''Never Cry Wolf'' is an account of the author's experience observing wolves in subarctic Canada by
Farley Mowat
Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...
, first published in 1963 by
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Random House of Canada, Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann.
...
. It was adapted into a
film of the same name in 1983. It has been credited for dramatically changing the public image of the
wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
to a more positive one.
Form of the book
In the book, Mowat describes his experiences in a first-person narrative that sheds light on his research into the nature of the
Arctic wolf
The Arctic wolf (''Canis lupus arctos''), also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Melville Island to Ellesmere Island.https://ecore ...
.
In 1948–1949, the Dominion Wildlife Service assigned the author to investigate the cause of declining
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
populations and determine whether wolves are to blame for the shortage. Upon finding his quarry near
Nueltin Lake
Nueltin Lake (Chipewyan: , meaning "sleeping island lake") straddles the Manitoba-Nunavut border in Canada. The lake, which has an area of , is predominantly in Nunavut's Kivalliq Region, and on the Manitoba side there is the Nueltin Lake Airport ...
, Mowat discovers that rather than being wanton killers of caribou, the wolves subsist quite heavily on small mammals such as rodents and hares, "even choosing them over caribou when available."
Conclusions
He concludes: "We have doomed the wolf not for what it is but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be: the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer—which is, in reality, not more than the reflected image of ourselves. We have made it the scapewolf for our own sins." Mowat writes to expose the onslaught of
wolfers and government exterminators who are out to erase the wolves from the Arctic.
Points and claims
Mowat's book says that:
* The main reason for declining population of caribou is human hunters from civilization.
* Wolves that hunt a large herd animal would rather attack weaker, injured, or older animals, which helps rid the herd of members that slow its migration.
* Arctic wolves usually prey on Arctic ox, caribou, smaller mammals, and rodents—but since they rely on stamina instead of speed, it would be logical for the wolves to choose smaller prey instead of large animals like caribou, which are faster and stronger, and therefore a more formidable target. One of these animals may include mice.
* A lone Arctic wolf has a better chance of killing small prey by running alongside it and attacking its neck. The wolf would be at a disadvantage if it attacked large prey from behind, because the animal's powerful hind legs could injure the wolf. However, a group of wolves may successfully attack large prey from a number of positions.
* Since Arctic wolves often travel in a group, their best strategy is not to kill surplus prey, since the whole group can sate themselves on one or two large animals. There are, however, exceptions to this.
* Local Eskimos (
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
) could interpret wolves' howls. They can tell things such as whether a herd or a human is passing through the wolves' territory, the direction of travel, and more.
Reception
Barry Lopez
Barry Holstun Lopez (January 6, 1945 – December 25, 2020) was an American author, essayist, nature writer, and fiction writer whose work is known for its humanitarian and environmental concerns. In a career spanning over 50 years, he ...
in his 1978 work ''Of Wolves and Men'' called the book a dated, but still good, introduction to wolf behaviour.
In a 2001 article of ''The Canadian Historical Review'' entitled ''Never Cry Wolf: Science, Sentiment, and the Literary Rehabilitation of Canis Lupus'', Karen Jones lauded the work as "an important chapter in the history of Canadian environmentalism";
[Karen Jones, ''Never Cry Wolf: Science, Sentiment, and the Literary Rehabilitation of Canis Lupus'', The Canadian Historical Review vol.84 (2001)]
Mowat's book has received criticism relating to the veracity of his work and its conclusions. Canadian Wildlife Service official Alexander William Francis Banfield, who supervised Mowat's field work, characterised the book as "semi-fictional", and accused Mowat of blatantly lying about his expedition. He pointed out that contrary to what is written in the book, Mowat was part of an expedition of three biologists, and was never alone. Banfield also pointed out that a lot of what was written in ''Never Cry Wolf'' was not derived from Mowat's first hand observations, but were plagiarised from Banfield's own works, as well as from
Adolph Murie
Adolph Murie (September 6, 1899 – August 16, 1974), the first scientist to study wolves in their natural habitat, was a naturalist, author, and wildlife biologist who pioneered field research on wolves, bears, and other mammals and birds in Arc ...
's ''The Wolves of Mount McKinley''.
In a 1964 article published in the ''Canadian Field-Naturalist'', he compared Mowat's 1963 bestseller to
Little Red Riding Hood
"Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brother ...
, claiming that, "I hope that readers of ''Never Cry Wolf'' will realize that both stories have about the same factual content."
Mowat's humorous response to Banfield's review appeared in a subsequent letter to the editor of the same journal -- ostensibly written by "Uncle Albert."
In the May 1996 issue of ''
Saturday Night'', John Goddard wrote a heavily researched article entitled ''A Real Whopper'', in which he poked many holes in Mowat's claim that the book was non-fictional. He wrote:
Mowat excoriated Goddard's article as, "...bullshit, pure and simple... this guy's got as many facts wrong as there are flies on a toad that's roadkill."
Journalist
Val Ross of ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' agreed that "Mowat, more passionate polemicist than rigorous reporter, painted federal bureaucrats in darker colours than many deserved," but that Goddard's piece erred in the same way against Mowat.
Although a claim that Mowat makes was that he interacted closely with a wolf pack alone in order to study them, the first wildlife biologist to successfully use the method of
habituation
Habituation is a form of non-associative learning in which an innate (non-reinforced) response to a stimulus decreases after repeated or prolonged presentations of that stimulus. Responses that habituate include those that involve the intact org ...
to study and follow wild wolf packs in close proximity was fellow CWS scientist and International Wolf Specialist Group Canadian representative
Dr. Lu Carbyn, in a 1970s study in Jasper National Park. Although also pointing out ''Never Cry Wolfs fictional rather than factual nature, his remarks were less critical, calling Farley Mowat's book "Good fiction and good reading".
[Holubitsky, J. (1999) "Dancing with wolves: The man who dared to go amid the pack". ''Edmonton Journal.'' 5 September 1999.]
In 2012, Mowat spoke to the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' about his reputation as a storyteller: "I took some pride in having it known that I never let facts get in the way of a good story. I was writing subjective non-fiction all along."
Impact
''Never Cry Wolf'' was a commercial success in Canada. Shortly after its publication, the
Canadian Wildlife Service
The Canadian Wildlife Service or CWS (french: Service canadien de la faune), is a Branch of the Department of the Environment (Environment and Climate Change Canada), a department of the Government of Canada. November 1, 2012 marked the 65th ann ...
received a deluge of letters from concerned citizens opposing the killing of wolves. Though generally well received by the public, Mowat's allusions of the Canadian Wildlife Service as an organisation set out to exterminate wolves was met with anger from Canadian biologists. CWS staff members argued that the agency had never demanded the extermination of the wolf, the wolf being recognized as an integral part of the northern ecosystem. They further countered that Mowat's remit had not been to find justifications for wolf extermination, but to investigate the relationship between wolves and caribou. The locals were actually hunting the caribou, for a sport and a food source.
As with Mowat's other books, ''Never Cry Wolf'' was translated into
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and published in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
The book's message that wolves were harmless mouse-eaters became influential, leading to popular reaction against Soviet wolf-culling efforts.
References
{{Reflist, 2
1963 non-fiction books
Books by Farley Mowat
McClelland & Stewart books
Canadian non-fiction books
English-language books
Non-fiction books adapted into films
Wolves in literature