COEUR d'ALENE - Niwa, a 5-year-old timber wolf under the care of the Wolf People education program, played the role of a famous wolf known as OR7 in a new documentary film.

The film, "OR7 - The Journey," is currently making the rounds at film festivals, said Nancy J. Taylor, owner of the wolf education facility and gift shop known as Wolf People of Cocolalla.

Taylor said filmmaker Clemens Schenk visited Wolf People - which offers public tours and has 25 wolves on its property 12 miles south of Sandpoint - to take some photographs in preparation for the movie production.

"He took one look at Niwa and he said, 'That's my OR7,'" Taylor recalled Tuesday.

Niwa's parts in the documentary were filmed on multiple occasions in the course of six months within the Wolf People's 5-acre enclosure that is home to the animals.

Taylor has already seen the documentary three times, including once at the Panida Theater in Sandpoint this fall.

"It was sold out," Taylor said. She said it is scheduled to be shown in Spokane in April, and will be available on DVD late in 2015.

"To see Niwa up on the big screen made me cry, because we've had him since he was 7 weeks old," she said.

She said Niwa is a "high-content" timber wolf.

"He's probably at least 95 percent wolf," she said.

The movie captures how wolves serve a vital role in the ecosystem, she said, and how they can often be misunderstood.

"It's got such a great message for people about wolves," she said. "(Clemens) really did a lot of studying on the issue of wolves."

Recently, Taylor has run into trouble with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for allowing people who visit the Wolf People facility to pet her wolves.

"They're mad at me," she said. "I like to let people pet my wolves, and they don't like me to do that."

A Fish and Game spokesman said the issue hasn't been resolved.

"There was a hearing regarding compliance with a permit issued to the 'Wolf People' to possess captive wolves," said spokesman Phil Cooper on Friday. "The hearing was decided in Fish and Game's favor, but the decision may be appealed."

Taylor's name appeared in The Press in 2011 and 2012 after one of her wolves, Cryco, escaped from her facility and she failed to immediately report it. Her facility was also in the news in 2009 when a child was bitten on the hand by a wolf.

As for the real OR7, it was reported widely this past summer that after roaming California for more than a year, the wolf found a mate and produced some pups in Oregon.

More information: Wolfpeople.com or (208) 263-1100.