Photographer Spends Four Years With Remote Mountain Villagers Forced to Defend Their Livelihood From Wolves

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A family of four, including two children, sits closely together by a window, illuminated by daylight. The mother holds a rifle, while all look outside with serious expressions. The room around them is dimly lit.

In the winter of 2021, photographer Luke Oppenheimer traveled to the Tien Shan mountains of central Kyrgyzstan for what was meant to be a one-month assignment on wolves preying on livestock in Ottuk, a remote village of shepherds.

Each year, wolves kill dozens of horses and countless sheep, forcing the men of the village into the surrounding mountains during the harshest months to hunt and protect their herds. What began as a short trip soon grew into a much larger story.

Snow-covered rolling hills with scattered evergreen trees, stretching into the distance under a cloudy sky, with faint mountains visible on the horizon.

A person wearing a fur hat and heavy winter coat stands in deep snow, looking through binoculars. A saddled brown horse stands behind them against a backdrop of snowy hills under a clear sky.

A shepherd leads a flock of sheep along a snow-covered road, surrounded by white hills and distant mountains under a cloudy sky.

There is a saying in Kyrgyzstan: “It only takes one frost,” meaning a single night can wipe out an entire family’s livelihood. Oppenheimer tells Modern Huntsman magazine that shepherds deep in the Tien Shan mountains suffer from rampant wolf attacks on livestock.

“A typical year sees the loss of 20 to 30 horses, the same number of yaks, and anywhere from 50 to 100 sheep,” Oppenheimer says. “With an estimated total annual income of $118,000 USD, Ottuk typically loses $47,600 yearly to the wolves’ hunger.”

A person in a camouflage jacket and fur hat holds binoculars in one hand and a cigarette in the other, looking into the distance with a snowy mountain landscape in the background.

A pile of old, rusty farm tools and metal objects sits in a snow-covered field, with a snowy mountain range and scattered houses in the background under an overcast sky.

An older man with a long white beard wears a large, round fur hat and a beige cardigan over a collared shirt. He is looking at the camera with a neutral expression, against a plain light background.

A small, rustic house with two solar panels outside stands on a grassy plain, with several horses gathered nearby; rocky hills and distant mountains rise under a cloudy sky.

In valleys littered with frozen sheep, life is precarious, shaped by the elements, injuries, illness, and long-standing feuds. The villagers’ existence is stripped to essentials: hospitality, loyalty, filial duty, and the unyielding weight of one’s word.

What started as a month-long trip grew into a four-year project, as Oppenheimer was gradually accepted into the community and adopted by one of its families. His body of work, Ottuk, is an intimate portrait of the villagers, their ancient way of life, and the landscape that has shaped them.

A black book cover with a subtle speckled texture features the word "OTTUK" in large, white, uppercase letters centered on the front.

Oppenheimer is a writer and documentary photographer from rural Oklahoma with a background in agroforestry and sustainable farming. After earning a degree in Latin American History from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, he spent several years living and working across South America before producing his first photographic project along the Brazil–Paraguay border. His work explores the relationships between rural communities, the landscapes they inhabit, and the wildlife alongside which they live.

The book, Ottuk, is available for pre-order now on the publisher Aliens in Residence website. Luke Oppenheimer will be signing books at AIPAD in New York next Friday, April 24.

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