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Cry Wolf: Inquest into the True Nature of a Predator
Turning a blind eye to the dangers of the wild can have deadly consequences.
Growing up on a northern trap line, Harold Johnson was taught to keep his distance from wolves. For decades, wolves did the same for humans. But now this seems to be changing.
In 2005, twenty-two-year-old Kenton Carnegie was killed in a wolf attack near his work camp. Part story, part forensic analysis, Cry Wolf examines this and other attacks, showing how we fail to take this apex predator seriously at our own peril.
Growing up on a northern trap line, Harold Johnson was taught to keep his distance from wolves. For decades, wolves did the same for humans. But now this seems to be changing.
In 2005, twenty-two-year-old Kenton Carnegie was killed in a wolf attack near his work camp. Part story, part forensic analysis, Cry Wolf examines this and other attacks, showing how we fail to take this apex predator seriously at our own peril.
- GenresNonfiction
168 pages, Hardcover
Published January 11, 2020
2 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Harold R. Johnson
15 books86 followersBorn and raised in Northern Saskatchewan, Harold Johnson has a Master of Law degree from Harvard University. He has served in the Canadian Navy, and worked in mining and logging. Johnson is the author of five novels and one work of non-fiction, which are largely set in northern Saskatchewan against a background of traditional Cree mythology. The Cast Stone (2011) won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction.
Johnson practiced law as a Crown Prosecutor in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, and balanced that with operating his family's traditional trap line using a dog team.
Johnson died in early February, 2022.
Johnson practiced law as a Crown Prosecutor in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, and balanced that with operating his family's traditional trap line using a dog team.
Johnson died in early February, 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 5, 2020
I may expand on this later. To begin, I was excited about this book, which I was hoping would be a Saskatchewan version of John Vaillant’s The Tiger (an amazing and compelling book and one of my favourites). It fell short. It felt sterile. Show don’t tell, but this book was all tell, and not that well done. Granted it is published by a university press; maybe I should have set myself up for textbooky.
In short — I felt it didn’t flow and there were a lot of tangents. Some quite simple editing could have improved the flow and thus the message. Like in the end, when he’s talking about clearcuts and government policies, needed more heft (and maybe more prose. Johnson can write prose, as evidenced in his last book, Clifford). Little bits about Cree lore and clearcuts and humans changing the environment felt like tangents out of place, because they weren’t that thoroughly explored; meanwhile so much of the earlier parts of the book had so much information. The whole inquest chapter, through much of it I felt like I was reading the entire legal document.
I have one big qualm: His big issue is the report by Paquet and Walker. He picks apart their evidence/claims, re-interviews and reaches out to their sources to discredit P&W — BUT, never reaches out to P&W to ask why they were so set on discounting wolves. Johnson seemingly makes a lot of assumptions about this. I want to hear from Paquet and Walker, and as far as we know, Johnson never reached out to them for an interview in this book. It’s possible he did and they declined, since Johnson comes at this with some obvious biases. And maybe that’s my biggest issue with the book — it feels super biased, even while it’s supposed to be analytical.
Anyway, I guess I recommend if you care about wolves or inquests.
In short — I felt it didn’t flow and there were a lot of tangents. Some quite simple editing could have improved the flow and thus the message. Like in the end, when he’s talking about clearcuts and government policies, needed more heft (and maybe more prose. Johnson can write prose, as evidenced in his last book, Clifford). Little bits about Cree lore and clearcuts and humans changing the environment felt like tangents out of place, because they weren’t that thoroughly explored; meanwhile so much of the earlier parts of the book had so much information. The whole inquest chapter, through much of it I felt like I was reading the entire legal document.
I have one big qualm: His big issue is the report by Paquet and Walker. He picks apart their evidence/claims, re-interviews and reaches out to their sources to discredit P&W — BUT, never reaches out to P&W to ask why they were so set on discounting wolves. Johnson seemingly makes a lot of assumptions about this. I want to hear from Paquet and Walker, and as far as we know, Johnson never reached out to them for an interview in this book. It’s possible he did and they declined, since Johnson comes at this with some obvious biases. And maybe that’s my biggest issue with the book — it feels super biased, even while it’s supposed to be analytical.
Anyway, I guess I recommend if you care about wolves or inquests.
