A world without wolves

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The guns boomed and the guns flashed bright white lilies into the night.

Cub hid.

–

Growl! Growl! Growl!

Cub’s belly hurt with hunger.

The wolf mother had not returned. The wolf pack had not returned.

Cub howled.

–

Shhh! Shhh! Shhh!

Cub bit and Cub scratched as two hands reached in to pluck him like a flower.

‘Can we keep him?’ said Ellie.

‘He might be the last wolf on the mountain,’ said her father. ‘You can keep him.’

–

In the months that followed, Ellie and Cub grew close.

‘You are the last wolf,’ said Ellie. ‘I will keep you safe.’

They played in the shadow of the mountain, and as the years passed they began to work on the farm.

–

In the summer, Ellie’s father might say, ‘The fences have broken. Bring Cub and help me move the cattle to safety.’

In the winter, Ellie’s father might say, ‘The coyotes are coming. Get Cub to sniff out the cattle buried beneath the snow and take them to safety.’

Ellie and Cub did as they were asked because the farm was big and Elie’s father was getting too sick to work.

–

But Cub was the last wolf, and without a strong pack the wild lands beyond the farm began to change.

Without wolves hunting deer, the deer had stopped being frightened.

And because the deer had stopped being frightened, more coyotes came down to eat them.

And because there were more coyotes more fences were broken and more cattle were killed.

So Ellie and Cub did their best.

–

But their best wasn’t enough and many of the animals who lived in the wild left in search of food. Like the beavers, who once made dams to catch fish.

And without the beavers building their dams the river began to gobble up the land.

And as the land was gobbled up the farm became smaller.

–

Then, one year, Ellie’s father died.

Everyone had a job to do and without Ellie’s father those jobs became harder.

But Ellie and Cub did not give up.

–

They tried to mend the fences.

They tried to keep the cattle safe.

But the farm shrank until all it was just a rickety old building on a once green field.

Ellie and Cub didn’t know what to do.

–

Then one day Ellie took Cub on a walk.

Together they saw the fields where cattle had once been safe.

Together they saw the bare plains once rich with trees and bushes.

Together they heard the quiet forests once noisy with the songs of birds.

And together they saw the mountain, lonely as an abandoned home, where the wolves once lived.

And Ellie looked at Cub and knew what she had to do.

–

‘Cub,’ said Ellie. ‘Everyone has a job to do. Mine is to find someone to help with the farm. Yours is to live on the mountain and hunt.’

She stood and the two of them looked at each other, amber eyes meeting brown eyes like sunlight on trees.

Cub ran and a long while later, Ellie heard a howl.

And she knew Cub had found a new family.

–

Cub brought new wolves to the mountain.

They ate well and the deer learned the old ways again.

And because of this, new trees began to grow, coyotes crept back, the beavers returned, and the river calmed its course. Life in all its wonder spread again across the wild plains.

At night, Ellie would take her children outside and listen above the lowing of cattle and the whispering of trees for Cub as he called his pack back home.

Facts about this story

This story is based upon true events.

Wolves were hunted in Yellowstone National Park in the USA and the last of them were killed in 1926. Ellie and Cub see the effect this had upon the park.

The wolves kept everything in nature perfectly balanced but they were seen as dangerous.

Wolves live in packs of between six and ten. They can roam across a large area each day in search of food. Howling helps them to communicate over this distance.

All the adults in a wolf pack help look after the cubs but only the strongest male and female will have the babies. They become the parent wolves and their cubs will also grow strong – which is needed to protect the entire pack.

Wolves have a very good sense of smell – much better than humans have.

A wolf can swim up to 8 miles. It has little bits of webbing between its toes which helps (just like the flippers a diver wears on her feet).

---

If you enjoyed this and would like to support my work then please…