Never Cry Wolf

I was excited to see this classic on NetGalley, first published in 1963 but now available as an ebook. I hadn’t read anything by Farley Mowat before, and I could immediately see, when I began reading “Never Cry Wolf,” that one reason he is celebrated is the rich vocabulary and story-telling he entertained with. I found him reminiscent of Bill Bryson, but even more over-the-top. He seemed to almost go out of his way to never use the same word more than necessary, for full expressiveness, and has a slightly more subtle satire. Comparisons can also be made with Edward Abbey in “Desert Solitaire”: both were alone in a barren place, becoming part of the landscape, working for government agencies, with their own interpretations of meeting their requirements.

After reading “Future Arctic,” it was nice to continue in the same setting, although Mowat had said he was in the subarctic. At least at the end of the book he was in the taiga, before finishing up his research. A jalopy of a plane dumped him and his comical load of supplies in the middle of nowhere (well, on a frozen lake in the middle of nowhere), and luckily meets a man, Mike, who is half-Inuit, half-white, who also lets him stay in his cabin. Mike leaves with his team of Huskies, but returns with his cousin Ootek, who happens to be one of the most knowledgeable people on wolves, and gets Mowat out of a few predicaments.

The author was sent there to make observations, and he is determined to find proof, to repeat his observations when possible and to put things beyond doubt when possible. Misconceptions about wolves were what he made his reason for research, even if it wasn’t exactly outlined by his employer. He sets up an observation tent near Mike’s cabin, from where he was able to study a wolf family by telescope. He names the wolves in his mind (George, Angeline, Uncle Albert, and four pups) but assigns more objective identifiers for science. Their surroundings can be pictured with a couple of interesting words, the muskeg type of terrain, and the esker, a sandy dried-up riverbed, next to which the wolves denned.  From both this book and “Future Arctic” I was surprised to read about the numbers of mosquitoes and other flies, and how they can severely harass the mammals up there.

Parasitization is also a problem for the caribou, which have an important relationship with wolves. As in Ootek’s origin story, the wolves do indeed go after the sick or old caribou. They chase the groups to “test” for such targets, and in return the caribou, rather than getting picked off, get a workout and stay healthy. Ootek also shares some fascinating notes on wolves’ fishing methods.

Mowat, to better understand his study species, adopts some of their habits, like napping and marking his own territory, which the wolves soon overwrite. The most humorous incident, to me, was when after making note of the wolves’ diet (then out of range of the caribou migration) he offers his favored recipe for creamed mice. I wonder if he washed it down with any wolf-juice (Canadian beer with grain alcohol or something equally as strong). This book is, I am currently concluding, nonfiction, though it reads like a novel. Each chapter is its own exciting story, and he often builds up a scenario before he realizes what’s really going on. His language is bold, and he offers literary proof to make his case. It is clear that he has a deep respect for the wolves, and the world is a better place for learning from his writings.