July 14, 2021
I'm somewhat torn on how to review this book. On the one hand, it was informative and I appreciate the message it presented. On the other it really feels disjointed. I think I understand what the author was trying to do when he organized the book, but I think it suffers from a pacing problem and it's quite unbalanced. I'm glad to have read it, but it feels like it should be at least 2 separate books or works. His handling of the Carnagie case seems passionate and through, but the prose has a very different tone to other sections of the book. I would recommend this book to others, but I would also caution them about the uneven nature of the writing. Certainly worth reading, but flawed in its structure and execution.
March 30, 2024
Did you grow up close to nature? Have you encountered predators and prey in the wild? Do you find predators magnificent, yet scary? Can you hold in your head at the same time two conflicting ideas: that wolves are essential for the ecosystem and should be protected, but can also be killers? If yes, this is the book for you.
I'm a person who doesn't find clowns, scary dolls, or ghosts scary. What scares me are: wild predators and the dark. So this non-fiction was the horror book I couldn't put down. Literally, I forgot to return to work from my lunch break for an hour because of this books. The author uses simple, concise language to tell the story of wolf attacks in Saskatchewan, before diving into the killing of Kenton Carnegie, likely at the teeth of two wolves on a cold November afternoon. After a couple of repetitive sections in the beginning, and a bit too much anger at the scientists in the early chapter, Johnson found his footing and delivered a compelling rebuttal of the coroner's report. He used simple to understand evidence, pictures, and personal communications to show that it was likely the main 'experts' involved in the original inquiry were not the experts that should have handled the case (i.e. they were experts in different animals, not wolves or bears). Johnson also made a strong case for bias; the reason for the bias remains unexplained, but scientists are human and can be afflicted by hubris or the fear of inflaming the wrong societal response (and I'm talking from experience; it's hard to reign in our own biases, and a lot of scientists fall into that trap at least once in their life). I agree with some other reviewers that it would've been nice to have a word outside the official report from the scientists themselves, but I'm unaware of what efforts the author made to contact them (he may have and they may have refused to respond). In the end I too find the hypothesis that two wolves habituated with humans because of the garbage dump, and not a bears (who were likely hibernating at the time) were responsible for Carnegie's death. I can only begin to imagine the horror he felt at the end of his life, and I hope his family had found some peace since the event. My heart goes out to them.
The final chapter was a long discussion about why incorrect science is dangerous, and how much governmental policy is based on guesses and life-depleting hunches. The author made it very clear he thinks that culling wolves is a bad idea (and suggests that perhaps our indiscriminate killing, on top of our garbage dumps, are partially to blame for the attacks in recent years). He discusses growing up as a Native man in Canada, the natural experience he gained and his respect for the wild. I greatly enjoyed this part and didn't mind the tangent into forestry, as I thought it made the author's point clear. I highly recommend for those with a stronger stomach.
I'm a person who doesn't find clowns, scary dolls, or ghosts scary. What scares me are: wild predators and the dark. So this non-fiction was the horror book I couldn't put down. Literally, I forgot to return to work from my lunch break for an hour because of this books. The author uses simple, concise language to tell the story of wolf attacks in Saskatchewan, before diving into the killing of Kenton Carnegie, likely at the teeth of two wolves on a cold November afternoon. After a couple of repetitive sections in the beginning, and a bit too much anger at the scientists in the early chapter, Johnson found his footing and delivered a compelling rebuttal of the coroner's report. He used simple to understand evidence, pictures, and personal communications to show that it was likely the main 'experts' involved in the original inquiry were not the experts that should have handled the case (i.e. they were experts in different animals, not wolves or bears). Johnson also made a strong case for bias; the reason for the bias remains unexplained, but scientists are human and can be afflicted by hubris or the fear of inflaming the wrong societal response (and I'm talking from experience; it's hard to reign in our own biases, and a lot of scientists fall into that trap at least once in their life). I agree with some other reviewers that it would've been nice to have a word outside the official report from the scientists themselves, but I'm unaware of what efforts the author made to contact them (he may have and they may have refused to respond). In the end I too find the hypothesis that two wolves habituated with humans because of the garbage dump, and not a bears (who were likely hibernating at the time) were responsible for Carnegie's death. I can only begin to imagine the horror he felt at the end of his life, and I hope his family had found some peace since the event. My heart goes out to them.
The final chapter was a long discussion about why incorrect science is dangerous, and how much governmental policy is based on guesses and life-depleting hunches. The author made it very clear he thinks that culling wolves is a bad idea (and suggests that perhaps our indiscriminate killing, on top of our garbage dumps, are partially to blame for the attacks in recent years). He discusses growing up as a Native man in Canada, the natural experience he gained and his respect for the wild. I greatly enjoyed this part and didn't mind the tangent into forestry, as I thought it made the author's point clear. I highly recommend for those with a stronger stomach.
