Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves

Farley believes he must find a way to demonstrate that a large carnivore like a wolf can survive just by eating mice. He decides the way to prove this is to demonstrate that a human can live on a diet of mice. The author gives a full description of how he prepares the mice in various ways. With some tweaking of preparation, Farley discovers that humans can survive and even thrive on a diet of mice.

During this experiment, Mike returns with his cousin, a young Inuit named Ootek. The couple distances themselves from Farley when they offer him some venison steak and Farley turns them down, explaining he eats only mice to study the behavior of wolves. Ootek finds four small wren eggs and, through Mike, tells Farley of an Inuit belief: If you eat only mice, your male parts will shrink; if you eat eggs as well, then everything will remain normal size.

Ootek remains with Farley, and they become good friends, striving to understand one another’s language. They are both quite interested in wolves. Ootek is a shaman whose personal totem is the wolf. Ootek tells the author that, as a boy, his father left him for 24 hours in a wolf’s den. He played with wolf pups, unharmed by the adults. Ever since, he has had a keen interest in the habits of wolves and explains their nature and behaviors to the author.

The friendship between Ootek and Farley helps Mike get along better with Farley. Mike interprets their conversations. They discuss the relationship between the wolf and the caribou, and Ootek explains the Inuit belief that the wolf and caribou require each other to exist. He relates the ancient Inuit creation story about the original man and woman. The woman dug a hole and began pulling out all the earth’s creatures. The last animal was the caribou, which could feed all the woman’s children. Over time, since the Inuit ate only the healthy caribous, they became overrun with sickly, small, weak caribous. The woman asked the spirits to help. The spirit of the wolf instructed the wolves to feed upon the weak, small, and sick caribous, leaving only the healthy animals for the humans to eat. The story amazes Farley because it fits perfectly with the idea of natural selection.

Farley asks about the origin of the many caribou skeletons around the cabin. Mike explains that to feed himself and his dogs and make a living, he kills up to 200 caribous a year. Farley does some multiplication, realizing there are 1800 trappers in the wilderness, and thus approximately 100,000 caribou are being killed by trappers yearly. Rather than wolves, hunting by humans accounts for the decimation of the caribou herds. He realizes the scientists and bureaucrats who sent him there to study this will never accept this truth.

Ootek regularly joins Farley in his tent overlooking the wolf’s den. Farley asks Mike to interpret whenever there is a need to understand exactly what Ootek says. Ootek claims to understand the meaning of different wolf calls. Farley has made a notebook of the various basic sounds, noting great variations. Ootek says the wolves literally talk to one another in this way.

One day, Ootek cups his ears and says he hears wolves in the distance from hills that are five miles away. Farley notices that George also lifts his head. Because Farley does not understand what Ootek says, Mike interprets, explaining that Ootek has heard the wolves say that the caribou herds are coming. Farley is extremely skeptical. Mike responds by packing up his gear and going on a two-day hike. He returns with portions of a caribou that he shot.

While watching the wolves’ den, Ootek hears wolf calls and grows excited. He cannot make Farley understand what he is saying. Ootek leaves, headed to the northwest. That evening, the two male wolves of the pack go east to hunt instead of going to the west as usual. Within a few hours, Ootek returns, bringing with him three friends. When Farley asks how he knew these men were coming, Ootek says he heard the wolves talking about it and describing where they were.

Toward the end of June, Angeline shows the desire to make the evening hunting trek with the male wolves. She resists the temptation to go, even when George lures her. One evening, Angeline goes with George while Uncle Albert stays with the pups. The next morning, the wolves relocate the pups to another den. Farley fears he has somehow transgressed, causing the wolves to move. Ootek explains that this is common. The wolf pups are now too big for the den and must find a different place to grow and learn. Ootek knows the location of the new den and leads Farley to a campsite overlooking it.

Ootek tells Farley that there are no orphans among the wolves. He relates the story of a widowed wolf male who relocated his pups to another den when the mother died. The wolves adopted and raised the orphans as if they were their own. Farley is skeptical but learns that another naturalist has verified this. Ootek tells Farley that a human baby would be too weak to survive in a wolf’s den. However, human mothers have nursed dog and wolf pups to the point that they could be on their own.

Mike keeps his dogs nearer to a supply of caribou since the caribou are not yet near the cabin. When Mike brings the dogs back to the cabin, one of the huskies is in heat. Since Farley wants to understand the breeding habits of wolves and Mike wants to see how well wolf-dog hybrids serve as sled dogs, they decide to breed the husky with a wolf.

Over two days, they introduce the dog to the wolves and, on the second day, chain her where the male wolves can approach her. Both George and Albert respond, though Angeline tackles George, and he turns around and returns to the den. Albert proceeds straight to the husky. The dog and the wolf do not want to be separated. Albert stays outside the cabin howling, and the dog howls from inside. Ootek says that if they let the dog go, she will stay with the wolf so long as she is in heat, then return to her place, which turns out to be correct.

Because it is difficult for Farley to observe the pups closely, he waits until the adult wolves are gone and sets up an observation site to watch the wolf pups’ activities. He observes them one morning as they come outside, play with one another, drag out a caribou bone, wash their faces in the stream, and hunt mice. Angeline shows up and vomits a huge amount of meat. She watches as the pups eat it, then they all fall asleep. The young wolves are about the size and shape of groundhogs and do not look like wolves yet. As he watches, Farley’s stomach begins to growl loudly. Angeline wakes up, searching up and down the gully until, at last, she sees Farley. From a distance of 10 feet, she bares her teeth at him, takes the pups, and marches off with them.

Farley makes note of the wolves’ playful rituals. One day, George stalks the sleeping Albert and leaps on him from about 10 feet away. Albert responds by chasing George. George runs past Angelina, who joins in the chase all over the esker. Finally, George smashes into Angeline, knocking her down but allowing Albert to jump on top of him. They wrestle and fight, then stop as if nothing had happened.

There are other occasions when Angeline leaps out at George when he returns from a hunt, and they play together like a loving couple. Farley writes, “The whole thing seemed to be in the nature of a private little ritual of welcome” (172).

On one occasion, as the sun sets, Farley sees two strange wolves approach and call out. Angeline responds, and they come to her. They spend some time playing. One of the strange wolves goes into the den to see the pups as Angeline watches casually. When they leave, Angeline goes partway with them, returning to the den afterward. Ootek explains to Farley that this behavior is typical of wolves, that they visit one another just like humans. When Farley says he cannot figure out which of the wolves does not have a mate, Mike accuses him of having been in the Barrens around the wolves for too long.