This is the tale of a young biologist sent into the arctic wilderness in the late 1940s to analyse the rapid decline of the caribou population and the role the wolf purportedly played in their demise. He found that man (not native peoples) was the cause – the ever growing number of trappers, with their need to feed their large husky teams,

During the period of his analysis, Farley Mowat was able to closely study the behaviour of the arctic wolf. In addition to his observations, Mowat was fortuitously aided by a young eskimo shaman, Ootek, whose totem was the wolf. Ootek became a close companion over the course of the study, and a valuable source of information.

In addition to providing evidence against the assumption of the wolf’s role in the decline of caribou, the book is filled with examples of the clarity, beauty, morality, and intelligence of the arctic wolf.

Simultaneously, it increases your shame of certain members of the human race who also share this planet.

Mowat’s writing is beautifully ironic, perhaps the only device able contain the level of humour, love, and tragedy of the tale as well as the necessity of analytic observation.

Published in 1963 and made into a movie in 1988, Never Cry Wolf had a major influence on changing the public perception of the arctic wolf. This influence is still alive. More than 5 stars.