Recommended reading - Never Cry Wolf: Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves, by Farley Mowat:

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

by Farley Mowat.

First published in 1961.

^{Back cover blurb:}

More than a half-century ago the naturalist Farley Mowat accepted an assignment to investigate why wolves were killing Arctic caribou. Mowat's account of the summer he lived in the frozen tundra alone – studying the wolf population and developing a deep affection for these wild creatures (who were of no threat to caribou or man) – is today celebrated as a classic of nature writing, at once a tale of remarkable adventure and an indelible record of the myths and magic of wolves.

Born on this day – Farley Mowat:

Writer

Environmentalist

May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014

Credits:

Books:

A Whale for the Killing (1972); Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World (1996); And No Birds Sang (1979); Bay of Spirits: A Love Story (2006); Born Naked: The Early Adventures of the Author of Never Cry Wolf (1992); Canada North Now: The Great Betrayal (1967); Coppermine Journey: An Account of Great Adventure Selected from the Journals of Samuel Hearne (1958); Eastern Passage (2010); High Latitudes: An Arctic Journey (2002); Lost in the Barrens (1956); My Discovery of America (1985); My Father's Son: Memories of War and Peace (1993); Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves (1963); No Man's River (2004); Ordeal by Ice: The Search for the Northwest Passage (1960); Otherwise (2008); Out Among the Wolves (1993); Owls in the Family (1961); People of the Deer (1950); Rescue the Earth: Conversations with the Green Crusaders (1990); Sea of Slaughter (1984); Sibir: My Discovery of Siberia (1970); Small Boats on Green Waters (2007); The Black Joke (1962); The Boat Who Wouldn't Float (1969); The Curse of the Viking Grave (1966); The Desperate People (1957); The Dog Who Wouldn't Be (1957); The Farfarers: Before the Norse (1998); The Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug (1958); The New Founde Land (1989); The Polar Passion: The Quest for the North Pole (1967); The Regiment (1974); The Serpent's Coil (1974); The Snow Walker (1975); This Rock within the Sea (1976); Tundra: Selections from the Great Accounts of Arctic Land Voyages (1973); Virunga: The Passion of Dian Fossey / Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa (1987); Wake of the Great Sealers (1973); Walking on the Land (2000).

Movies and television:

30 Years on the Frontline (2008); 90 Minutes Live (1976); A Whale for the Killing (1981); Angus (1971); Canada Remembers - Part Three: Endings and Beginnings (1995); Canada Remembers - Part Two: The Liberators (1995); Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson (2011); Finding Farley (2009); Floating After Farley (2022–2023); Life and Times (1997); Lost in the Barrens II: The Curse of the Viking Grave (1992); Magic Hour: Lost in the Barrens (1990); Make the Movie Live the Movie (2004); Never Cry Wolf (1983); Ocean Warrior (1981); Pirate for the Sea (2008); Telescope (1964); Telescope (1966–1970); Ten Days to Victory (2005); Ten Million Books: An Introduction to Farley Mowat (1981); The New North with Farley Mowat (1987); The Snow Walker (2003); View from the Typewriter (1993).

Farley Mowat, on writing:

I write every day/

I'm always in the process of writing my last book, until the next one.
- Farley Mowat.

Never Cry Wolf (1983) - a REAL walk on the wild side:

Never Cry Wolf (1983) - a REAL walk on the wild side:

Review by Jack Kost.

This Disney production, directed by Carroll Ballard, released in the United States on October 7, 1983, is a somber and beautiful nature movie, set in the snow-bound Canadian wilderness.

Charles Martin Smith plays Tyler, a Government biologist, sent to the harsh and unforgiving region to ascertain whether wolves are responsible for the alarming decline of the Caribou herds.

On the outset of his mission, Tyler encounters Rosie (Brian Dennehy), who initially seems friendly – even though borderline psychotic, but later emerges as an astute fortune hunter.

Symbolizing the worst of mankind, Rosie is there only to destroy the habitat in a money-making enterprise.

Early in the story, Tyler is rescued and befriended by Ootek (Zachary Ittimangnaq), and learns about the lifestyle of the indigenous Inuit people.

Never Cry Wolf is a visual feast; the landscape scenery is breathtaking, and Mark Isham’s music score is haunting.

It’s based on the autobiographical book by Farley Mowat, presented here as the character, Tyler.

The slow and thoughtful pace of the movie is lightened with the comic scenes of Tyler drinking tea by the gallon, and urinating around his base camp, scent-marking it as the wolf establishes his territory.

It turns into a battle of the wills and bladders between man and wolf, until the wolf finally accepts the boundary of Tyler's territory.

Later, Tyler learns the wolf is not the culprit and vital to the balance of nature: culling only the injured and slowest Caribou – effectively keeping the herd strong.

The wolves’ main food is the multitudes of field mice – of which Tyler also chows on as an experiment, after the mice swarm his tent and his own food reserves are depleting.

I believe in conservation, and I love the wolf in particular.

Never Cry Wolf is delicately compelling and melancholic.

I empathized with Tyler and appreciate the necessity to conserve and protect this beautiful planet: our home.

One of my favorite scenes is near the end: Tyler, with the heavy snow and the brutal winter set in around him, sits at the edge of a lake and blows hard on a bassoon.

The sound is heard by a distant wolf pack, and they howl back, acknowledging the distance between them, a declaration that neither Tyler, nor the rest of mankind, belong there.

Never Cry Wolf moved me with two reflective and potent realities of the region: sadness and silence.

Everything there seems to be on an inexorable path towards extinction: the caribou, wolves, Inuit people, and even the habitat itself.

The illusion of a place where the only things to cut through the silence are the howl of a wolf, or the wind, is that time appears to stand still.

Charles Martin Smith and Brian Dennehy played great roles.

However, like the wilderness, this movie belongs to the wolves.

One particular line resonates with me, and I hope it never becomes prophetic of the wolves and the plight of the natural world:

I believe the wolves went off to a wild and distant place somewhere, although I don’t really know, because I turned away and didn’t watch them go.

– Charles Martin Smith, as Tyler.