Storyteller’s Remorse

Wolf pups feeding on a musk oxen carcass on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. Neil Shea.

In late August 2018 I traveled to the northernmost island in Canada to observe white wolves. These were an extremely unusual group of animals, and they had the distinction of being unafraid of humans. This alone was something, but beyond their fearlessness lay a subtler behavior that is perhaps best described as tolerance. Another way to put it is that the wolves of Ellesmere Island allowed humans to get close—really close.