June 6, 2022
Come for the wolves and stay for the... Information, I guess?
I really enjoyed the first part of the book. It was fascinating and informative, but when the inquest part came I was caught off guard. It seemed to evolve into a rap battle against an overzealous wolf-lover trying to blame the bears. I put the book down and moved away from Canada.
Now that I'm back, I picked it back up again and enjoyed it a lot more that I thought I would. I learned so much more about wolves and their relationship with humans and the environment than I expected, and started to get into the groove of the inquest. The final part of the book also wraps it up together well.
It's always nice to read literature from Saskatchewan. I do recommend this book, especially if you want a broader perspective on wolves.
I really enjoyed the first part of the book. It was fascinating and informative, but when the inquest part came I was caught off guard. It seemed to evolve into a rap battle against an overzealous wolf-lover trying to blame the bears. I put the book down and moved away from Canada.
Now that I'm back, I picked it back up again and enjoyed it a lot more that I thought I would. I learned so much more about wolves and their relationship with humans and the environment than I expected, and started to get into the groove of the inquest. The final part of the book also wraps it up together well.
It's always nice to read literature from Saskatchewan. I do recommend this book, especially if you want a broader perspective on wolves.
December 24, 2020
This book seems to have two parts: there's the case of Kenton Carnegie, who was killed by wolves, and the subsequent attempt to interpret it as a bear attack; and the philosophical and ecological implications of wolves.
For the introductory cases, and with Kenton, we see the brutal predatorial side of the wolf, with a true crime tone. But as Johnson discusses later, wolves aren't inherently good or evil, they're just acting from their nature as predators. Human behaviour influences how close we get to predators - the dump causing habituation, mismanaged forestry practices, and historical wolf extermination.
Moral of the story:
-let his mother have her closure, jeez
-allow Indigenous people to manage their own lands
-conduct science free from capitalist politics
4.5
For the introductory cases, and with Kenton, we see the brutal predatorial side of the wolf, with a true crime tone. But as Johnson discusses later, wolves aren't inherently good or evil, they're just acting from their nature as predators. Human behaviour influences how close we get to predators - the dump causing habituation, mismanaged forestry practices, and historical wolf extermination.
Moral of the story:
-let his mother have her closure, jeez
-allow Indigenous people to manage their own lands
-conduct science free from capitalist politics
4.5
May 23, 2021
Love Harold Johnson’s previous books and continue to read whatever he writes. This one was not well edited and seems to be a project to express concern over an inquest result with which he disagreed. The structure was somewhat incoherent although the writing was clear. Interesting scenario that could have been better presented.
April 23, 2020
With suggestions on how to recover an already damaged and fragile ecosystem, Johnson evokes respect, fear, and awe at the strength and capabilities of wolves. We underestimate their abilities, and overestimate our place on this land.
March 9, 2020
This was an interesting read, I especially liked how he ended the book.
June 15, 2021
From the last chapter (for myself):
My clients in Stony Rapids were an older couple who still lived out on the land. Joan immediately befriended the kind, constantly smiling woman. In their discussions Joan told this Elder Dene woman about her growing fear of wolves. The woman told her not to be afraid, that if she encountered a wolf
she should remind it, “You are not supposed to eat me,” and the wolf would leave her alone.
When Joan told me this, I was reminded of what Rosalie Tsannie-Burseth had told me her father, a Dene Elder, said about the wolves that attacked Kenton. He said those wolves must be young wolves that don’t know the proper way to behave and, like teenagers, go out and get themselves into trouble.
Then I read Adam Weymouth’s Kings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River Journey, in which he interviews Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Elder Percy Henry. Percy was eighty-nine years old at the time and had received his education on the land:
They’re finding a lot of caribou dying, because the doctor quit bothering with them.”
“Who’s the doctor?” I say.
“The wolf is the doctor of all animals,” he says. “He chase caribou. He don’t kill ’em right there. He could. But his mother train him, you don’t
kill ’em till one falls aside. That’s a weak one. So that’s how they stay healthy. Make ’em sweat. You see that Yellowstone Park. Animal there were half dead. So they took some wolf in there and all the animal were happy. Bring their life back to where it should be.”
