Customer Reviews

Captive Wild: One Woman's Adventure Living with Wolves

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The story of the author's experiences raising wolves, dogs and wolf-dogs in the mountains of Colorado.

This was recommended to me as a good nature writing book, but what I found in it appalled and saddened me. With no veterinary care for much of the time, with insufficient housing so that animals frequently escaped and were shot by locals, with zero control so that fights and even killings broke out among the canines on what sounds like a regular basis, and with repeated injuries to the animals from hazards such as barbed wire, the Crisler menage sounds like something I'd expect to see on "Animal Planet Heroes" -- and I'd expect to see the perpetrator going to jail.

There's no reason to breed wolf-dogs. They cannot be released into the wild in case they contaminate the genetics of wild wolves, and their lack of fear of man makes them dangerous to themselves and others. In most cases, they also don't make good pets. Despite this, the book chronicles the production of several, rather randomly sired, litters of wolf-dogs.

My disturbance at this book can be summed up in two quotes. First, "In October, three good dogs were killed to make the pen safe for Baranof when he should enter (p. 95)." That passive construction is deceptive. The author, presumably, or someone working with her, killed the "three good dogs" so that a prospective sire of wolf-dogs wouldn't get in fights. (Separate runs too hard to conceive of??) And this is far from the only expedient killing in the book.

Then, ". . .Wallie, whose own newborn puppies had been killed by Alatna and who was still hemorrhaging. . .(p. 130)". That line kind of sums up the whole menage, in my opinion. No control, no responsibility. Horrible.

And then, of course, there's the end, which makes it pretty clear just how much the animals were "loved".

Read the Dutchers' book instead.

When reading upon the first pages of this work, I noticed a definite connection between the wolves and humans, a warmth, such, that would be continued over many years and pages of the book. I saw how this situation took place, as the book unfolded. Chris and Lois cared for these wolves and became one with them. Instead of killing them, they brought them back to Colorado after the Arctic expedition. There were many times when tears came to my eyes when there were special encounters with the wolves, especially Alatna. I know, I have a wolf dog myself. They are the most intelligent, comforting animals I have ever known. The book plays out over seven years.....with Alatna having pups and other givings and misgivings. Alatna and other wolves who needed a constant care were given it. You must read the book....However, the ending was the most tragic situation I could imagine. This couple had to move from Craig Cabin so the land could be sold. Instead of inquiring of wolf sanctuaries......Lois and Chris Killed Alatna and many of their bretherin. This left me cold. They brought Alatna from Alaska and others, plus produced offspring, and in the end .....willfully killed them.....My heart runs cold with this. I call upon our maker to have mercy on these wolves souls...Alatna loved Lois and the situation she had with humans and trusted them. Why did they betray her and her bretherin?? As to the hand of MAN, who kills in the interest of himself. I find no other alternative but hell, for these persons.

I cried at the ending of this book, I pounded my fists on my legs and cried, humans are so stupid and cruel.

This book was written in a time when spaying and neutering animals wasn`t popular, and when wildlife laws were nothing but peices of scrap paper. The author raises her wolf pups from Arctic Wild but sadly, only one puppy manages to live without somehow being shot to death, ill or attacked. The author tries to make the dogs and the wolf happy, but she only creates more havoc by rearing dangerous wolf dogs and feral animals that can never be tamed. The end is sad, but none the less not surprising,the wolf`s home fails her as well as her desire to be free from captivity. The message is very clear, people kill wild animals when they think of them as pets. I reccemend this book to those intrested, because it hould change your perception on keeping exotic animals.

The reviews of this book pretty much sum it up. I found it interesting to read, but is really a story about a woman who tried to successfully breed wolves with dogs. Since all of man's best friends are descendants of this type of genetic manipulations it does show how this process developed over time. If you have no problem with this process you find the book enthralling. If you do not believe in this process you find the book "one sick puppy." I just find the whole process a sadly unremarkable book.