In 2016, Baratte attended the University of Montanta thanks to a scholarship that he earned based on his achievements as a middle-distance runner. After studying biology with a focus on wild animals, he decided not to return to the Grand Duchy. Today, he lives with wife and child in Bozeman in the north of the United States.
Baratte explained that thanks to Montana’s open plains, he is able to spot wildlife from far away. However, being able to observe wolves and bears from up close demands a lot of patience and experience, he explained: “I am outside almost every single day and over time, one becomes familiar with different packs and knows how they move and where to find them more or less.”
There are however also darker aspects to being a wildlife photographer, revealed Baratte. Upon returning to a glacier that he visited only six years ago, he found that the ice had completely melted away in the meantime.
“When I talk to people in the area, farmers who have lived here for the past 70 years in particular, they note that winters have become shorter, about a month shorter on average I would say. It starts two weeks later and ends two weeks earlier.”
