Captive Wild: One Woman's Adventure Living with Wolves

by Lois Crisler

A narrative of the seven years the author spent sharing her home and life with a female wolf, her mates, and wolf-dog pups.

Genres: Animals, Wolves, Nonfiction, Wildlife

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[hare · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be read only as a cautionary tale: how not to treat captive wolves and wolfdogs and dogs.

I give it the same non-recommendation as A Wolf in the Family. Except this one is way more outrageous: a horror show of allowing dogs and a wolf to breed, then killing the wolfdogs for being "dangerous", then allowing inbreeding between the animals, not consulting vets for the longest time, disregarding the animals' well-being for one's selfish desire to pet them... it's hard to list all the terrible things she put her animals through, as it goes for 240 pages. It just got worse and worse and worse with every page and every chapter.

But I don't "hate" the author, like some other reviewers here. I hate her selfish choices. I enjoyed her first book, Arctic Wild, and I wish I didn't have to know what happened afterwards, but now that I do, I have to say that, at its heart, it's a terribly sad tale, both of humans and animals that shared in this captivity for almost a decade.

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugggggggh, I really despise this person, the author, Lois Crisler, blatant disregard for the animal's lives in her care. This wasn't suppose to be an all love, sunshine and happy days book, but jeessuuuuus. Lois and her husband kill animals when ever it suited them. To allow breeding and birth of litter after litter of wolfdog pups only to SHOOT them because they were poorly socialized. Gawd, if I could, I'd hate these people!

[Stephanie A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fitting that I read this on Halloween, because it was a lot like a horror movie: bad decisions, constant death, and a bit of gore (in terms of mentioning the carcasses dragged out to feed them). I felt like the author genuinely loved animals, but there was a certain callousness to her too, regularly shooting animals as they became dangerous or casually mentioning that the wolf would kill other dogs' puppies out of jealousy. A certain amount of pragmatism/detachment is needed when you pick wild predators as your animal of choice, just based on the sheer amount of livestock and/or horse meat you have to feed them, but this felt like it went a step beyond.

The worst part was that many of said deaths seemed preventable. They seemed to be the product of having too many animals and/or not having quite all of the knowledge required to care for them. Maybe that was a product of the time period, but I found it really surprising that seemingly none of her domestic dogs were fixed. I can kind of see not wanting to leave the wolf constantly enduring fruitless estrus or risk making her more aggressive through spaying (on top of the general risk of surgery performed on an animal vets do not routinely spay), but the dogs? Long before the end of the book, the names were starting to blur together because there were just so many random dogs, puppies and wolf-dogs running around the place. I can't imagine what living with them was like.

Another thing is that the author frequently worries about whether Alatna is happy as opposed to just surviving, and while it's a valid question, it also seems like a thing someone in charge of keeping a wolf should have a better handle on. And not vaccinating any of the animals against distemper, relying on their remoteness/isolation as immunity even after they frequently get loose...why??

Plus, the ending is horribly abrupt. Within two lines, she implies a divorce for unknown reasons, and that's that: they have to sell the cabin, and subsequently kill every single animal on the claim that they all depend on one another, and apparently not even a single pet dog would have had the will to live elsewhere. In that respect, it's worse than a horror movie. Nobody survives except the killer.

While I agree that this was a better end than sending the wolves to zoos with even less space or taking the dogs to a shelter, it mostly just made me angry at the irresponsibility. If they hadn't had so many animals, maybe it wouldn't have been such a strain to take care of them, and/or if they could have just stopped breeding, maybe they could have sucked it up and stuck it out together, at least until the end of the wild animals' natural lives. Something also bugged me about the mention that the author wrote the book on a Guggenheim Fellowship, like a reward for bad behavior. "Step 1 - have the experience until it gets hard. Step 2 - profit!"

Now, why am I giving it four stars after all of that? Because the descriptions of the animals were just that wonderful, as was the setting. It takes more strength, work, skill and willpower to maintain such a place than I would ever dare to try. The writing was compelling. and some of the issues probably were due to the time period and sheer lack of available knowledge about keeping wolves.

The majority of the animals had well developed personalities and cute stories. As I said, the author's love for them was clear, and I do sympathize with her attempts to provide Alatna with both comfortable quarters and the closest approximation of wolf company. The bond between woman and wolf, though, is truly remarkable. She's bitten a couple of times when overstepping boundaries or by accident, but never severely, and never actually attacked. The fact that she let the wolf come into the cabin was mind-blowing.

And if you don't think I'm going to spend about six hours on YouTube watching friendly wolves greet their keepers now, you are much mistaken. (try searching "happy wolf attack" to start, if you haven't seen it)

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, this was awful. The author was totally irresponsible. The first half of the book was ok, but after that she let Alatna mate and proceeded to kill Kuskokwim and Katmai because they were not safe. Later she also killed Kotzebue. She continued to let her animals breed, and contineud to kill the pups as they grew up and grew dangerous. She allowed such serious inbreeding as son-to-mother. And, at the end of the book, she killed them all. I was shocked and dissapointed with this book.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book. You have to enter into it realizing that it was written in the mid-1900s, and attitudes towards animals were not what they are today. There are many animal deaths throughout the book, not because Crisler or her husband were malicious, but because humane euthanasia was seen as a totally reasonable option, the good of the whole group was considered more important than any individual (except perhaps Alatna), and an animal's mental suffering was given the same weight as physical suffering. That said, Crisler gives a detailed, well-written look into an experience none of us will likely ever have. Crisler treated the wolves like wild animals without any anthropomorphic or spiritual ideas about communing with them, but still became part of their family-community and came to understand the social dynamics of the group, which were variable and anything but simple. The development of her relationships with individual wolves and wolf-dogs is wonderful to watch. The author's candor about her troubles and regrets is also refreshing.

My only complaint would be that the book ends rather abruptly, but I think that it's a reflection of the abrupt end of that period of Crisler's life. It's also in keeping with the tendency of the author not to spend pages philosophizing or reflecting on the moral or emotional impact of the events, but just to report them as she experienced them at the time.

This isn't a cheerful, Disney-princess-talks-to-wolves story, but it's a well-written, detailed, and worthwhile look at a past incident of raising captive wolves and wolf-dogs. Very nearly gave it 5 stars. Highly recommended.

[Valentina Galli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Questo libro è un sunto di cosa NON FARE quando vivi con dei lupi
...
E la prima cosa è proprio non prendere dei lupi per farne animali domestici!
4 dei cuccioli originari muoiono uccisi dall'uomo perché si fidavano, l'unica femmina sopravvissuta fa diverse cucciolate con cani e lupi che i proprietari le portano a casa...
E tra questi diversi vengono uccisi dai cani della famiglia stessa.
I cuccioli nati vengono uccisi quando si dimostrano troppo selvaggi o di volere la libertà.
Atroce!
Se l'autrice non fosse già morta le avrei scritto per insultarla ...

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ummmmmmm okay...... 5 stars for being extremely readable and compelling content but what? What? What? Lot of really messed up ethical questions raised here. I guess she bought the last wolf some solid years but damn, she totally did kill it in the end anyway. Damn!!!!!!!! What the hell though? What? Is it right to acquire/breed a BUNCH, like probably dozens it sounds but no exact count is given, of dogs that are kinda used as disposable enrichment items for a wolf you really love? I don't know! Damn! I love that wolf too and would probably also do a bunch of messed up shit for her though. I don't know. None of my business but seemed kinda personal, more like a beautiful and wordy deathbed confession than a book. 5/5!!!!

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Absolutely LOVED and ADORED this book. It's a amazing story of a women with a passion for wolfs.

Wonderfully written.