They were pathetic bundles of fur when R.D. Lawrence pulled them from the gory sack stowed in a Cree Indian's canoe. Wrapped in their dead mother's hide, the two wolf pups were soaked in water and blood, barely ten inches long, and quite blind. Striking a bargain on the spot, Lawrence paid the Indian twenty-five dollars and a canoe paddle for the male and female cubs, whom he dubbed Matta and Wa (after Ontario's Mattawa River, from which they had been rescued).Thus began an amazing adventure for Lawrence, his wife Joan, and the malamute dog Tundra in raising and caring for animals that Lawrence vowed would someday return to their wilderness habitat. Keeping the wolves a secret from neighbours in an area where wolves are trapped and hunted and establishing a position as “alpha male” (or leader) of the “pack,” were just some of the problems Lawrence faced. An experienced naturalist, Lawrence observed much about wolf behaviour never before documented and in the heart-warming account shares with us his love and fascination for these remarkable creatures.

R.D. Lawrence, the son of an English father and a Spanish mother, was born at sea, aboard a British passenger ship sailing in Spanish territorial waters. His early years in Spain and his Spanish Civil War and World War II experiences are well-documented in his autobiography, The Green Trees Beyond.

R.D. Lawrence's profile page