice Film Festival 2025 was a wonderful experience, and it garnered public interest in our festival and press coverage,” said Rowan Fisher, the festival’s executive director.

It has since won Best Nature / Wildlife Film and Best Director Documentary Feature at the Cannes World Film Festival, a Special Jury Award at the Los Angeles Film Awards and a win at the San Diego Independent Cinema Awards. It was a semi-finalist at the Palermo International Film Festival and received a Merit from Documentaries Without Borders. It was an official selection at the Festiver Green Film Festival in Colombia, the Red Movie Awards in France and the BIG SYN International Film Festival in London.

It also played Drumheller’s Napier Theatre. “This screening represented the highest attendance for an independent film shown at Drumheller’s Napier Theatre during our ownership,” said owner Thyra Smith.

Watch The Last Howl online

The executive order signed on September 4 applies to wolves in the United States. The Last Howl was shot in Canada. The film does not settle the policy question and it is not trying to. What it offers is twenty years of watching wolves closely.

The Last Howl starts streaming on The Green Channel today in Canada.