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

Farley and Ootek spend several weeks going down the river in the canoe, searching for wolf packs and identifying various den locations. They encounter a handful of other Inuit who pitch camp near a narrow place where the caribou crossed the river. Their goal is to harvest a number of caribous as they make their annual migratory trek. Ootek tells Farley he is going with the men on this hunt to help them. Farley says he will camp and wait.

Because it is such a beautiful day and fly season has ended, Farley goes down into the river and bathes, afterward lying naked in the sun, wearing only his boots. He sees three wolves and decides to follow them but does not have time to put his clothes on. For several miles, he trails the wolves. The wolves walk through clusters of caribou, made up mostly of bucks, and never chase any. When they get to a concentration of does and fawns, the wolves show more interest, and they chase some of the fawns, though they never seriously try to get one.

Farley accidentally stumbles into the midst of the wolves as they cross a hill. This startles them into running, which causes the caribou likewise to stampede. He had assumed he would see wolves and caribou running but did not imagine where he would be the one who caused it. On his way back to the Inuit camp, he sees two boys and a woman coming toward him armed with weapons. He races back to put on his clothes and grabs his rifle, trying to understand why they want to attack him. Ootek returns and calms the situation. The boys describe seeing Farley run naked across the wilderness chasing wolves. The Inuit assumed he was behaving irrationally and was going to attack the wolves bare-handed and bare-bodied. They had come to rescue him.

For the sake of his report, Farley knows he must document the hunting practices of the wolf. He asks Ootek why the wolves walk through a herd and scarcely disturb it. Ootek explains that caribou as young as three weeks old can outrun a wolf. He says the wolves seek the weakened, infirm, or those with a disability that cannot keep up with the healthy ones. The wolves know they won’t find these among the healthy bucks but perhaps among the does and fawns. Plus, sometimes, an older caribou will try hiding amid the bucks.

The wolves have various strategies for hunting depending upon the quantity of caribou. If there are a great many deer, the wolves rush right at the herd and try to sort out those that cannot keep up with the others. If the numbers are scarce, the wolves form a trap, walling in the herd and chasing them toward other wolves lying in wait. Sometimes wolves will form a relay in which one wolf runs partway after a deer, and then another wolf takes up the chase until they bring it down.

Farley notes that the wolves do not go after the hindquarters but rather knock the caribou down, grab it by the neck, and kill it quickly. He points out that the wolf eats the caribou almost completely. When it cannot, the wolves will transport the remainder and hide it to prevent foxes and other scavengers from finding the remains.

To prove to his superiors that the caribou depend on the wolves and that the wolves never take more than they eat, Farley knows he needs to demonstrate that the caribou harvested by the wolves are unhealthy. Thus, he collects samples from the carcasses. Farley finds many of them riddled with parasites and diseases. After showing this to Ootek, who grew up eating caribou venison, Ootek gets terribly upset. He asks Farley if this is just a white man’s joke. When Farley realizes how upset he is, he tells Ootek that, yes, this is just a white man’s joke. He asks Ootek to return to the cabin and make them supper, being sure to cook the meat very well.

By mid-September, the evenings are frosty, and vast herds of caribou have turned to the south, slowly making their way through the valleys where the wolves await. Angeline’s cubs have abandoned their den and spend their time with the adults. A fourth adult wolf has joined the pack.

On one evening, Farley positions himself so he can watch all the wolves as the caribous casually make their way through the valley. George, who has been restless, rouses Angeline. They get the other two adults and break into a hunting formation. The three adult wolves leave George with the pups. They make parallel lines and begin to herd the caribou back to the north, opposite the way the herd is bound. The caribou break into a group of about a hundred, then turn around and head back south. George and the pups focus on a band of about seven does and their fawns and angle toward them. The deer realize that they are being hunted and take off running. The pups run at top speed down the middle as George watches. They break into the middle of the little herd but do not bring down any deer. George and the other adults simply stand watching. Half an hour later, all the pups return, having run themselves out. Farley realizes this was a training exercise for the pups.

Farley realizes there are other tasks he must complete. He must examine the fauna that the caribou eat and study the wolves’ scat. Farley has a device called a Raunkiaer’s Circle, which he throws like a hula hoop. Wherever it lands, Farley collects all the fauna within the circle, determines what it is, determines its nutritional value, and counts the individual plants. On his third day, Ootek volunteers to throw the hoop for him. The circle lands in a little lake, disappearing forever. Ootek does not understand why Farley is so pleased by this.

One day when Mike and Ootek are gone, Farley decides to examine the scat of the wolves he has collected for parasites. Because of the health hazard, Farley wears a gas mask. While working, he sees six Inuit, relatives of Ootek, who have come down to visit him. He tries to communicate with them, first with the mask on and then off. He invites them to supper. They pitch a tent and wait while he finishes his experiments with the scat, cutting it up with scalpels and examining it. By suppertime, Farley discovers that the six have gone.

As the caribou head south, the wolves move to their winter hunting grounds below the timberline. In that region, the caribou and the wolves become subject to trappers, traders, and hunters.

Farley discusses the difficulty he will face when encountering governmental officials and others who assume he is a wolf lover and will not believe him when he tries to explain that the wolf has hunted the caribou for tens of thousands of years and never decreased the herds. Therefore, it is the human and not the wolf that is responsible.

Once in Brochet, Farley receives a report that a band of wolves has massacred about 50 caribous on a nearby lake. Dutifully, he goes to the site. He finds that 23 caribou died on the lake not from wolf attacks but because hunters shot them from a plane. Trapping the deer on the ice, the plane circled, and the hunters fired unhindered. Afterward, the hunters chose the trophies they wanted and flew away, leaving the caribou on the lake. Farley reported this to his superiors and heard nothing back. In about a week, the government raised the bounty on wolves.

Farley knows he must leave Wolf Den Bay, as he has named it, before the freeze sets in. When an airplane flies over one day, he sets off a smoke signal device. The plane lands in the adjacent lake. He learns that his superiors in Ottawa have been looking for him and have no idea what happened to him. They appear to be most concerned about the $4,000 worth of government equipment he possesses. Farley asks the pilot to take a message back requesting a transport plane.

The author knows he must finish some final bits of business, part of which entails measuring the inside of a wolf’s den. Farley goes to the wolves’ den with a measuring tape and dim flashlight, assuming no wolves are present. First removing most of his clothes, he crawls down the narrow entrance, then recognizes that the tunnel turns upward. Turning on the flashlight, Farley sees two sets of wolf eyes looking back at him. For an instant, fear paralyzes him, causing him to forget all he knows about lupine behavior. Adjusting the flashlight, he sees Angeline and one of her pups. They watch him passively.

Helpless and fearful, Farley backs out of the den. Once outside, he is suddenly enraged and momentarily wishes he had brought a gun and shot the wolves. Then he realizes he has forgotten everything he learned about wolves during his long study. Farley recognizes that, in times past, human beings were part of the wolves’ world. Briefly, he had the chance to go back into it. Yet, when he succumbed to the fear of wolves that today’s human beings have acquired, he knew he could never again belong to that natural world.