LONE WOLF

Following a wolf’s path across borders and ideologies.

The story begins with a miracle or nightmare, depending on whom you ask. In 2011, a wolf called Slavc journeyed alone across more than 1,000 miles from his birthplace in Slovenia to the Italian Alps. Despite all odds, he found the only other wolf within hundreds of miles: a female. Now, there are over a hundred wolves in an area that had been empty of wolves for over a century. As the animals reenter the ecosystem, old questions are brought to the surface that center on our relationship to the wild and the realities of living with a near-mythic creature. A decade after the wolf’s journey, journalist Weymouth follows Slavc’s path on foot. Along the way, he witnesses communities losing flocks to wolves in the midst of economic challenges (“It is easier to shoot a wolf than late-stage capitalism or the Common Agricultural Policy”), visits centers for wolf study, and interrogates the ancient relationship between man and beast. “In wolves we see aspects of ourselves that we find in no other creature,” he asserts, and perhaps this is part of why wolves have formed the villain in folktales like “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs” or why the archetype of the lone wolf still carries such cultural weight. Wolves have been used diversely as symbols ranging from the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini to the pinnacle of loyalty and friendship. Circling all this are concerns of habitat and coexistence. “We can romanticize the wild all we like, but it is certainly far less dangerous, and far less demanding, to live in a domesticated state,” writes Weymouth, his distinct pro-wolf bent giving voice to the fear as well. With clear, engrossing prose he illuminates the plight of the wolf in the modern era—one that plumbs the depths of belonging.

A fascinating, powerfully rendered portrait that extends beyond wolves to human nature.