But now, Percy says, the young wolves don’t know what to do. It began when the state started culling wolves as a way of protecting caribou. They shot the old wolves, the ones that train the pups. Now Percy sees wolves coming into yards to attack dogs, he sees wolves chasing skidoos. They haven’t been taught fear; they’ve had no education from their elders.
——
The details of Kenton’s death are brutal. I remember hearing about it when it happened, and what I heard left out the fact that this wolf attack wasn’t an isolated incident. Johnson hacked apart the “experts” report, and his counters to the claim that Kenton was killed by a bear (not wolves) make up much of this book. Wolves are indeed misunderstood, and are unfairly demonized… but they are wild, apex predators. Beautiful and deadly. I need to remember this next time I admire one on the tundra. An excellent, though jarring read.
This isn’t a review, it’s just a short form of my reaction to the book.
My clients in Stony Rapids were an older couple who still lived out on the land. Joan immediately befriended the kind, constantly smiling woman. In their discussions Joan told this Elder Dene woman about her growing fear of wolves. The woman told her not to be afraid, that if she encountered a wolf
she should remind it, “You are not supposed to eat me,” and the wolf would leave her alone.
When Joan told me this, I was reminded of what Rosalie Tsannie-Burseth had told me her father, a Dene Elder, said about the wolves that attacked Kenton. He said those wolves must be young wolves that don’t know the proper way to behave and, like teenagers, go out and get themselves into trouble.
Then I read Adam Weymouth’s Kings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River Journey, in which he interviews Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Elder Percy Henry. Percy was eighty-nine years old at the time and had received his education on the land:
They’re finding a lot of caribou dying, because the doctor quit bothering with them.”
“Who’s the doctor?” I say.
“The wolf is the doctor of all animals,” he says. “He chase caribou. He don’t kill ’em right there. He could. But his mother train him, you don’t
kill ’em till one falls aside. That’s a weak one. So that’s how they stay healthy. Make ’em sweat. You see that Yellowstone Park. Animal there were half dead. So they took some wolf in there and all the animal were happy. Bring their life back to where it should be.”
But now, Percy says, the young wolves don’t know what to do. It began when the state started culling wolves as a way of protecting caribou. They shot the old wolves, the ones that train the pups. Now Percy sees wolves coming into yards to attack dogs, he sees wolves chasing skidoos. They haven’t been taught fear; they’ve had no education from their elders.
——
The details of Kenton’s death are brutal. I remember hearing about it when it happened, and what I heard left out the fact that this wolf attack wasn’t an isolated incident. Johnson hacked apart the “experts” report, and his counters to the claim that Kenton was killed by a bear (not wolves) make up much of this book. Wolves are indeed misunderstood, and are unfairly demonized… but they are wild, apex predators. Beautiful and deadly. I need to remember this next time I admire one on the tundra. An excellent, though jarring read.
This isn’t a review, it’s just a short form of my reaction to the book.
June 15, 2022
I recently watched a video of Harold Johnson speaking, and I was immediately touched by his wisdom. I’m now on a mission to read everything that he has ever written.
I went into this book without any knowledge of the Kenton Carnegie case. But while reading, I developed a strong interest and respect for traditional indigenous ecological knowledge.
This is such a fascinating representation of wolf and human interactions, how White environmentalism can be incredibly misguided, as well as an interesting look at the legal process for these types of court cases.
I went into this book without any knowledge of the Kenton Carnegie case. But while reading, I developed a strong interest and respect for traditional indigenous ecological knowledge.
This is such a fascinating representation of wolf and human interactions, how White environmentalism can be incredibly misguided, as well as an interesting look at the legal process for these types of court cases.
February 19, 2024
A thorough deconstruction of an example of malpractice in academia and the perils of seeking only the answers you're looking for. Formatting felt a bit all over the place, and the back 20-ish pages almost seemed to belong to a separate essay entirely, but the work is of value to anyone interested in wolves or in confirmation bias.
October 26, 2020
A great discussion on science and politics by a local author. Very relevant for the science classroom and possibly the ELA classroom. I would recommend this for anyone who likes to read about conservation, mysteries, and local stories. Especially relevant for Northern Canadians.
April 10, 2021
Read this and you will never trivialize wolves as New Age spirit animals. But in addition to seeing and respecting the true nature of a fellow creature, Johnson refers to the childhood story of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" to say that, in regard to our environment, the wolf is already in the sheep's pen.
August 16, 2021
Not my usual style of book, but I appreciated Johnson's thesis, backed by his own experience and correspondence with experts.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews